The Park Community School
Park Lane, Barnstaple, EX32 9AX
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Academy converter
- Ages
- 11 to 16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Trust
- THE HARBOUR SCHOOLS PARTNERSHIP
- Headteacher
- Ms Vicky Owen
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Sponsor
- Ventrus Limited
- Constituency
- North Devon
- Setting
- Urban: Further from a major town or city
- Capacity
- 1,500
- Pupils on roll
- 1,408
- URN
- 146094
- Local authority
- Devon
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01271373131
About this school
The Park Community School is a secondary academy in Barnstaple. It teaches children aged 11 to 16 and has 1,408 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 did not give an overall grade. Between September 2024 and September 2025 inspections graded each area of a school's work without a single overall judgement, ahead of the move to report cards. How Ofsted report cards work
- Quality of education
- Good
- Behaviour and attitudes
- Good
- Personal development
- Good
- Leadership and management
- Good
- Safeguarding
- Effective
Exam results
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 301 | 254 | 278 |
| Attainment 8 score | 45.4 | 48.0 | 46.6 |
| Progress 8 score | -0.25 -0.41 to -0.09 | -0.13 -0.30 to +0.05 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 45% | 48.4% | 47.5% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 62% | 69.3% | 65.8% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 50% | 52.8% | 50.4% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 4.1 | 4.4 | 4.2 |
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 Park Community School has moved over recent years against the local and national picture. Every figure is shown in the table beneath its chart.
| Year | This school | Devon average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 45.4 | 36.5 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 48 | 36.1 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 46.6 | 33.6 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 10.9% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 10.6% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 9.7% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 1,448 |
| 2023/24 | 1,416 |
| 2024/25 | 1,435 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How The Park Community School compares
The Park Community School ranked 14th of 40 secondary schools in Devon for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 64% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 9% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 46.6 | 9.7% | 24.3% | 1,408 | — |
| Pilton Community College | 46.4 | 11.2% | 28.5% | 1,165 | 1.5 miles |
| Braunton Academy | 53.7 | 8% | 14.8% | 828 | 5.1 miles |
| Bideford College | 45.7 | 11.3% | 29.6% | 1,455 | 8.2 miles |
| Great Torrington School | 39 | 12.5% | 25.1% | 863 | 8.7 miles |
| The Ilfracombe Church of England Academy | 47.9 | 8.8% | 25.1% | 1,016 | 9.7 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)
- 24.32%
- English as an additional language
- 4.2%
- Overall absence
- 9.72%
- Persistent absence
- 27.01%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Pilton Community College1.5 miles
Secondary · Barnstaple
-
Braunton Academy5.1 miles
Secondary · Braunton
-
Bideford College8.2 miles
Secondary · Bideford
-
Great Torrington School8.7 miles
Secondary · Torrington
-
The Ilfracombe Church of England Academy9.7 miles
Secondary · Ilfracombe
Other schools in Barnstaple
- Pilton Community College Secondary
- Ashleigh CofE Primary School Primary
- Bishops Tawton Primary School Primary
- Bratton Fleming Community Primary School Primary
- Brayford Academy Primary
- Eden Park Academy Primary
- Filleigh Community Primary School Primary
- Fremington Primary School Primary
- Goodleigh Church of England Primary School Primary
- Holywell Church of England School Primary
- Horwood and Newton Tracey Community Primary School Primary
- Kentisbury Primary School Primary
Common questions
- What year groups does The Park Community School teach?
- The Park Community School teaches children aged 11 to 16. It is a secondary school in Barnstaple.
- Who is the headteacher of The Park Community School?
- The headteacher of The Park Community School is Ms Vicky Owen, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was The Park Community School last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected The Park Community School, 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 Park Community School?
- The Park Community School has 1,408 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 16.
- Is The Park Community School full?
- The Park Community School has capacity for 1,500 pupils and 1,408 on roll (94%), 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 Park Community School a faith school?
- No. The Park Community School has no designated religious character.
- Is The Park Community School a selective school?
- No. The Park Community School is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- Who runs The Park Community School?
- The Park Community School is part of THE HARBOUR SCHOOLS PARTNERSHIP. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- How have The Park Community School's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 45.4 in 2022/23 and 46.6 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 Park Community School rank locally?
- The Park Community School ranked 14th of 40 secondary schools in Devon for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 64% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 9% 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 Park Community School's absence rate?
- The Park Community School's overall absence rate is 9.7% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are The Park Community School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, The Park Community School'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 10 July 2026.