The Lodestar Academy
The Lodestar Academy is an academy alternative provision sponsor led in Torquay for boys and girls aged 11 to 16. It has 38 pupils and room for 56. About 76 in every 100 pupils come from a low-income family, far more than at most schools in England. Ofsted's last grade was good, back in 2023.
South Parks Road, Torquay, TQ2 8JE0333 360 2240Ms Beth Woodward headteacherAll details
What Ofsted found
Ofsted's last full inspection was on 21 November 2023, back when it gave schools one overall grade. Read the report on Ofsted's website.
Good overall.
Results
GCSE results, summer 2017
24 pupils sat their GCSEs. Here is how they did against every state secondary in England. These are the results of Torbay School, the school this one replaced.
All GCSE measures, year by year
| Measure | 2017† | 2016† | Torbay | England |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of Year 11 | 24 | 31 | – | – |
| Average GCSE scoreAttainment 8 | 4.6 | 9.3 | 51.4 | 48.0 |
| Progress from age 11Progress 8 | -3.18 | -2.85 | +0.07 | +0.05 |
| Strong pass in English and mathsGrade 5+ in English and maths | 0% | – | 53% | 45% |
| Standard pass in English and mathsGrade 4+ in English and maths | 0% | – | 70% | 67% |
| Taking the core subjectsEBacc entry | 0% | 0% | 27% | 40% |
| Average GCSE score: pupils who started behindAttainment 8, low prior attainers | 3.2 | 7.4 | – | – |
† These results are for Torbay School, the school this one replaced in April 2017. Same building and the same children. It got a new registration number, usually because it joined an academy trust.
Does every child do well here?
A good school does well by every child, not just on average. Each row compares two groups of pupils here. The grey marks show the same two groups across England. Every gap at this school is smaller than the gap across England. When a group has fewer than about ten pupils, its figures jump around a lot from year to year.
At GCSE, 2017
Low-income means the child has had free school meals at some point in the last six years. A group's figure isn't published when it has fewer than six pupils.
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 Torbay 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 (23), language and communications needs (7), Specific learning difficulty (5), Moderate learning difficulty (1), Other difficulty or disability (1), SEN support but no specialist assessment of type of need (1).
How the mix of pupils has changed
| Census | 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils on roll | 38 | 40 | 48 | 43 | 37 | 45 |
| Pupils from low-income familiesFree school meals | 76% | 68% | 65% | 61% | 62% | 62% |
| Pupils learning EnglishEnglish as an additional language | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 3% | 2% |
| Pupils getting extra supportSEN support | – | 63% | 50% | 54% | 43% | 58% |
| Pupils with an EHC planEducation, health and care plans | – | 0% | 2% | 0% | 5% | 4% |
Attendance and behaviour
In 2016/17 pupils were in school 69.3% of the time. Across similar schools in England it was 96.0%.
Attendance year by year
| Measure | 2016/17† | 2015/16† | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sessions missedOverall absence | 30.7% | 30.1% | 4.0% |
| Pupils missing a lot of schoolPersistent absence | 81.3% | 82.1% | 8.2% |
† These attendance figures are for Torbay School, the school this one replaced in April 2017. Same building and the same children. It got a new registration number, usually because it joined an academy trust.
What pupils do next
After GCSEs
Where the 17 pupils who left in 2022/23 were a year later.
Among pupils from low-income families it was 33%, compared with – for everyone else.
Earlier years
| Destination | 2022/23 leavers | 2021/22 leavers | 2020/21 leavers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Still in education, work or training | 35% | 43% | 59% |
| Education | 29% | 43% | 41% |
| Apprenticeship | 0% | 0% | 4% |
| Work | 6% | 0% | 15% |
| Not in education, work or training | 47% | 29% | 30% |
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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lift Barton Hill | Academy | 270 m | 568 | Good 2023 | 64 | Compare |
| Torquay Academy | Academy | 0.6 miles | 1,472 | Not inspected | 60 | Compare |
| St Cuthbert Mayne School | Roman Catholic/Church of England | 0.6 miles | 1,001 | No overall grade 2025 | 18 | Compare |
| Watcombe Primary School | Council | 0.8 miles | 221 | Good 2024 | 11 | Compare |
| Combe Pafford School | Academy | 0.8 miles | 239 | Good 2024 | – | Compare |
| Torre Church of England Academy | Academy | 0.9 miles | 310 | Report card 2026 | 90 | Compare |
| St Margaret's Academy | Academy | 0.9 miles | 382 | Good 2023 | 27 | Compare |
| Priory Roman Catholic Primary School, Torquay | Academy | 0.9 miles | 107 | Good 2022 | 15 | Compare |
Questions parents ask
Is The Lodestar Academy a good school?
The Lodestar Academy doesn't have a score yet. Ofsted rated it good at its last inspection in November 2023.
What is The Lodestar Academy's Ofsted rating?
Ofsted rated The Lodestar Academy good at its last full inspection on 21 November 2023.
How good are The Lodestar Academy's GCSE results?
In summer 2017, 0% of pupils got a grade 5 or better in both English and maths. Across England it was 45%. Its Attainment 8 score, which is the average grade across a pupil's best eight subjects times ten, was 4.6, against 48.0 for England. In each subject, pupils here finished well over a grade behind children across England who started secondary school at the same level.
How many pupils does The Lodestar Academy have?
38 pupils aged 11 to 16 were on the roll in January 2026. It has 56 places, so it is 68% full.
What is attendance like at The Lodestar Academy?
Pupils were in school 69.3% of the time in 2016/17. Similar schools in England managed 96.0%. 81% of pupils missed at least a tenth of the year.
These answers come straight from the figures on this page and update when new data comes out.
Contact and details
- Address
- South Parks Road, Torquay, TQ2 8JE
- Telephone
- 0333 360 2240
- Headteacher
- Ms Beth Woodward
- Type of school
- Academy alternative provision sponsor led (Academy alternative provision sponsor led, academies)
- Phase
- Pupil referral unit / alternative provision, ages 11-16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Multi-academy trust
- The Thinking Schools Academy Trust (26 schools)
- Local authority
- Torbay
- Ward
- Barton with Watcombe
- Constituency
- Torbay
- Setting
- Urban: Further from a major town or city
- Opened
- 1 April 2017 (new provision)
- URN
- 144031 · LAESTAB 8801100 · UKPRN 10062559
- Formerly
- Torbay School
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.
- GCSE results: DfE key stage 4 performance tables, 2016/17 final.
- Attendance: DfE pupil absence in schools in England, 2016/17 full year.
- 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.