Brixham College
Higher Ranscombe Road, Brixham, TQ5 9HF
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Academy converter
- Ages
- 11 to 18
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- None
- Trust
- THE THINKING SCHOOLS ACADEMY TRUST
- Principal
- Miss Rebecca Blackshaw
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Sponsor
- The Thinking Schools Academy Trust
- SEN provision
- ASD - Autistic Spectrum Disorder
- Constituency
- South Devon
- Setting
- Urban: Further from a major town or city
- Capacity
- 1,050
- Pupils on roll
- 1,012
- URN
- 137755
- Local authority
- Torbay
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 03333602250
About this school
Brixham College is a secondary academy in Brixham. It teaches children aged 11 to 18 and has 1,012 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. Seeing a school for yourself shows what no page can, so arrange a visit before you apply.
Ofsted judgement
Ofsted no longer gives schools a single overall grade. Each area of the school's work is graded on a five-point scale, and safeguarding is judged separately.
- Inclusion
- Needs attention
- Curriculum and teaching
- Needs attention
- Achievement
- Needs attention
- Attendance and behaviour
- Needs attention
- Personal development and wellbeing
- Expected standard
- Leadership and governance
- Needs attention
- Post-16 provision
- Needs attention
- Safeguarding
- Met
Exam results
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 195 | 182 | 161 |
| Attainment 8 score | 40.8 | 37.2 | 36.7 |
| Progress 8 score | -0.21 -0.41 to -0.01 | -0.74 -0.94 to -0.53 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 35% | 30.2% | 22.4% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 59% | 48.4% | 49.7% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 23% | 19.2% | 13.7% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 3.3 | 3.0 | 2.9 |
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 Brixham 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 | 37.2 | 36.9 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 36.7 | 38.2 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 12.3% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 14.5% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 11.5% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 1,091 |
| 2023/24 | 1,068 |
| 2024/25 | 1,053 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Brixham College compares
Brixham College ranked 8th of 8 secondary schools in Torbay for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 30% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 4% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 36.7 | 11.5% | 30.6% | 1,012 | — |
| Churston Ferrers Grammar School Academy | 71.2 | 5.8% | 9.5% | 1,062 | 2.2 miles |
| Paignton Academy | 36.9 | 11.4% | 33.6% | 1,568 | 4.3 miles |
| The Spires College | 44.5 | 8.6% | 30.8% | 1,154 | 5.7 miles |
| Torquay Boys' Grammar School | 70.8 | 4.2% | 5.9% | 1,087 | 6.1 miles |
| Torquay Girls' Grammar School | 68.6 | 5.2% | 5.5% | 1,058 | 6.1 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.
Inspection history
-
Graded inspection report31 March 2026
- 10 October 2023
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 30.6%
- English as an additional language
- 3.5%
- Overall absence
- 11.54%
- Persistent absence
- 33.91%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Churston Ferrers Grammar School Academy2.2 miles
Secondary · Brixham
-
Paignton Academy4.3 miles
Secondary · Paignton
-
The Spires College5.7 miles
Secondary · Torquay
-
Torquay Boys' Grammar School6.1 miles
Secondary · Torquay
-
Torquay Girls' Grammar School6.1 miles
Secondary · Torquay
Other schools in Brixham
Common questions
- What year groups does Brixham College teach?
- Brixham College teaches children aged 11 to 18. It is a secondary school in Brixham.
- Who is the principal of Brixham College?
- The principal of Brixham College is Miss Rebecca Blackshaw, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was Brixham College last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Brixham 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 Brixham College?
- Brixham College has 1,012 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 18.
- Is Brixham College full?
- Brixham College has capacity for 1,050 pupils and 1,012 on roll (96%), so it is close to full. Places are allocated through the local authority's admissions process, so capacity alone does not tell you whether a place is available.
- Is Brixham College a faith school?
- No. Brixham College has no designated religious character.
- Is Brixham College a selective school?
- No. Brixham College is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- Who runs Brixham College?
- Brixham College is part of THE THINKING SCHOOLS ACADEMY TRUST. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- What SEN provision does Brixham College have?
- The schools register lists Brixham 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 Brixham College's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 40.8 in 2022/23 and 36.7 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Brixham College rank locally?
- Brixham College ranked 8th of 8 secondary schools in Torbay for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 30% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 4% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Brixham College's absence rate?
- Brixham College's overall absence rate is 11.5% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Brixham College's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Brixham 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 1 July 2026.