Devon Secondary Schools

[devonmover62]

Hi,

We're thinking of moving to Devon, especially around Honiton area. Has anyone got any experience of the secondary schools in Devon so we can finally decide what area to move to? There does appear to be some negativity around Honiton community college online, and it does not have a great ofsted report, but I know that you have to take ofsted reports with a pinch of salt as some schools are bad yet have good ofsteds or vice versa.
From what I can gather on the internet, King's School in Ottery St Mary seems the best secondary in Devon but you have to be in the catchment.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thank you!

You are right about Ottery being the best state school in Devon but yes, you do have to be in the catchment area. I have heard mixed reviews about Honiton Community College - I think it did have a bad reputation years ago but then it had a good ofsted report and then recently it's kind of reverted back to not being thought of particularly well. The parent view results could be better - 66% of parents would recommend which isnt the best.

Colyton grammar has an excellent reputation. In Exeter the secondary school with the best reputation is probably St Peter’s. Exmouth Community College is huge (over 2000 pupils) and does not have a great reputation. Exeter college is rated outstanding by ofsted and offers an incredible selection of courses: IB, a levels, GCSES, BTEC, t levels. Exeter is quite unusual as none of the state schools in the city has a sixth form.

https://www.devonlive.com/news/devon-news/exeter-school-could-close-early-8542139

Something to be aware of regarding St Peters. This is in no way intended as a criticism of the school, but obviously it's facing some financial issues, and if they are considering shortening the school day, they have likely made huge cuts in other areas.

That doesn't necessarily mean they can't offer an excellent education, but just something to bear in mind.

Honiton community college is mixed - some people seem to be happy with it and some don't. If you want your DC to get into the King's then you'd have to move around there (although I think Ottery st mary is more expensive than Honiton which might be worth bearing in mind.)
The schools in Exeter generally are okay.

Thanks for all the advice so far - I suppose the problem with moving to a town with 1 school is that you're probably stuck with that school. I'm still wondering whether Honiton community college is the best choice as there are mixed opinions about it.

There are so many threads on MN of families wanting to move to an area in the U.K. and then realising the limited schooling options. Some parts of the U.K. have poor schools for example the Suffolk coast, you don't always realise what you have is good until you think about moving.

I think you need to spend time visiting schools to get an idea of what they’re about. Kings in Ottery has an old outstanding Ofsted, performance wise it’s not the best in the county. Honiton had a new head last September. As the poster above says, unless you can afford it in a lot of Devon you have one local school and that’s it.

Thanks for the advice @dinnermoneyready - I know that The Kings has an outdated Ofsted but I was just basing my opinion of it based on previous threads mentioning it on here. All the comments seemed positive about it but perhaps they were just from a while ago, I know a lot can change with a school in a short period of time.

If you'd like a choice of more than one state secondary then you'd have to go with some of the larger Devon towns: otherwise you're probably stuck with the one in the place you move into. Exeter has a few you could choose from, all of them aren't too bad from my knowledge. The kings, despite the old ofsted and it not having the best results in the county, I would still say is the best state secondary school in Devon, it was very good when my DC went there which wasn't that long ago. I don't think it's gone downhill. Good luck with the move though.

Just bumping this for you but I echo what others have said with the Kings being the best choice

Surely the grammar schools are the ones with the best results in the county, though?

Kings' results look pretty good for a school where the intake will potentially be affected by having a grammar near by.

I think it's hard to compare schools by results across Devon, because some will be more affected by the presence of grammar and indeed day private schools than others.

Admittedly this was several years ago but back then at least Honiton was a good school, much better than the school I had moved him from.

Yeah it did have a good reputation years ago, but then it had a bad ofsted and opinions on it seemed to change

Unfortunately, that website is current and is updated monthly. There is also a very active Ted Wragg parents facebook page.

Until recently West Exe only had a 20 minute lunch break which surprise, surprise lead to lots of pupils asking to go to the toilet in class as there was simply no enough time to queue up and buy food, eat food and then queue up to go to the loo as well!

All the Ted Wragg Schools use Ready to Learn which mean that your child gets sent to reset all day missing many lessons for minor infringements such as having their shirt untucked. I believe things have recently changed due to the campaign by parents and West Exe now have a longer lunch breaks so there is actually time to eat and go to the loo!