The Spires College
Secondary · Foundation school · Mixed · Torbay
Westlands Lane, Torquay, TQ1 3PE
62
headline score
Ranking (England)
—
No ranked results
Ofsted
School remains Good
No graded inspection
Application demand
78%
1st preference success · Not oversubscribed
Attendance
91.4%
23.9% persistently absent
At a glance
Pupils on roll
1,154
Capacity used
Has space88%
1,304 places
GCSE rank (England)
—
KS2 rank (England)
—
Application demand
Secondary entry · official council applications and offers
78%
1st preference success rate
167 of 213 families who put it first got an offer
218
Places offered
583
Total applications
2.7
Applications per place
| Preference (Sept 2025 entry) | Applications | Offers | Success |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st preference | 213 | 167 | ● 78% |
| 2nd preference | 234 | 41 | ● 18% |
| 3rd preference | 136 | 10 | ● 7% |
| Total | 583 | 218 | 37% |
1st preference success by year
Torbay lets families list 3 preferences. 62 applications came from outside the council area (12 offered). Source: Department for Education, school-level applications and offers. Offers are made on each school's admissions criteria (e.g. siblings, distance, faith), so check the school's policy.
Details
- Type
- Foundation school
- Phase
- Secondary
- Age range
- 11–18
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- None
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Sixth form
- Yes
- Nursery
- No Nursery Classes
- Boarding
- No boarders
- Headteacher
- Alex Newton
- Address
- Westlands Lane, Torquay, TQ1 3PE
- Phone
- 01803400660
- Local authority
- Torbay
- Ward / constituency
- St Marychurch · Torbay
- Area
- Urban: Further from a major town or city
- URN
- 113526
Pupils
| Measure | School | LA | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free school meals | 32% | — | — |
| English as additional language | 6% | — | — |
| SEN support | 21% | — | — |
Local deprivation (IDACI quintile 4 of 5)
1 = least deprived area, 5 = most deprived. Context only.
Academy trust: Westlands School Trust
1,154 pupils · 1,304 places. Intake figures describe the school's community — they aren't good or bad.
Ofsted inspections
- 22
16 November 2022
Ungraded inspection
School remains Good
Attendance
2024/2025 school year · 1,079 pupils
Attendance
91.4%
Share of sessions attended · England 91.1%
Overall absence
8.6%
Sessions missed, any reason · England 8.9%
Persistent absence
23.9%
Pupils missing 10%+ of school · England 26.7%
Severe absence
3.4%
Pupils missing 50%+ of school · England 2.3%
Unauthorised absence
2.3%
Absences the school didn't approve
Persistent absence by year
Source: Department for Education, pupil absence by school (pupils aged 5–15). Lower absence is better. England figures are approximate 2023/24 averages.
GCSE results
| Measure | School | LA | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Attainment 8 score | 43.6 | — | — |
| Progress 8 score | -0.15 | — | 0.00 |
| Grade 5+ in English & maths | 40% | — | — |
| Grade 4+ in English & maths | 57% | — | — |
| EBacc average point score | 3.70 | — | — |
Progress 8 band
A-level results
| Measure | School | LA | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average points per entry | 26.90 | — | — |
Average grade: C- (England B-)
GCSE results over time
Attainment 8 by year (2020 and 2021 exams were cancelled)
| Result | School | England (approx.) |
|---|---|---|
| Attainment 8 | 44.5 | 46 |
| Grade 5+ English & maths | 51.4% | 46% |
| Grade 4+ English & maths | 60.7% | 65% |
| Entering EBacc | 26.8% | 40% |
| EBacc average point score | 3.88 | 4.1 |
| Pupils in cohort | 183 | — |
How different pupils progress (GCSE, 2023/2024)
Progress 8 by group. 0 is the national average; above 0 means pupils do better than similar children elsewhere.
A-level results over time
Average points per entry by year (2020 and 2021 exams were cancelled)
| Result | School | England (approx.) |
|---|---|---|
| Average points per entry | 28.02 | 35 |
| Average grade | C- | — |
| AAB or better (2 facilitating) | 10% | 17% |
| A-level students | 40 | — |
Results by subject
Official DfE exam results for summer 2025. Green, amber and red compare against typical results in England; subjects with fewer than 5 entries aren't rated.
GCSE
Grade 4 is a standard pass, 5 a strong pass, 7 equals the old A.
| Subject | Entries | Grade 7+ | Grade 5+ | Grade 4+ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mathematics | 181 | 22% | 60% | 72% | |
| English Language | 180 | 17% | 53% | 67% | |
| English Literature | 176 | 13% | 56% | 69% | |
| Combined Science | 159 | 10% | 40% | 61% | |
| History | 107 | 15% | 40% | 53% | |
| Art and Design | 95 | 20% | 48% | 76% | |
| Geography | 74 | 23% | 49% | 54% | |
| Physical Education | 43 | 12% | 35% | 47% | |
| Spanish | 42 | 26% | 57% | 74% | |
| Computer Science | 42 | 19% | 36% | 57% | |
| Business | 39 | 5% | 33% | 56% | |
| Social Studies | 38 | 24% | 45% | 63% |
A level
| Subject | Entries | A* | A*–A | A*–B | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mathematics | 13 | 0% | 0% | 15% | |
| History | 10 | 0% | 20% | 50% | |
| Psychology | 10 | 10% | 30% | 50% | |
| Physical Education / Sports Studies | 10 | 0% | 10% | 20% | |
| Biology | 8 | 0% | 13% | 25% | |
| English Literature | 8 | 0% | 13% | 25% | |
| Geography | 7 | 0% | 14% | 43% | |
| Logic / Philosophy | 7 | 0% | 14% | 43% | |
| Physics | 6 | 0% | 0% | 0% | |
| Fine Art | 5 | 0% | 0% | 0% | |
| Film Studies | 4 | 0% | 0% | 0% | |
| Spanish | 3 | 0% | 0% | 0% |
Oxbridge
Cambridge offers by year
Ranked #315 of 1,846 UK schools with Cambridge offers2
UCAS apply centre 10491: The Spires College
| Cambridge admissions1 | 2021 |
|---|---|
| Applications | <3 |
| Offers | <3 |
| Success rate | — |
| Accepted offers | <3 |
1 Source: University of Cambridge, applications, offers and acceptances by UCAS apply centre. To protect privacy small counts are hidden: "<3" means 0–2 (up to 2023); "≤5" means 1–5 (from 2024). Success rate is only shown when exact numbers are published (England average is about 20%).
2 Schools ranked by number of offers; this doesn't account for school size. Oxford doesn't publish per-school figures, so they aren't shown.
Where students go next
| Measure | School | LA | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Higher education (university) | 34% | — | — |
| Apprenticeships | 2% | — | — |
| Any education or training | 36% | — | — |
Oxford/Cambridge application numbers aren't published per school in official data, so university progression is shown instead.
House prices near the school
Typical sold prices (Land Registry) within 1 km, last 12 months.
Loading prices…
Key application dates
National deadlines in England. Apply through Torbay council, not the school.
| Entry | Deadline | Offer day |
|---|---|---|
| Year 7 (secondary) | 31 October | 1 March (or next working day) |
Admissions policy: Non-selective. Check the school's own admissions rules on its website.
Source: Get Information About Schools and the DfE school and college performance tables (2023-2024); Oxbridge figures from the University of Cambridge's admissions by UCAS apply centre (Oxford doesn't publish per-school figures). Read the method.