SF School Facts UK

Secondary school in Newton Abbot, Devon

Coombeshead Academy

Coombeshead Road, Newton Abbot, Devon, TQ12 1PT

Ofsted Good · 2023 Sixth form
School website 01626201800

Ofsted

Goodas at 28 February 2023

Graded Good at its last graded inspection, on 28 February 2023.

Ofsted stopped awarding single-word overall grades in September 2024. This grade is 3 years old and will not be updated — the school keeps it until its next inspection, which will not produce a replacement grade.

Read the Ofsted report

GCSE results 2024/25

Attainment 8 score

46.8 England 47

The average grade across eight GCSEs, doubling English and maths. 50 is roughly a grade 5 average.

Grade 5+ in English & maths

49% England 46.2%

Grade 4+ in English & maths

70% England 66.2%

EBacc average point score

4.2 England 4.2

Entered the EBacc

63% England 40.8%

On Attainment 8 this school is around the middle of state-funded secondaries in England.

Compared with the fifth of schools whose intake is middle, which is where this one sits, it is in the better-performing half.

Progress 8 2023/24

-0.12confidence interval -0.39 to 0.14

Taking that range into account, progress was not statistically different from the national average. DfE bands this as average.

Progress 8 measures how far pupils moved between the end of primary and their GCSEs, which makes it far fairer than raw attainment. It is shown for 2023/24 because it could not be calculated for 2024/25: that year group would have sat their key stage 2 tests in summer 2020, when the tests were cancelled, so there is no starting point to measure from. Every school in England is affected, not just this one.

A levels 2024/25

Average grade per entry
D+
Average points per entry
23.9

England average 32.3

A level students
34

Pupils

Pupils on roll
870
Places
1440
How full
60% full — 870 of 1440 places taken, so places are likely to be available
Girls / boys
481 / 389
Overall absence
10%

secondary schools average 8.6%

Persistently absent
27%

secondary schools average 23.9% — pupils missing 10% or more of sessions

Free school meals, last 6 years
27%

England 25.7%

English as an additional language
4%

England 18.7%

With an EHC plan
3%

England 3.5%

On SEN support
18%

England 15%

What pupils do next

After GCSEs

In education, work or training
83%

England 91.4%

Stayed in education
72%

England 85.4%

Started an apprenticeship
6%

England 3.5%

Stayed at this school's sixth form
30%
No sustained destination
10%

England 5.8%

Pupils in the cohort
145

After sixth form

Went to university
11%

England 50%

In education, work or training
77%

England 84.3%

Started an apprenticeship
15%

England 6.5%

Students in the cohort
53

Going on to university 2021/22 leavers

Went to a top third university

3% England 20.9%

The third of higher education providers whose entrants hold the highest average entry qualifications. It is the closest thing in the public data to "did they get into a competitive university", and it separates schools far more sharply than the headline progression rate does.

Went on to a degree
40%

England 65.3%

Students in the cohort
62

These follow an earlier group of leavers than the figures above, and count anyone reaching higher education within two years rather than the term after leaving, so they are not directly comparable with them.

A destination counts only if it lasted at least six months, which is why these figures lag the exam results by a year, and why the university figures track leavers from 2021/22. Small cohorts move these percentages a long way — check the cohort size before reading much into a gap.

The neighbourhood around the school

Census 2021 figures for Teignbridge 012C, the statistical neighbourhood the school sits in — roughly 1,500 residents. It describes the area, not the pupils, who may travel in from further away.

Adults with a degree
32%

England 33.8%

Adults with no qualifications
17%

England 18.3%

Households owning their home
84%

England 62.7%

Households in social housing
5%

England 17%

Households with no car
9%

England 21.9%

Adults economically inactive
44%

England 39.9%

School details

Type
Academy converter
Phase
Secondary
Ages
Ages 11–18
Gender
Mixed
Admissions
Non-selective
Religious character
None
Sixth form
Yes
Nursery
No
Boarding
Day school
Trust
EDUCATION SOUTH WEST
Headteacher
Head of School: Helen Coulson
Local authority
Devon
Ward
Bradley
Constituency
Newton Abbot
URN
137176

The unique reference number used in all official school data.

Nearest secondary schools

SchoolOfstedAttainment 8Distance
Newton Abbot CollegeAcademy converter No grade 40.5 0.2 mi
South Devon UTCUniversity technical college No grade 25.7 0.6 mi
Teign SchoolAcademy converter Good 2022 44.7 1.5 mi
Stover SchoolOther independent school No grade 1.7 mi
Torquay Boys' Grammar SchoolAcademy converter No grade 70.8 4.9 mi
Torquay Girls' Grammar SchoolAcademy converter Outstanding 2023 68.6 4.9 mi
Torquay AcademyAcademy sponsor led No grade 47.6 5.1 mi
St Cuthbert Mayne SchoolVoluntary aided school No grade 39.7 5.2 mi

Schools with a similar intake

State-funded secondary schools nationally whose share of disadvantaged pupils is closest to this school's. This is the fairest like-for-like comparison the published data supports.

SchoolOfstedAttainment 8
Maricourt Catholic High SchoolVoluntary aided school Good 2022 44.5
Dartford Science & Technology CollegeFoundation school No grade 49.1
Sir Geoffrey Leigh AcademyAcademy sponsor led Good 2023 42.9
Lift MaltingsAcademy sponsor led No grade 39.9
Wales High SchoolAcademy converter Good 2023 45.3
The Sir John Colfox AcademyAcademy converter Good 2023 43
Dawlish CollegeAcademy converter No grade 38.9
Honiton Community CollegeAcademy converter No grade 40.4

Where these figures come from

  • School details, address and pupil numbers — Get Information About Schools, the DfE register, as at 14 August 2026.
  • Exam results — DfE performance tables, 2024/25, and 2023/24 for Progress 8.
  • Free school meals, EAL and SEN — school census, 2024/25.
  • Ofsted — Ofsted management information, latest inspections as at 30 June 2026.
  • Neighbourhood figures — ONS Census 2021, lower layer super output area.

All published under the Open Government Licence v3.0. If something here looks wrong, the school's own website is the authority on admissions and open days.