Watcombe Primary School
Torquay, TQ2 8NU · Torbay local authority
Torquay’s School Grade B− better than 51% of towns in England
What stands out about Watcombe Primary School
- Its own letter, D: Key Stage 2 results near the bottom of England’s primary schools (better than 8%)
- 43% meet the expected standard in reading, writing and maths, 19 points below England’s schools
- Ofsted: Good, July 2024 (shown, not graded)
- Every family who put it first got a place for September 2026 (25 of 25)
- Homes in its postcode sector (TQ2 8) sold for a median £250,000; Torquay’s is £220,000
Results
DfE · Key Stage 2Reading, writing and maths 43%
Met the expected standard, DfE’s 3-year average 2023–2025 · higher than 8% of England’s 14,979 graded primaries · Torbay avg 62%
Each subject, 2025
Met the expected standard; the mark is England’s schools · average scaled score: reading 99, maths 100 (100 = the expected standard)
Disadvantaged pupils, 2025
Met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths: the 10 disadvantaged pupils and the rest, beside England’s schools
England’s figures are of its graded mainstream state schools, each school counted once; grammar schools are included, which is why the right-hand tail is long. Small cohorts are suppressed.
How hard is it to get a place at Watcombe Primary School?
Every family who put it first got a place for September 2026.
Years when some first choices missed out: 2019 (8), 2020 (10), 2024 (2), 2025 (1). The council runs the coordinated admissions; each school’s rules (siblings, distance, faith) decide who gets in. DfE doesn’t publish the furthest distance offered, so check the council’s admissions booklet for that. Torbay council sets the admissions rules. Apply through Torbay council’s coordinated admissions.
Outline = places offered · green = families who put it first · striped = more first choices than places · the 10 most in demand
100% got their first choice
Torquay and Torbay, side by side
2023–2025All 29 graded primaries in Torbay. Schools with more pupils on free school meals usually score lower, so a school above the crowd for its free school meals is doing better than its intake predicts. Torquay’s schools are coloured by their letter.
Show as a table
| School | Letter | Free school meals | KS2 expected standard |
|---|---|---|---|
| Galmpton Church of England Primary School | A+ | 10% | 85% |
| Hayes School | A | 43% | 82% |
| Ilsham Church of England Academy | A | 14% | 82% |
| Torre Church of England Academy | A | 26% | 79% |
| Collaton St Mary Church of England Primary School | A− | 28% | 74% |
| Ellacombe Church of England Academy | B+ | 41% | 70% |
| Warberry CofE Academy | B+ | 19% | 70% |
| Lift Barton Hill | B+ | 39% | 69% |
| Furzeham Primary School | B+ | 25% | 69% |
| Shiphay Learning Academy | B | 18% | 67% |
| Roselands Primary School | B | 18% | 67% |
| Brixham Church of England Primary School | B | 25% | 67% |
| St Margaret Clitherow Catholic Primary School | B | 50% | 65% |
| Sherwell Valley Primary School | B− | 17% | 63% |
| Sacred Heart Catholic School | B− | 24% | 63% |
| Curledge Street Academy | B− | 42% | 62% |
| Preston Primary School | C+ | 11% | 60% |
| Eden Park Primary & Nursery School | C+ | 38% | 58% |
| White Rock Primary School | C | 18% | 57% |
| St Margaret's Academy | C | 29% | 55% |
| Kings Ash Academy | C | 62% | 55% |
| Oldway Primary School | C | 16% | 55% |
| Homelands Primary School | C | 41% | 54% |
| Our Lady of the Angels Catholic Primary School | C− | 28% | 53% |
| All Saints Babbacombe CofE Primary School | C− | 20% | 51% |
| Cockington Primary School | D | 35% | 44% |
| Watcombe Primary School | D | 34% | 43% |
| St Marychurch Church of England Primary and Nursery School | D | 27% | 40% |
| Upton St James CofE Primary School | D− | 46% | 30% |
Who goes here
DfE school census, January 2025225 pupils. SEN support is extra help in school for a special educational need; an EHC plan is the council’s legal plan for pupils who need more.
Girls and boys
Watcombe Primary School’s letter
Its own results against England’s schools, not the town’s School Grade.
How school letters are worked out
Each school’s measure is compared with every graded school in England of the same phase: for primaries, the share of pupils meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (DfE’s three-year average); for secondaries, Attainment 8 and the share with grade 5 or above in English and maths, each turned into a z-score against England’s schools and averaged. The letter comes from the share of those schools it beats, in the same bands as every grade on the site. The same method gives U.S. schools their letters, against their own state.
Graded: England’s open mainstream state schools with published results (grammar schools included, which select by test). Not graded: special schools, alternative provision, nurseries, 16–19 colleges, UTCs and studio schools, Welsh schools. Ofsted plays no part.
Ofsted inspections
Shown, not graded: Ofsted is never part of a letter or the School Grade.
Graded inspection: Good, July 2024. Ungraded inspection: School remains Good (Concerns), April 2023.
Living near Watcombe Primary School
For families thinking of moving: what homes cost around the school, and the other schools close by.
Home prices in TQ2 8, the school’s postcode sector
Torquay property prices →Median sale price each year, 2010 to 2025
By type, the 36 months to August 2026
Homes in TQ2 8 sell for a little over Torquay’s typical price. HM Land Registry Price Paid, standard sales. Catchments aren’t published, so the postcode sector stands in for “around the school”.
Schools within 1.6 miles
10 state schoolsLocation
Directions ↗
Torquay, TQ2 8NU
Watcombe Primary School: common questions
Is Watcombe Primary School a good school?
By its published results, well below average: its Key Stage 2 results are better than 8% of England’s primary schools (its letter is D), with 43% of pupils meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and maths, against 62% for England’s schools. Ofsted: Good, July 2024.
How hard is it to get into Watcombe Primary School?
For September 2026, 25 families put Watcombe Primary School first and all of them were offered a place; 27 places were offered in all.
What is Watcombe Primary School’s Ofsted rating?
Its latest inspection outcome is Good (July 2024).
How much do houses cost near Watcombe Primary School?
Homes in its postcode sector, TQ2 8, sold for a median £250,000 over the 36 months to August 2026 (282 sales).
Sources: DfE Get Information about Schools (16 October 2026), Key Stage 2 performance tables (2023–2025, three-year average) and Key Stage 4 (2025/26, provisional); Ofsted state-funded school inspections as at 30 September 2026. All under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Also: DfE Key Stage 4 performance, schools data (2023/24 and 2024/25 final, 2025/26 provisional) and Key Stage 2 performance tables 2024/25 by subject; DfE school census, January 2025; DfE school-level applications and offers, September 2019 to 2026 entry; HM Land Registry Price Paid by postcode sector, 2010 to August 2026.
A school’s letter is our own summary of its published results against England’s schools of the same phase; Torquay’s School Grade is a separate grade, built from the results of the schools in and around the town against other towns. Map: © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026 (ONS boundaries). Northern Ireland: Source: NISRA; contains Land & Property Services data and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland information, © Crown copyright, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Scotland: contains National Records of Scotland data, Registers of Scotland data and SEPA data, © Crown copyright / © SEPA 2025, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.