Bridgwater College Academy
Parkway, Bridgwater, TA6 4QY
- Phase
- All-through
- School type
- Academy sponsor led
- Ages
- 3 to 16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- None
- Trust
- BRIDGWATER & TAUNTON COLLEGE TRUST
- Head Teacher
- Headteacher Laura Campbell/ Sarah Evans
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Nursery provision
- Has Nursery Classes
- Sponsor
- Bridgwater College Trust
- SEN provision
- ASD - Autistic Spectrum Disorder
- Constituency
- Bridgwater
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 1,880
- Pupils on roll
- 1,561
- URN
- 138375
- Local authority
- Somerset
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01278727327
About this school
Bridgwater College Academy is an all-through academy in Bridgwater. It teaches children aged 3 to 16 and has 1,561 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
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
- Urgent improvement
- Curriculum and teaching
- Urgent improvement
- Achievement
- Urgent improvement
- Attendance and behaviour
- Urgent improvement
- Personal development and wellbeing
- Needs attention
- Leadership and governance
- Urgent improvement
- Early years
- Needs attention
- Safeguarding
- Met
Ofsted placed the school in a category of concern: special measures.
Exam results
Key stage 2 (end of primary school)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 2 | 80 | 79 | 81 |
| Met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths | 49% | 46% | 25% |
| Reached the higher standard in reading, writing and maths | 4% | 3% | 4% |
| Expected standard in reading | 63% | 56% | 46% |
| Expected standard in maths | 59% | 63% | 42% |
| Expected standard in grammar, punctuation and spelling | 59% | 61% | 48% |
| Average scaled score in reading | 101.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 |
| Average scaled score in maths | 101.0 | 101.0 | 99.0 |
| Reading progress | -1.70 | - | - |
| Writing progress | +0.20 | - | - |
| Maths progress | -1.10 | - | - |
Progress measures ended nationally after the 2022/23 school year, when the key stage 1 assessments they were based on were stopped. Blank progress figures in later years are not missing school data.
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 163 | 166 | 187 |
| Attainment 8 score | 34.8 | 33.0 | 31.9 |
| Progress 8 score | -0.45 -0.68 to -0.23 | -0.80 -1.02 to -0.58 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 20% | 21.1% | 16% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 36% | 38% | 36.4% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 25% | 84.9% | 79.7% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 3.0 | 3.1 | 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 Bridgwater College Academy has moved over recent years against the local and national picture. Every figure is shown in the table beneath its chart.
| Year | This school | Somerset average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 49% | 54.1% | 57.9% |
| 2023/24 | 46% | 55.4% | 58.8% |
| 2024/25 | 25% | 57.3% | 60.3% |
Department for Education KS2 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | Somerset average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 34.8 | 36.1 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 33 | 34 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 31.9 | 32.3 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 11.7% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 12% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 10% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 1,568 |
| 2023/24 | 1,595 |
| 2024/25 | 1,576 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Bridgwater College Academy compares
Bridgwater College Academy ranked 28th of 28 secondary schools in Somerset for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 23% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 8% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 31.9 | 10% | 36.5% | 1,561 | — |
| University Centre Somerset College Group | — | — | — | — | 0.3 miles |
| St John and St Francis Church School | — | 4.3% | 22.8% | 421 | 0.5 miles |
| Eastover Primary School | — | 6.8% | 28% | 403 | 0.5 miles |
| Willowdown Primary School | — | 7% | 26.6% | 361 | 0.8 miles |
| Northgate Primary School | — | 4.7% | 37.7% | 258 | 1.1 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
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 36.52%
- English as an additional language
- 20%
- Overall absence
- 10.01%
- Persistent absence
- 27.23%
Location
Nearby schools
-
University Centre Somerset College Group0.3 miles
16 plus · Bridgwater
-
St John and St Francis Church School0.5 miles
Primary · Bridgwater
-
Eastover Primary School0.5 miles
Primary · Bridgwater
-
Willowdown Primary School0.8 miles
Primary · Bridgwater
-
Northgate Primary School1.1 miles
Primary · Bridgwater
Other schools in Bridgwater
Bridgwater College Academy ranks 26th of the 26 ranked primary schools in Bridgwater, and Bridgwater College Academy ranks 5th of the 5 ranked secondary schools in Bridgwater.
- Ashcott Primary School Primary
- Cannington Church of England Primary School Primary
- Catcott Primary School Primary
- Eastover Primary School Primary
- Enmore Church of England Primary School Primary
- Hamp Academy Primary
- Hamp Nursery and Infants' School Primary
- Kingsmoor Primary School Primary
- Middlezoy Primary School Primary
- Nether Stowey Church of England Primary School Primary
- North Newton Community Primary School Primary
- North Petherton Primary School Primary
Common questions
- What year groups does Bridgwater College Academy teach?
- Bridgwater College Academy teaches children aged 3 to 16. It is an all-through school in Bridgwater.
- Who is the head teacher of Bridgwater College Academy?
- The head teacher of Bridgwater College Academy is Headteacher Laura Campbell/ Sarah Evans, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was Bridgwater College Academy last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Bridgwater College Academy, 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 Bridgwater College Academy?
- Bridgwater College Academy has 1,561 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 3 to 16.
- Is Bridgwater College Academy full?
- Bridgwater College Academy has capacity for 1,880 pupils and 1,561 on roll (83%), 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 Bridgwater College Academy a faith school?
- No. Bridgwater College Academy has no designated religious character.
- Is Bridgwater College Academy a selective school?
- No. Bridgwater College Academy is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- Does Bridgwater College Academy have a nursery?
- Yes. The schools register records Bridgwater College Academy as having nursery classes.
- Who runs Bridgwater College Academy?
- Bridgwater College Academy is part of BRIDGWATER & TAUNTON COLLEGE TRUST. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- What SEN provision does Bridgwater College Academy have?
- The schools register lists Bridgwater College Academy's special educational needs provision as: ASD - Autistic Spectrum Disorder. Contact the school to discuss how it would support a particular child.
- How have Bridgwater College Academy's results changed over recent years?
- Its share of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths was 49% in 2022/23 and 25% in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Bridgwater College Academy rank locally?
- Bridgwater College Academy ranked 28th of 28 secondary schools in Somerset for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 23% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 8% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Bridgwater College Academy's absence rate?
- Bridgwater College Academy's overall absence rate is 10% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Bridgwater College Academy's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Bridgwater College Academy'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.