Cockington Primary School
Old Mill Road, Torquay, TQ2 6AP
- Phase
- Primary
- School type
- Academy converter
- Ages
- 5 to 11
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- None
- Trust
- CONNECT ACADEMY TRUST
- Headteacher
- Mr Andrew Swainson
- Constituency
- Torbay
- Setting
- Urban: Further from a major town or city
- Capacity
- 480
- Pupils on roll
- 380
- URN
- 149222
- Local authority
- Torbay
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01803214100
About this school
Cockington Primary School is a primary academy in Torquay. It teaches children aged 5 to 11 and has 380 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 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
- Outstanding
- Personal development
- Good
- Leadership and management
- Good
- Early years
- Good
- Safeguarding
- Effective
Exam results
Key stage 2 (end of primary school)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 2 | 90 | 75 | 80 |
| Met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths | 32% | 55% | 46% |
| Reached the higher standard in reading, writing and maths | 0% | 4% | 6% |
| Expected standard in reading | 63% | 76% | 71% |
| Expected standard in maths | 61% | 69% | 68% |
| Expected standard in grammar, punctuation and spelling | 54% | 73% | 61% |
| Average scaled score in reading | 102.0 | 106.0 | 104.0 |
| Average scaled score in maths | 102.0 | 103.0 | 103.0 |
| Reading progress | -2.10 | - | - |
| Writing progress | -7.40 | - | - |
| Maths progress | -2.20 | - | - |
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.
Trends over time
How Cockington Primary 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 | Torbay average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 32% | 57% | 57.9% |
| 2023/24 | 55% | 57.5% | 58.8% |
| 2024/25 | 46% | 57.7% | 60.3% |
Department for Education KS2 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 7.3% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 6.6% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 5.2% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 492 |
| 2023/24 | 443 |
| 2024/25 | 419 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Cockington Primary School compares
Cockington Primary School ranked 26th of 30 primary schools in Torbay for KS2 results in 2024/25. Its KS2 result was higher than 17% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 54% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | KS2 RWM (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 46% | 5.2% | 34.6% | 380 | — |
| Our Lady of the Angels Catholic Primary School | 50% | 5.2% | 34.3% | 145 | 0.6 miles |
| Torre Church of England Academy | 84% | 4% | 28% | 310 | 0.7 miles |
| Upton St James CofE Primary School | 36% | 6.9% | 52% | 94 | 0.7 miles |
| Ellacombe Church of England Academy | 71% | 6.1% | 44.9% | 337 | 0.8 miles |
| Sherwell Valley Primary School | 75% | 4.3% | 15.9% | 694 | 0.9 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)
- 34.61%
- English as an additional language
- 27.2%
- Overall absence
- 5.24%
- Persistent absence
- 15.01%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Our Lady of the Angels Catholic Primary School0.6 miles
Primary · Torquay
-
Torre Church of England Academy0.7 miles
Primary · Torquay
-
Upton St James CofE Primary School0.7 miles
Primary · Torquay
-
Ellacombe Church of England Academy0.8 miles
Primary · Torquay
-
Sherwell Valley Primary School0.9 miles
Primary · Torquay
Other schools in Torquay
Cockington Primary School ranks 14th of the 17 ranked primary schools in Torquay.
- All Saints Babbacombe CofE 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
- Priory Roman Catholic Primary School, Torquay Primary
- Sherwell Valley Primary School Primary
- Shiphay Learning Academy Primary
- St Margaret's Academy Primary
- St Marychurch Church of England Primary and Nursery School Primary
Common questions
- What year groups does Cockington Primary School teach?
- Cockington Primary School teaches children aged 5 to 11. It is a primary school in Torquay.
- Who is the headteacher of Cockington Primary School?
- The headteacher of Cockington Primary School is Mr Andrew Swainson, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was Cockington Primary School last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Cockington Primary 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 Cockington Primary School?
- Cockington Primary School has 380 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 5 to 11.
- Is Cockington Primary School full?
- Cockington Primary School has capacity for 480 pupils and 380 on roll (79%), 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 Cockington Primary School a faith school?
- No. Cockington Primary School has no designated religious character.
- Does Cockington Primary School have a nursery?
- No. The schools register records Cockington Primary School as having no nursery classes.
- Who runs Cockington Primary School?
- Cockington Primary School is part of CONNECT ACADEMY TRUST. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- How have Cockington Primary School's results changed over recent years?
- Its share of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths was 32% in 2022/23 and 46% in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Cockington Primary School rank locally?
- Cockington Primary School ranked 26th of 30 primary schools in Torbay for key stage 2 results. Its KS2 result was higher than 17% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 54% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Cockington Primary School's absence rate?
- Cockington Primary School's overall absence rate is 5.2% in the latest published census, at or below the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Cockington Primary School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Cockington Primary 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.