Stoke Fleming Community Primary School

Stoke Fleming Community Primary School is a smaller-than-average primary in the Education South West multi-academy trust, with nursery provision and a new headteacher appointed in September 2024. Inspectors found it performing strongly overall. Pupils achieve consistently above national averages in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of key stage 2, and disadvantaged pupils do especially well, often outperforming non-disadvantaged peers nationally. Attendance is above average, persistent absence has fallen sharply, and behaviour and attitudes are excellent, with pupils showing confidence, independence and kindness. Safeguarding standards are met. The school's early years, inclusion, leadership and governance, and personal development are all strong. Children in early years make rapid progress through a rich, play-based curriculum and highly effective early reading and writing teaching. Pupils with SEND benefit from precise adaptation and specialist support, while disadvantaged pupils receive well-targeted help that closes gaps. Leaders and trustees work effectively together, and staff value professional development and workload support. The broad personal development programme, including the '11 by 11' offer, ensures pupils access enrichment and leadership roles. The main area for development is curriculum and teaching, which is judged at expected standard rather than strong. Teaching is generally good, but checks on pupils' understanding are not always systematic enough, so a few pupils may begin independent work without secure knowledge. Older pupils would also benefit from greater handwriting fluency and more opportunities to communicate detailed curriculum knowledge in writing. Leaders have already introduced a new handwriting curriculum and should continue embedding it, while refining assessment checks so all pupils are ready for independent tasks.

Strengths

• Pupils achieve consistently above national averages in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of key stage 2.
• Disadvantaged pupils achieve well, often above non-disadvantaged peers nationally from the early years.
• Attendance is above the national average and persistent absence has fallen sharply, especially for disadvantaged pupils.
• Pupils show excellent manners, confidence, independence and kindness, with bullying occurring very rarely.
• Early years provision is rich and stimulating, with highly effective teaching of early reading and writing.
• Pupils with SEND make rapid progress because provision is precisely adapted to meet their needs.
• Leaders use additional funding intelligently to close gaps in communication, reading, writing and mathematics.
• Leadership and governance are highly effective, with strong trust collaboration and accurate evaluation of the school.
• Personal development is broad and inclusive, with extensive enrichment and leadership opportunities for all pupils.
• Safeguarding standards are met, with an open and positive culture of safeguarding.
• Reading and phonics teaching is a strength, with improvements leading to rising achievement.
• Staff value a research-informed professional development programme and report high levels of care for workload and wellbeing.

Areas for Improvement

• Curriculum and teaching are at expected standard rather than strong.
• Teachers' checks on pupils' understanding are not always systematic enough to catch everyone.
• Some individual pupils do not have a secure enough understanding before starting independent work.
• Older pupils would benefit from greater handwriting fluency and more opportunities to show detailed curriculum knowledge in writing.
• The new handwriting curriculum needs more time to embed.
• Achievement in phonics and the Year 4 multiplication check has not always been as high, though improvements are underway.

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 Stoke Fleming Community Primary School attended 94.9% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 11.4% 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, 0.0% of pupils at Stoke Fleming Community 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 Stoke Fleming Community Primary School had 28.5 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 3.5% 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, 5.9% of pupils at Stoke Fleming Community Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 3.5% 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.

In 2024–25 Stoke Fleming Community Primary School received £6,883 and spent £6,481 for each of its 153 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £80,000 (£526 per pupil).

Across all 14 schools of Education South West, income was £7,824 and spending £7,754 per pupil.

Income per pupil

Spending per pupil

Source: Department for Education, Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool. Each year is the one the financial year ends in (2024 is 2023–24). Academy figures include a share of the trust's central services, shared out by pupil numbers, and are rounded to the nearest £1,000. Premises costs were defined differently from 2024, so compare them across that gap with care.

• Primary Schools
• Secondary Schools

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

Stoke Fleming Community Primary School is part of Education South West, which runs 14 schools. The nearest others:

• Dartmouth Academy Dartmouth
• Blackawton Primary School Totnes
• East Allington Primary School Totnes
• Kingsbridge Primary School Kingsbridge
• Kingsbridge Academy Kingsbridge
• King Edward VI Community College Totnes
• South Devon UTC Newton Abbot
• Coombeshead Academy Newton Abbot
• Teign School Newton Abbot
• Rydon Primary School Newton Abbot

What is Stoke Fleming Community Primary School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Stoke Fleming Community Primary School is Expected standard, from an inspection in September 2026.

When was Stoke Fleming Community Primary School last inspected by Ofsted?

Stoke Fleming Community Primary School was last inspected in September 2026.

How many pupils does Stoke Fleming Community Primary School have?

Stoke Fleming Community Primary School has 170 pupils on roll.

What age range does Stoke Fleming Community Primary School cover?

Stoke Fleming Community Primary School for pupils aged 2 to 11.

What are Stoke Fleming Community Primary School's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 73% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Stoke Fleming Community Primary School?

Stoke Fleming Community Primary School is at Stoke Fleming, Dartmouth, Devon, TQ6 0QA.