School profile
Bridgwater College Academy
Parkway, Bridgwater, Somerset, TA6 4QY
Overview
Bridgwater College Academy is a state-funded school (academy sponsor led) in Bridgwater, South West, for pupils aged 3–16. This summary is generated only from official structured fields.
School details
- Official establishment type
- Academy sponsor led
- Establishment group
- Academies
- Phase of education
- All-through
- Age range
- Ages 3–16
- Gender of entry
- Mixed
- Boarding
- No boarders
- Sixth form
- No
- School capacity
- 1,880
- Pupils on roll
- 1,561
- URN
- 138375
Admissions
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Local authority
- Somerset
- Academy trust or group
- BRIDGWATER & TAUNTON COLLEGE TRUST
Contact the school or your local authority for catchment and application deadlines.
School places
DfE school capacity survey · May 2025 (2024/25)
- Capacity at survey date
- 1,890
- Pupils on roll
- 1,537
- Unfilled places at survey date
- 353
A dated snapshot from the Department for Education school capacity survey, separate from the school details above. Unfilled places at the survey date do not mean places are currently available for admission. About this data
Official admissions data
Applications & demand
Preferences expressed by families through coordinated admissions, shown over time.
2026/27 admissions · Year 7
- First preferences
- 107
- Total preferences
- 168
- Offers made
- 120
Times the school was named as a family's first preference.
All recorded preference positions for this school.
Offers recorded through coordinated admissions, not physical capacity.
First preferences compared with offers
0.89 first preferences per offer
107 first preferences and 120 offers were recorded for 2026/27.
What does this mean?
This is the Department for Education's own published comparison of first preferences with total offers recorded. It indicates the level of requests made through coordinated admissions. Offers are not necessarily the school's maximum capacity, admissions arrangements vary between local authorities, the figure is not a measure of school quality, and it should not be used on its own to judge the likelihood of gaining a place.
First preferences over time
Latest five available admissions years. Missing years are not estimated.
Admissions history
| Admissions year | First preferences | Total preferences | Offers made |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026/27 | 107 | 168 | 120 |
| 2025/26 | 104 | 148 | 112 |
| 2024/25 | 99 | 151 | 102 |
| 2023/24 | 97 | 130 | 115 |
| 2022/23 | 106 | 148 | 114 |
Source: Department for Education · Applications and offers data.
Official performance data
School performance
Official Department for Education results for this school. Results are shown for the academic year they relate to.
2024/25 results
Reading, writing & maths — meeting the expected standard
- School
- 25%
- England
- 62%
Pupils included: 81
Reading, writing & maths — achieving a higher standard
- School
- 4%
- England
- 8%
Pupils included: 81
Source: Department for Education · School performance data.
Official inspection data
Ofsted inspections
Inspection information published by Ofsted, shown in Ofsted's own words.
Ofsted report card
Inspected 10 March 2026 · Published 19 May 2026
Renewed education inspection framework
- Safeguarding standards
- Met
- Inclusion
- Urgent improvement
- Curriculum and teaching
- Urgent improvement
- Achievement
- Urgent improvement
- Attendance and behaviour
- Urgent improvement
- Personal development and wellbeing
- Needs attention
- Early years (where applicable)
- Needs attention
- Post-16 provision (where applicable)
- Not applicable
- Leadership and governance
- Urgent improvement
Ofsted recorded this school in a category of concern: Special measures. The official report explains what this means and what happens next.
Other recent inspection activity
These visits do not carry a graded judgement and do not replace the inspection above.
Ungraded inspection
Inspected 5 February 2020 · Published 12 March 2020
Outcome: School remains Good (Concerns) - S5 Next
Previous inspection information
Ofsted inspection
Inspected 10 May 2023 · Published 28 June 2023
Overall effectiveness: Requires improvement
Safeguarding was effective: Yes
Ofsted changed how it inspects and reports on schools in November 2025. Judgements from the previous and current frameworks use different systems and should not be directly compared.
School Nest shows the inspection information Ofsted currently publishes for this school. It is not a complete record of every inspection the school has ever had.
Source: Ofsted · Inspections and outcomes. Official Ofsted page for this school
SEND and additional needs
Types of special educational need recorded in the official dataset. These describe recorded provision, not a judgement of quality.
- SpLD - Specific Learning Difficulty
- VI - Visual Impairment
- OTH - Other Difficulty/Disability
- HI - Hearing Impairment
- SLCN - Speech, language and Communication
- ASD - Autistic Spectrum Disorder
- SEMH - Social, Emotional and Mental Health
- MSI - Multi-Sensory Impairment
- PD - Physical Disability
- MLD - Moderate Learning Difficulty
- SLD - Severe Learning Difficulty
- PMLD - Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulty
Location
- Address
- Parkway, Bridgwater, Somerset, TA6 4QY
- Local authority
- Somerset
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