The Spires College
Westlands Lane, Torquay, TQ1 3PE
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Foundation school
- Ages
- 11 to 18
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- None
- Trust
- Westlands School Trust
- Principal
- Ms Alex Newton
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- SEN provision
- ASD - Autistic Spectrum Disorder
- Constituency
- Torbay
- Setting
- Urban: Further from a major town or city
- Capacity
- 1,304
- Pupils on roll
- 1,154
- URN
- 113526
- Local authority
- Torbay
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01803400660
About this school
The Spires College is a foundation secondary school in Torquay. It teaches children aged 11 to 18 and has 1,154 pupils on roll.
You can read Ofsted's latest judgement for the school below. Where the Department for Education has published them, its results and pupil characteristics appear below. Numbers and a report only go so far, so visit in person before you apply.
Ofsted judgement
Confirmed by a short inspection, not a full one
Ofsted's most recent visit was a short inspection on 16 November 2022, where inspectors confirmed the school remains Good. The school's last full inspection took place before September 2019, so its area grades are not part of Ofsted's current published data. Older reports are on the school's Ofsted page.
Exam results
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 205 | 211 | 183 |
| Attainment 8 score | 40.8 | 43.6 | 44.5 |
| Progress 8 score | -0.49 -0.69 to -0.29 | -0.15 -0.35 to +0.04 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 34% | 40.3% | 51.4% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 56% | 56.9% | 60.7% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 26% | 27.5% | 26.8% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 3.4 | 3.7 | 3.9 |
Progress 8 is paused nationally for the 2024/25 and 2025/26 school years. Those pupils sat no key stage 2 tests during the Covid pandemic, so there is no starting point to measure progress from. A blank figure here is not missing school data.
Trends over time
How The Spires College has moved over recent years against the local and national picture. Every figure is shown in the table beneath its chart.
| Year | This school | Torbay average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 40.8 | 41.2 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 43.6 | 36.9 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 44.5 | 38.2 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 10.9% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 9.4% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 8.6% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 1,159 |
| 2023/24 | 1,152 |
| 2024/25 | 1,131 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How The Spires College compares
The Spires College ranked 5th of 8 secondary schools in Torbay for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 55% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 13% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 44.5 | 8.6% | 30.8% | 1,154 | — |
| St Cuthbert Mayne School | 39.7 | 11.4% | 41.2% | 1,001 | 0.7 miles |
| Torquay Academy | 47.6 | 10.1% | 31.3% | 1,472 | 0.9 miles |
| Torquay Girls' Grammar School | 68.6 | 5.2% | 5.5% | 1,058 | 1.3 miles |
| Torquay Boys' Grammar School | 70.8 | 4.2% | 5.9% | 1,087 | 1.5 miles |
| Paignton Academy | 36.9 | 11.4% | 33.6% | 1,568 | 4.2 miles |
Results reflect each school's cohort as much as its teaching, and free school meals share is context, not a judgement. Small gaps between neighbouring schools are rarely meaningful on their own.
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 30.83%
- English as an additional language
- 6.9%
- Overall absence
- 8.57%
- Persistent absence
- 23.91%
Location
Nearby schools
-
St Cuthbert Mayne School0.7 miles
Secondary · Torquay
-
Torquay Academy0.9 miles
Secondary · Torquay
-
Torquay Girls' Grammar School1.3 miles
Secondary · Torquay
-
Torquay Boys' Grammar School1.5 miles
Secondary · Torquay
-
Paignton Academy4.2 miles
Secondary · Paignton
Other schools in Torquay
The Spires College ranks 4th of the 5 ranked secondary schools in Torquay.
- St Cuthbert Mayne School Secondary
- Torquay Academy Secondary
- Torquay Boys' Grammar School Secondary
- Torquay Girls' Grammar School Secondary
- All Saints Babbacombe CofE Primary School Primary
- Cockington Primary School Primary
- Ellacombe Church of England Academy Primary
- Homelands Primary School Primary
- Ilsham Church of England Academy Primary
- Lift Barton Hill Primary
- Our Lady of the Angels Catholic Primary School Primary
- Preston Primary School Primary
Common questions
- What year groups does The Spires College teach?
- The Spires College teaches children aged 11 to 18. It is a secondary school in Torquay.
- Who is the principal of The Spires College?
- The principal of The Spires College is Ms Alex Newton, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was The Spires College last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected The Spires College, and its latest judgement is set out in the inspection section on this page, with the framework and the date it was made.
- How big is The Spires College?
- The Spires College has 1,154 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 18.
- Is The Spires College full?
- The Spires College has capacity for 1,304 pupils and 1,154 on roll (88%), so it has space against its published capacity. Places are allocated through the local authority's admissions process, so capacity alone does not tell you whether a place is available.
- Is The Spires College a faith school?
- No. The Spires College has no designated religious character.
- Is The Spires College a selective school?
- No. The Spires College is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- Who runs The Spires College?
- The Spires College is part of Westlands School Trust. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- What SEN provision does The Spires College have?
- The schools register lists The Spires College's special educational needs provision as: ASD - Autistic Spectrum Disorder. Contact the school to discuss how it would support a particular child.
- How have The Spires College's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 40.8 in 2022/23 and 44.5 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does The Spires College rank locally?
- The Spires College ranked 5th of 8 secondary schools in Torbay for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 55% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 13% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is The Spires College's absence rate?
- The Spires College's overall absence rate is 8.6% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are The Spires College's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, The Spires College's key stage results are shown in the results section on this page, with the last three years so you can see the trend rather than a single year.
School details come from the Department for Education's Get Information About Schools register. Inspection outcomes come from Ofsted, and exam results from the Department for Education's school performance service. This page was last updated on 29 June 2026.