Brixington Primary Academy

Brixington Primary Academy is a larger-than-average primary school within the First Federation Trust. Inspectors found that safeguarding standards are met and that most areas of provision are performing as expected, including attendance and behaviour, curriculum and teaching, early years, inclusion, leadership and governance, and personal development and wellbeing. Pupils are happy, feel safe and included, behave well, and attend well. Parents are highly positive, and the school's early years provision and support for pupils with SEND, including its resource base, are notable strengths.

Strengths

• Safeguarding standards are met, with an open and positive safeguarding culture.
• Pupils behave well, follow routines, and show positive attitudes to learning.
• Pupils attend well, and absence rates have begun to improve.
• Bullying is rare and is dealt with promptly and effectively.
• Pupils feel safe, valued, and included, including those who join mid-year.
• The curriculum is broad and ambitious, including for pupils with SEND.
• Early years provision is strong, including the newly opened two-year-old provision.
• Pupils with SEND are well understood and typically make suitable progress.
• Pastoral support through The Bridge and The Bubble helps pupils manage feelings and behaviour.
• Leaders have an accurate understanding of provision and provide high-quality staff professional learning.
• Governance is knowledgeable, holds leaders to account, and supports improvement.
• Staff are positive about working at the school, and leaders consider workload and wellbeing.
• Parents are extremely positive and feel their children are well known and nurtured.
• The personal development programme develops pupils' social, health, safety, and British values understanding.
• Pupils take part in a rich set of experiences, including trips and residential visits.
• Pupils are proud of working with leaders to improve the playground environment.

Areas for Improvement

• Achievement needs attention because pupils, including disadvantaged pupils, do not achieve well enough.
• Outcomes in national assessments at the end of key stage 2 are below national averages.
• Year 1 phonics screening check outcomes are below national averages.
• Disadvantaged pupils achieve well below national averages in reading, writing and mathematics.
• Gaps in pupils' knowledge are not accurately identified or consistently addressed.
• Staff do not consistently teach phonics with enough precision, especially for older pupils.
• Some teachers do not accurately identify pupils' starting points and knowledge gaps, which hinders learning.
• Pupils who join the school in key stage 2 achieve less well than those who attend for longer.
• Leaders do not check that all pupils have meaningful opportunities to develop talents and interests through clubs.

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 Brixington Primary Academy attended 95.2% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 13.5% 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, 1.2% of pupils at Brixington Primary Academy 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 Brixington Primary Academy had 21.2 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 16.1% 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, 17.7% of pupils at Brixington Primary Academy were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 6.6% 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 Brixington Primary Academy received £7,381 and spent £7,866 for each of its 326 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £90,000 (£277 per pupil).

Across all 29 schools of The First Federation Trust, income was £7,461 and spending £7,535 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 Exmouth · Devon local authority: places and applications

Brixington Primary Academy is part of The First Federation Trust, which runs 29 schools. The nearest others:

• Lady Seaward's Church of England Primary School Exeter
• Gatehouse Primary Academy Dawlish
• Westcliff Primary Academy Dawlish
• Rockbeare Church of England Primary School and Pre-School Exeter
• Sidmouth Church of England Primary School Sidmouth
• Chudleigh Knighton Church of England Primary School Newton Abbot
• Blackpool Church of England Primary School Newton Abbot
• Willowbank Primary School Cullompton
• Colyton Primary Academy Colyton
• Musbury Primary School Axminster

What is Brixington Primary Academy's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Brixington Primary Academy is Needs attention, from an inspection in June 2026.

When was Brixington Primary Academy last inspected by Ofsted?

Brixington Primary Academy was last inspected in June 2026.

How many pupils does Brixington Primary Academy have?

Brixington Primary Academy has 351 pupils on roll.

What age range does Brixington Primary Academy cover?

Brixington Primary Academy for pupils aged 2 to 11.

What are Brixington Primary Academy's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 53% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Brixington Primary Academy?

Brixington Primary Academy is at Brixington Lane, Exmouth, Devon, EX8 4JQ.