Bridgwater College Academy, Bridgwater

Ofsted's report card from its 10 March 2026 inspection grades Bridgwater College Academy on 7 areas: 2 needs attention and 5 urgent improvement. Report cards replaced single-word judgements in November 2025, on a five-point scale from exceptional to urgent improvement.

Early years - Needs attention. "At times, staff do not engage children in high-quality interactions that would securely develop their speech and language skills."

Personal development and wellbeing - Needs attention. "In the secondary phase, the personal development curriculum is not well developed."

Achievement - Urgent improvement. "Pupils' achievement in published outcomes at the end of key stage 2 is significantly below national averages."

Attendance and behaviour - Urgent improvement. "Pupils do not attend well."

Curriculum and teaching - Urgent improvement. "Leaders have not taken sufficient steps to secure the improvements needed in the quality of teaching across the school."

Inclusion - Urgent improvement. "Leaders do not ensure that pupils' individual needs are accurately identified."

Leadership and governance - Urgent improvement. "Over time, leaders and those responsible for governance have not taken appropriate action to address the school's significant weaknesses."

Safeguarding standards were met.

Ofsted's next steps for the school: "Those responsible for governance should ensure that they have a robust oversight of the improvement work taking place so that they can appropriately support and challenge leaders"; "Leaders should put effective systems in place to accurately and swiftly identify pupils' barriers to learning and share this information with staff so that pupils can receive effective support and be successful in their learning"; "Leaders should ensure that teachers have the expertise they need to teach the curriculum effectively so that attainment rises for all pupils across all key stages"; "Leaders should ensure that there are clear expectations and commonly understood routines so that pupils behave well and engage positively with their learning"; "Leaders should ensure that the personal development programme is well matched to the local context of pupils to prepare them well for adult life"; "Leaders should continue to revise their approach to continuous provision so that adults support children to learn as well as they should".

From the headteacher's welcome: "Bridgwater College Academy (BCA) is Somerset's only all-through academy, providing a high-quality education in a safe, caring, and focused environment where every child achieves. Guided by the core values of respect, resilience, and responsibility , BCA supports pupils from their earliest years through to post-16 education, ensuring continuity, stability, and a seamless learning journey."

The school runs a breakfast club, from £3.15 per session.

In 2026, pupils at Bridgwater College Academy averaged an Attainment 8 score of 33.8, the average grade across their best eight GCSEs. The average state school scored 44.3 in Somerset and 47 across England.

19% passed English and maths at grade 5 or above, against 40% in Somerset and 47% in England.

That is up from 31.9 in 2025.

Its most recent Progress 8 score, for 2024, was -0.8: pupils made well below average progress compared with pupils nationally who started secondary school at the same level. Progress 8 was not published for 2026.

Disadvantaged pupils averaged an Attainment 8 of 27.7, against 37.3 for other pupils at the school - a gap of 9.6 points.

Pupils sat GCSEs in 20 subjects; after English and maths, the most popular were Combined Science, Art and Design and Geography.

For September 2026 entry, 107 families put Bridgwater College Academy as their first choice and 168 named it as one of their preferences, for 120 places offered. It had fewer first-choice applications than places. Every family who put it first was offered a place there for 2026 entry.

The nearest other state secondary schools to Bridgwater College Academy are Chilton Trinity School (1.3 miles, Requires improvement, Attainment 8 42.3); Robert Blake Academy (1.3 miles); Robert Blake School (1.3 miles, Requires improvement, Attainment 8 43.6); and Haygrove School (1.9 miles, Good, Attainment 8 49.5).

Each of them had higher 2026 results than Bridgwater College Academy.

Bridgwater College Academy is one of 8 schools run by Bridgwater & Taunton College Trust, an academy trust.

76 parents answered Ofsted's Parent View survey about Bridgwater College Academy (as of April 2026): 46% would recommend the school, 53% say their child is happy there and 14% of those with a view say bullying is dealt with well.

The strongest agreement was that their child is happy at the school (53%); the weakest, that the school deals with bullying well (among parents with a view) (14%).

Of the 166 pupils who finished Year 11 in 2023/24, 78% stayed in education or training for at least two terms, including 70% to a further education college, 6% to an apprenticeship and 2% into work.

35.9% of pupils are eligible for free school meals, well above the average state school (25%), according to the 2026 school census.

In 2026, 397 pupils (25.4%) received SEN support and 67 (4.3%) had an education, health and care plan, against 16.2% and 4.6% at the average state school. The most common need among them is social, emotional and mental health needs.

Bridgwater College Academy has a resourced provision for specific learning difficulties such as dyslexia, visual impairment, other difficulties or disabilities, hearing impairment, speech, language and communication needs, autism, social, emotional and mental health needs, multi-sensory impairment, physical disability, moderate learning difficulties, severe learning difficulties and profound and multiple learning difficulties: 15 places, 15 pupils on roll.

The nearest railway station is Bridgwater Rail Station, about 790 metres away (roughly a 10-minute walk).

13 bus stops are within a five-minute walk; the closest is Thornecombe House (n-bound), 90 metres away.

Measured by the 2025 English Indices of Deprivation, the neighbourhood Bridgwater College Academy stands in is among the 10% most deprived neighbourhoods in England. This describes where the school is, not where its pupils live.

In August 2026, police recorded 393 crimes within a mile of the school, most often violence and sexual offences, shoplifting and anti-social behaviour. That is well above the typical figure around schools in Somerset (22), as is usual near a town centre.

In 2024/25, Bridgwater College Academy issued 1576 suspensions, 100 for every 100 pupils (the average state school: 6.3), and 15 permanent exclusions.

The primary schools closest to Bridgwater College Academy are St John and St Francis Church School (0.5 miles), Eastover Primary School (0.5 miles), Willowdown Primary School (0.8 miles) and Northgate Primary School (1.1 miles). Admission does not depend on which primary a child attends unless the school's policy names feeder schools.