Special school in Bridgwater, Somerset
Polden Bower School
Bower Lane, Bridgwater, TA6 4GU
Ofsted
Graded Good at its last graded inspection, on 21 May 2024.
Ofsted stopped awarding single-word overall grades in September 2024. This grade is 2 years old and will not be updated — the school keeps it until its next inspection, which will not produce a replacement grade.
Exam results
Special schools serve pupils whose needs the standard measures were not designed to describe, so results are not shown or ranked here.
Pupils
- Pupils on roll
- 260
- Places
- 200
- How full
- Full — 260 pupils against 200 places
- Girls / boys
- 92 / 168
- Overall absence
- 10%
- Persistently absent
- 27%
England 5.8%
England 14.7% — pupils missing 10% or more of sessions
- Free school meals, last 6 years
- 44%
- English as an additional language
- 9%
- With an EHC plan
- 100%
- On SEN support
- 0%
England 25.7%
England 18.7%
England 3.5%
England 15%
What pupils do next
After GCSEs
- In education, work or training
- 100%
- Stayed in education
- 100%
- Started an apprenticeship
- 0%
- Stayed at this school's sixth form
- 0%
- No sustained destination
- 0%
- Pupils in the cohort
- 13
England 91.4%
England 85.4%
England 3.5%
England 5.8%
A destination counts only if it lasted at least six months, which is why these figures lag the exam results by a year. 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 Sedgemoor 010F, 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
- 28%
- Adults with no qualifications
- 13%
- Households owning their home
- 83%
- Households in social housing
- 3%
- Households with no car
- 3%
- Adults economically inactive
- 21%
England 33.8%
England 18.3%
England 62.7%
England 17%
England 21.9%
England 39.9%
School details
- Type
- Foundation special school
- Phase
- Special
- Ages
- Ages 4–19
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- None
- Sixth form
- Yes
- Nursery
- No
- Boarding
- Day school
- Headteacher
- Headteacher: Helen Farnell (Executive Headteacher) Ryan Parker-Binns (Head of School)
- Local authority
- Somerset
- Ward
- Bridgwater East & Bawdrip
- Constituency
- Bridgwater
- URN
- 123938
The unique reference number used in all official school data.
Nearest special schools
| School | Ofsted | Attainment 8 | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Petherton Park SchoolOther independent special school | No grade | — | 2.3 mi |
| Inaura SchoolOther independent special school | No grade | — | 4.9 mi |
| Cambian Somerset SchoolOther independent special school | No grade | — | 6.9 mi |
| Park House SchoolOther independent special school | No grade | — | 7.3 mi |
| Dovecote SchoolOther independent special school | No grade | — | 7.5 mi |
| The Levels SchoolOther independent special school | No grade | — | 8.3 mi |
| Silver Bridge SchoolOther independent special school | No grade | — | 8.5 mi |
| Sedgemoor Manor SchoolOther independent special school | No grade | — | 9 mi |
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.
- 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.