Berry Pomeroy Parochial CofE Primary School

About Berry Pomeroy Parochial CofE Primary School

Berry Pomeroy Parochial CofE Primary School holds a Good rating from Ofsted, a grade it has maintained across its two most recent inspections. The school’s most recent graded inspection, in 2017, awarded Good marks for overall effectiveness, leadership and management, early years provision, and behaviour and attitudes. But the real story lies in its academic outcomes. In the 2023/24 Key Stage 2 assessments, 94% of pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined — a figure that towers over the Devon local authority average of 57%. That performance places the school first among 35 primary schools in the South Hams district, and in the top 1% nationally. It also ranks third within Devon as a whole, out of 309 primary schools. For a small village school with just 85 pupils, these results are striking and suggest a focused, effective approach to core learning.

Digging deeper into the SATs data, the school’s strength is consistent across subjects. In reading, every single pupil reached the expected standard, and 56% achieved the higher standard. Writing saw 100% at expected and 44% at the higher level, while maths matched the 94% expected rate, with half of pupils hitting the higher threshold. Average scaled scores were 110 in reading and 108 in maths, both comfortably above the national benchmark of 100. The school does not publish Progress 8 scores, so it is hard to say how much value it adds relative to starting points, but the raw attainment is exceptional. Ofsted’s 2017 report noted that early years provision was Good, and the school has clearly built on that foundation. With no sixth form and a primary-only intake, the focus is squarely on preparing children for secondary school, and the data suggests it does that very effectively.

The school is a Church of England primary in the village of Berry Pomeroy, near Totnes in South Devon. Its facilities include a sports hall, playing fields, an art studio, a library, a chapel and a sensory room, which supports its SEND provision for pupils with moderate learning difficulties, speech and language needs, and social or emotional challenges. Clubs cover drama, science, chess and art, while sports include athletics, tennis, dance and netball. For the 2025/26 intake, the school was oversubscribed: 34 applications for 13 places, with 12 first-preference offers made. That gives an oversubscription ratio of 2.62, so it is a popular choice locally. The headteacher is Fiona Dean, and the school has capacity for 105 pupils but currently enrols 85, so there is some room for growth. This is a school for families who prioritise strong academic foundations within a small, rural, faith-based setting.

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