Bishops Nympton Primary School

Bishops Nympton Primary is a small community primary school with an on-site nursery and is part of the Exmoor Link Federation. Since its previous inspection, when it required improvement, the school was affected by considerable staffing instability, but staffing has now stabilised and leaders have renewed their focus on improvement. Inspectors found the school effective across the quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, leadership and management, and early years provision, with high aspirations and pupils achieving well. The school's strengths include a strong focus on early reading and phonics, an ambitious curriculum, effective support for pupils with SEND, calm and polite behaviour, strong attendance, and a rich personal development programme. Safeguarding is effective, governors and leaders are outward-looking, and staff feel well supported. The main areas for improvement are writing and challenge. Expectations for writing are not applied consistently across subjects and year groups, so some pupils do not develop spelling, punctuation and handwriting well enough or express their knowledge clearly in written work. In addition, learning is not always adapted well enough to pupils' individual needs, meaning some work lacks ambition and pupils do not deepen their knowledge as well as they could.

Strengths

• Ambitious curriculum builds knowledge and skills from early years through to Year 6
• Strong early years focus on speaking, listening and ambitious vocabulary
• Reading and phonics are a strength, with pupils reading at the earliest opportunity
• Pupils achieve well and rise to the school's high aspirations
• Effective SEND identification and precise support help pupils make good progress
• Pupils behave responsibly and are polite and kind to one another
• Strong attendance and close work with families when attendance deteriorates
• Rich personal development through trips, clubs, responsibility roles and the Exmoor challenge
• Safeguarding arrangements are effective
• Outward-looking governors and leaders provide appropriate challenge and support

Areas for Improvement

• Expectations for writing are not applied consistently across subjects and year groups
• Some pupils lack sufficient opportunities to develop spelling, punctuation and handwriting
• Learning is not always adapted well enough to pupils' individual needs
• Some learning activities lack sufficient challenge and ambition, limiting how deeply pupils deepen their knowledge

Admissions: local authority offers data from the Department for Education. A school is oversubscribed when at least 5% of the families who put it first were not offered a place, and undersubscribed when everyone who put it first got in but 10% or more of its places were unfilled in the Department's school capacity survey (the latest survey is used for entry years it does not cover). Places: Department for Education, School capacity, from local authorities' annual survey as at 1 May. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024–25); the survey was not run in 2020. Places include sixth form places. Forecasts are the local authority's own for the school's planning area, an area it uses to plan places that is not the school's catchment area. The forecast starts from a head count in 2025; the dashed line is the Department's estimate of places in that area, including those the authority has firm plans for. Planned places are cumulative, and only those with firm plans are counted.

In 2024–25 pupils at Bishops Nympton Primary School attended 94.5% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 13.8% of pupils were persistently absent, missing at least one session in ten (nationally 13.0%).

Sessions missed

Pupils persistently absent

Source: Department for Education, Pupil absence in schools in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Persistent absence means missing 10% or more of sessions; severe absence means 50% or more. No figures were published for 2019/20.

In 2024–25, 1.1% of pupils at Bishops Nympton Primary School were suspended at least once (nationally 1.1%). No pupils were permanently excluded.

Pupils suspended at least once

Source: Department for Education, Suspensions and permanent exclusions in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). A pupil can be suspended more than once, so suspensions per 100 pupils can be higher than the share of pupils suspended. Very small numbers are hidden by the DfE. Exclusion figures dropped in 2020 and 2021 because of school closures.

In 2025–26 Bishops Nympton Primary School had 12.8 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 36.5% were no longer at the school a year later (nationally 15.7%).

Pupils per teacher

Teachers who left the school within a year

Source: Department for Education, School workforce in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Pupils per teacher counts full-time-equivalent pupils and teachers. Turnover is the share of a year's teachers (full-time equivalent) who were not at the school the following year, whether they moved to another school or left state-funded teaching. Turnover and sickness figures run one year behind the ratios. Sick leave is the share of teachers who took at least one day in the year, so it swings widely at small schools, where a few teachers can make it 0% or 100%. The national figures are for all state schools of the same type.

In 2025–26, 26.2% of pupils at Bishops Nympton Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 5.0% had an education, health and care (EHC) plan (nationally 4.1%).

Pupils by main type of need

Source: Department for Education, Special educational needs in England (the 2025–26 school census). SEN support is extra help in school without an EHC plan. National figures are for all state-funded primary schools. Counts are as published, with small numbers not hidden.

• Primary Schools
• Secondary Schools

All schools in South Molton · Devon local authority: places and applications

What is Bishops Nympton Primary School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Bishops Nympton Primary School is Good, from an inspection in July 2025.

When was Bishops Nympton Primary School last inspected by Ofsted?

Bishops Nympton Primary School was last inspected in July 2025.

How many pupils does Bishops Nympton Primary School have?

Bishops Nympton Primary School has 80 pupils on roll.

What age range does Bishops Nympton Primary School cover?

Bishops Nympton Primary School for pupils aged 2 to 11.

What are Bishops Nympton Primary School's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 40% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Bishops Nympton Primary School?

Bishops Nympton Primary School is at Bishops Nympton, South Molton, Devon, EX36 4PU.