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State secondary schools in Torbay

8 schools · South West · 2024/25 Department for Education figures

Torbay has 8 state secondaries, 7 of them with sixth forms, 3 grammar schools among them. 79.7% of families got their first choice last year, worse than most of England. Results run from 22.4% to 95.9% passing English and maths, a spread of 74 points, with a middle school at 51.4%, above England's 45.4%.

Of those Ofsted has graded, 1 rated Outstanding, 4 Good, 1 Requires improvement. 2 schools carry no overall grade at all — either inspected since Ofsted stopped issuing one in September 2024, or never inspected.

8 schools in Torbay. Tap one, or see the full list.
22% 96% passed English & maths

Torbay against England

State-funded schools, 2024/25

50%

Passed English & maths grade 5 or above

4.2% above England

England 45%

47.4

Attainment 8 average score

1.3 above England

England 46.1

22%

Persistently absent missed 10% of sessions

1% above England

England 21%

Getting a place

2026/27 secondary admissions round, across Torbay

79.7%

Got their first choiceof those who applied

England 84%

92.9%

Got one of their threefirst, second or third

1.2%

Got no offer at allfrom any preference

21%

Appeals upheld20 of 96 heard

These are figures for Torbay as a whole. A popular school can be much harder to get into than the average suggests, and the criteria that decide it are set by each school's own admission authority rather than centrally. How applying works

How much the choice matters here

Across Torbay's 8 schools, the share passing English and maths runs from 22% to 96%. That is a spread of 74 percentage points, wider than most councils.

The typical council spans about 48 points. Where schools are close together the school a child gets matters less; where they are far apart it matters a great deal. The widest spreads are all selective areas, where grammar schools sit at one end and everything else at the other.

Torbay schools, subject by subject

The share reaching grade 4 or above, among schools entering at least 20 pupils. Which pupils take a subject differs a lot between schools, so read this as what happened rather than as a ranking of teaching.

mathshistorygeographyenglish literatureenglish languagecombined sciencereligious studiesdesign technologybusiness studiesartfrenchcomputer science
  1. 1 Torquay Boys' Grammar School Torquay · 43 entries 100%
  2. 2 Churston Ferrers Grammar School Academy Brixham · 45 entries 100%
  3. 3 Torquay Academy Torquay · 30 entries 67%
  4. 4 The Spires College Torquay · 29 entries 55%
  5. 5 Paignton Academy Paignton · 76 entries 39%
  6. 6 St Cuthbert Mayne School Torquay · 25 entries 28%
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Every school in Torbay

Torbay is a separate local authority inside Devon, so schools in the surrounding county are not in this list. See Devon.

2 of 8 have no spare places. Sort the list, or narrow it first.

  • Brixham College Brixham · Inspected under the current report card, which gives no overall grade.
    Eng & maths
    22%
    Attainment 8
    36.7
    Absence
    32%
  • Churston Ferrers Grammar School Academy Brixham · Good. · no spare places
    Eng & maths
    96%
    Attainment 8
    71.2
    Absence
    13%
  • Paignton Academy Paignton · Inspected, after Ofsted stopped issuing a single overall grade.
    Eng & maths
    25%
    Attainment 8
    36.9
    Absence
    28%
  • St Cuthbert Mayne School Torquay · Inspected, after Ofsted stopped issuing a single overall grade.
    Eng & maths
    26%
    Attainment 8
    39.7
    Absence
    30%
  • The Spires College Torquay · Good.
    Eng & maths
    51%
    Attainment 8
    44.5
    Absence
    23%
  • Torquay Academy Torquay · Good. · no spare places
    Eng & maths
    49%
    Attainment 8
    47.6
    Absence
    22%
  • Torquay Boys' Grammar School Torquay · Inspected under the current report card, which gives no overall grade.
    Eng & maths
    93%
    Attainment 8
    70.8
    Absence
    7%
  • Torquay Girls' Grammar School Torquay · Outstanding.
    Eng & maths
    90%
    Attainment 8
    68.6
    Absence
    10%

Pick up to 4 schools to see them side by side in the comparison tool, subject by subject.

Sixth form · Key stage 5·2024/25

A levels in Torbay

7 of Torbay's 7 sixth forms publish A level results. Ranked on the share reaching AAB or better in at least two of the subjects universities name, which is the measure the steepest entry requirements are written in.

Sixth form Grade AAB+

A level results only. A sixth form running mostly BTECs and other applied courses will show a dash here and can still be the right one — those are graded on their own scale, where a distinction and an A grade carry the same points and mean different things.

Bordering Torbay

Near a boundary, schools on both sides are usually in reach. Whether a child can apply is set by each school's admission criteria, not by the border.

Devon 42 schools · 46% passed English & maths

What these mean

Attainment 8
The average pupil's total score across eight GCSE-equivalent subjects, with English and maths counting double. It is scored out of 90. A score of 50 is roughly equivalent to achieving a grade 5 across eight subjects.
Grades 4 and 5
GCSEs are graded from 9 down to 1. Grade 4 is a standard pass and broadly corresponds to the old grade C; grade 5 is what the government calls a strong pass. Grade 7 is broadly equivalent to an old grade A.
Persistent absence
The share of pupils who miss at least 10% of their possible sessions during the school year. This includes both authorised and unauthorised absence, so illness and other authorised reasons are included. Persistent absence has remained substantially higher than its pre-pandemic level.
First preference
The share of families who were offered the school they ranked first on their application, on national offer day in March. This figure is calculated across the relevant schools or admissions authority, so a high overall figure does not necessarily mean that every individual school is easy to get into.
Spare places
The amount of available capacity a school has compared with the number of pupils on roll. This is different from oversubscription: spare places measure whether a school has capacity, whereas oversubscription describes demand for places exceeding the number available. A school with no spare places may be popular, but a small school can also be full without receiving a large number of applications.
Average A-level grade
The average grade achieved across students' A-level entries. This is different from measures such as the proportion achieving AAB or better in two or more facilitating subjects, which are sometimes used to indicate higher attainment and university-entry performance.
Covers state-funded schools in England; independent schools are not included, and neither the list nor the subject figures above take account of them.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Key stage 4 performance and school characteristics: Department for Education, 2024/25. Inspection outcomes: Ofsted.