River Dart Academy
River Dart Academy is an academy alternative provision sponsor led in Dartington for boys and girls aged 5 to 16. It has 39 pupils and room for 40. About 69 in every 100 pupils come from a low-income family, far more than at most schools in England. Ofsted's last grade was inspected 2024, no overall grade.
Shinners Bridge, Dartington, TQ9 6JD01803 865580wavemat.org/river-dart-academyMrs Jessica Bell headteacherAll details
What Ofsted found
Ofsted's last full inspection was on 12 November 2024, back when it gave schools one overall grade. Read the report on Ofsted's website.
Not judged Between September 2024 and November 2025, Ofsted graded each area but stopped giving one overall word.
Getting a place
Admissions policy not published.
Each council publishes its own figures on how many families applied and how far away the last child to get a place lived. We are adding councils one at a time. If you have a link to Devon council's admissions booklet, send it to us.
Who goes here
Who the school teaches, from the latest school census.
The most common needs among pupils getting extra support: emotional and mental health (22), language and communications needs (5), Autistic spectrum disorder (4), SEN support but no specialist assessment of type of need (4), Specific learning difficulty (2), Other difficulty or disability (1).
How the mix of pupils has changed
| Census | 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils on roll | 39 | 37 | 19 | 36 | 25 | 23 |
| Pupils from low-income familiesFree school meals | 69% | 65% | 68% | 56% | 48% | 57% |
| Pupils learning EnglishEnglish as an additional language | 3% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Pupils getting extra supportSEN support | – | 87% | 84% | 94% | 76% | 83% |
| Pupils with an EHC planEducation, health and care plans | – | 14% | 16% | 6% | 8% | 17% |
What pupils do next
After GCSEs
Where the 10 pupils who left in 2022/23 were a year later.
Earlier years
| Destination | 2022/23 leavers | 2021/22 leavers | 2020/21 leavers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Still in education, work or training | 50% | 57% | 43% |
| Education | 20% | 29% | 29% |
| Apprenticeship | 10% | 0% | 0% |
| Work | 20% | 29% | 14% |
| Not in education, work or training | 40% | 21% | 57% |
Staff and money
From the government's count of school staff in November 2025 and the school's published accounts.
Money
From the academy accounts return, year to August 2025. The per-pupil figures are compared with other primary schools in England that report their accounts the same way.
Reserves are the money left over at the end of the year, kept back for emergencies and big projects. Being in the red year after year is a warning sign. Very large reserves can mean money sitting in the bank instead of being spent on today's pupils. Academy figures are rounded to the nearest £1,000 and include a share of any money the trust holds centrally.
The area around the school
Crime figures come from police.uk. The police record each crime at the nearest of a fixed set of map points rather than the exact spot, so “within 500 m” is only rough. House prices are from HM Land Registry sales nearby over the last two years.
Nearby schools
The closest schools, nearest first. Hover over a row to see it on the map.
| School | Type | Distance | Pupils | Ofsted | Score | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lifeworks College | Special post 16 institution | 80 m | – | Not inspected | – | Compare |
| Bidwell Brook School | Foundation special school | 280 m | 151 | Report card 2026 | – | Compare |
| Dartington Church of England Academy | Academy | 280 m | 286 | Good 2023 | 81 | Compare |
| Redwood River School | Independent | 580 m | 14 | Not inspected | – | Compare |
| On Track Education West Yarner | Independent | 0.7 miles | 40 | Not inspected | – | Compare |
| King Edward VI Community College | Academy | 0.9 miles | 940 | Not inspected | 43 | Compare |
| Totnes Independent School | Independent | 1.0 miles | 127 | Not inspected | – | Compare |
| Park School | Independent | 1.1 miles | 45 | Not inspected | – | Compare |
Questions parents ask
Is River Dart Academy a good school?
River Dart Academy doesn't have a score yet. Ofsted rated it not judged at its last inspection in November 2024.
What is River Dart Academy's Ofsted rating?
Ofsted rated River Dart Academy not judged at its last full inspection on 12 November 2024.
How many pupils does River Dart Academy have?
39 pupils aged 5 to 16 were on the roll in January 2026. It has 40 places, so it is 98% full.
These answers come straight from the figures on this page and update when new data comes out.
Contact and details
- Address
- Shinners Bridge, Dartington, TQ9 6JD
- Telephone
- 01803 865580
- Website
- wavemat.org/river-dart-academy
- Headteacher
- Mrs Jessica Bell
- Type of school
- Academy alternative provision sponsor led (Academy alternative provision sponsor led, academies)
- Phase
- Pupil referral unit / alternative provision, ages 5-16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Multi-academy trust
- Wave Multi Academy Trust (11 schools)
- Local authority
- Devon
- Ward
- Dartington & Staverton
- Constituency
- South Devon
- Setting
- Smaller rural: Nearer to a major town or city
- Opened
- 1 November 2018 (fresh start)
- URN
- 146735 · LAESTAB 8781116 · UKPRN 10081778
- Formerly
- SchoolsCompany South and West Devon Academy
Where these figures come from
- School details: Department for Education, Get Information About Schools, refreshed daily (this page rebuilt 13 September 2026).
- Inspections: Ofsted management information, monthly; latest publication in our data 27 August 2026.
- Pupil characteristics: DfE school census, January 2026.
- Staff: DfE school workforce census, November 2025.
- Pupil premium: DfE allocations and conditions of grant, 2026 to 2027.
- Money: DfE financial benchmarking and insights tool, academy accounts return 2024/25.
- Neighbourhood: police.uk street-level crime, HM Land Registry price paid data, NaPTAN bus stops, English Indices of Deprivation 2025.
- All under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Full list and update calendar.