Burlescombe Church of England Primary School

Burlescombe Church of England Primary School is a small village primary that has been through a turbulent period, including long stretches without a substantive headteacher; a new headteacher took up post in April 2025 and is beginning to set a renewed sense of ambition. Behaviour and attitudes, personal development and early years provision are good, and safeguarding is effective. Pupils are proud of their school, behave well, feel safe and benefit from a caring ethos, strong reading and phonics practice, a wide range of trips and sporting opportunities, and opportunities to take responsibility. However, the quality of education and leadership and management require improvement. The curriculum does not set out the essential knowledge pupils should learn and remember, assessment is not used sharply enough to check understanding or adapt tasks, and pupils therefore do not build knowledge securely or achieve as well as they should. Pupils with SEND experience the same weaknesses, with targets that are not precise enough and support that is not routinely timely. Leaders have identified the right priorities, but their actions are at an early stage and have not yet had the required impact. This was the school’s first routine inspection since the pandemic and it has not previously been inspected under section 5.

Strengths

• Pupils are proud of their village school and behave well, reflecting values of responsibility and respect.
• Pupils feel safe and value warm, caring relationships with adults, including a trusted adult to speak to.
• Personal development is a strength, with pupils learning online safety, different beliefs and British values such as democracy.
• Pupils take on roles such as inspiring speakers, young leaders and school councillors.
• Residential outdoor education trips and competitive sport build independence, resilience and talents.
• Reading is central to pupils’ learning and phonics teaching is a strength, with rigorous systems and all Year 1 pupils passing the phonics screening check.
• Early years provision gives children a secure start in a warm, inviting environment with a strong focus on reading, writing, mathematics and outdoor learning.
• Pupils behave well across the school, with mutual care and respect between age groups and older pupils modelling positive behaviour.
• Attendance is high and pupils enjoy coming to school.
• Safeguarding arrangements are effective.
• New leadership has quickly identified what the school needs to do to improve.

Areas for Improvement

• The curriculum lacks appropriate rigour and does not identify the essential knowledge pupils need to know and remember.
• Teachers are sometimes unsure which knowledge to emphasise and revisit, so pupils do not consistently recall prior learning or make connections.
• Assessment is not used precisely enough to check what pupils know and understand.
• Feedback to pupils is not effective enough to help them improve.
• Tasks are often not designed with pupils’ prior knowledge in mind, so work lacks ambition for some and others lack foundational knowledge.
• Pupils with SEND experience the same weaknesses, and their targets are not sufficiently precise for staff to provide timely, appropriate support.
• Leaders’ steps to rectify weaknesses are in their early days and have not yet had the impact needed.
• Leadership and management are not yet securing consistent improvement across the curriculum.

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 Burlescombe Church of England Primary School attended 94.4% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 15.0% 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 Burlescombe Church of England 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 Burlescombe Church of England Primary School had 9.7 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 50.0% 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, 6.7% of pupils at Burlescombe Church of England Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 0.0% 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.

In 2024–25 Burlescombe Church of England Primary School received £9,785 and spent £9,514 for each of its 46 pupils. It ended the year with a deficit of £6,000 (-£141 per pupil).

Across all 5 schools of Alumnis Multi-Academy Trust, income was £7,834 and spending £8,144 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 Tiverton · Devon local authority: places and applications

Burlescombe Church of England Primary School is part of Alumnis Multi-Academy Trust, which runs 5 schools. The nearest others:

• Webber's Church of England Primary School Wellington
• Bampton Church of England Primary School Tiverton
• Combe Martin Primary School Ilfracombe
• Woolacombe School Woolacombe

What is Burlescombe Church of England Primary School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Burlescombe Church of England Primary School is Requires Improvement, from an inspection in July 2025.

When was Burlescombe Church of England Primary School last inspected by Ofsted?

Burlescombe Church of England Primary School was last inspected in July 2025.

How many pupils does Burlescombe Church of England Primary School have?

Burlescombe Church of England Primary School has 30 pupils on roll.

What age range does Burlescombe Church of England Primary School cover?

Burlescombe Church of England Primary School for pupils aged 4 to 11.

What are Burlescombe Church of England Primary School's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 86% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Burlescombe Church of England Primary School?

Burlescombe Church of England Primary School is at Station Road, Burlescombe, Tiverton, Devon, EX16 7JH.