St Helen's Church of England School
Primary · Academy converter · Ages 2–11 · Bideford, Devon
Last distance offered · Reception 2026
1.49 miles
Published by Devon County Council · offers on 16 April 2026
2024–2025 trend 🔒
Nearby schools' earlier years 🔒
St Helen's Church of England School is a primary school in Bideford, Devon for ages 2–11 (academy converter). Its latest Ofsted outcome is School remains Good, from the inspection on 9 November 2022. Devon has published a last distance offered for this school for Reception 2024 to 2026 entry.
St Helen's Church of England School catchment area: last distance offered
Parents often call this the catchment area: it's how far from the school the last child offered a place lived. It changes every year.
| Entry | Last distance offered |
|---|---|
| Reception 2026 | 1.49 mi |
| Reception 2025 | 🔒 With a pass |
| Reception 2024 | 🔒 With a pass |
What the pass includes · How to read it: one past year, not a catchment
What the figures show
- In 2026, the last child offered a Reception place lived 1.49 miles away, the 20th shortest of 42 Devon primary schools with a published last distance (this one included).
- The 2026 Reception last distance was about the same as in 2025, and every applicant was offered a place in 1 of the 3 years with a published outcome.
- Reception 2026 had 30 first-choice applications for 30 offers: 26 offers went to first-choice families and 4 first-choice families (13%) were not offered a place.
- 11.8% of pupils are eligible for free school meals, against a middle figure of 26.6% across the 8 nearest primary schools in Devon.
Worked out by Catchmently from the published figures on this page and those for other Devon schools. Distances are as published; how they were measured differs between admission authorities.
Key facts
- Address
- Abbotsham, Bideford, EX39 5AP
- Type
- Academy converter
- Phase
- Primary
- Ages
- 2–11
- Religious character
- Church of England
- Council
- Devon
- Pupils on roll
- 204 January 2026 school census
- Free school meals
- 11.8% of pupils eligible
- Pupils per teacher
- 20.5
Official record: Get Information about Schools · as at 15 September 2026
Ofsted
School remains Good Inspected 9 November 2022
Strengths
- “Pupils are valued members of this family-oriented community.”
- “They rightly say everyone is friendly and looks out for one another.”
- “Pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), are included fully in school life.”
To improve
- “Occasionally, some pupils need reminding about how to move calmly around the school.”
- “Some parents rightly believe some subjects could be stronger elements of the overall curriculum.”
- “Others agree with pupils, that they would like more clubs and activities on offer.”
Safeguarding: Effective
Quoted from the Ofsted report published 17 January 2023 (read the report). Crown copyright, Open Government Licence v3.0.
Exam results
| Measure | School | England |
|---|---|---|
| Key stage 2 · reading, writing and maths, expected standard (2024/25) | 57% | 62% |
Department for Education school performance data. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Applications and offers
- 2026 Reception entry: 30 first-preference applications, 30 offers in total, 26 offers to first-preference applicants.
Department for Education, school-level applications and offers, figures on national offer day. Earlier years are in the pass.
Nearby primary schools
Straight-line distance, in Devon.
- West Croft School 1.5 mi Good Last distance published
- St Mary's CofE Primary School 1.9 mi No Ofsted grade Last distance published
- St Margaret's Church of England Junior School 2.3 mi No Ofsted grade
- St George's CofE Infant and Nursery School 2.4 mi No Ofsted grade Last distance published
- East-the-Water Community Primary School 2.5 mi School remains Good Last distance published
- Appledore School 3.3 mi Good Last distance published
- Buckland Brewer Primary School 3.6 mi Requires improvement Last distance published
- Monkleigh Primary School 4.0 mi School remains Good Last distance published