Brymore Academy A GSG School
- Brymore Academy
Cannington
Bridgwater
Somerset
TA5 2NB - Head: Mr Mark Thomas
- T 01278 652369
- F 01278 653244
- E office@brymoreacademy.co.uk
- W www.brymoreacademy.co.uk/
- A state school for boys aged from 11 to 17.
- Boarding: Yes
- Local authority: Somerset
- Pupils: 330
- Religion: Non-denominational
- Fees: Day free; Boarding £12,500 pa
- Open days: Last Saturday in June - but guided tours and interviews take place throughout the year.
- Review: View The Good Schools Guide Review
-
Ofsted:
- Latest Overall effectiveness Good 1
- Effectiveness of leadership and management Good 2
- 1 Short inspection 21st March 2018
- 2 Full inspection 28th April 2015
Short inspection reports only give an overall grade; you have to read the report itself to gauge whether the detailed grading from the earlier full inspection still stands.
- Ofsted report: View the Ofsted report
What The Good Schools Guide says..
A broad enough secondary academic offer, with an alluring array of practical subjects given equal importance. Alongside the necessities of maths, English, sciences, humanities and a smattering of Latin, boys get to experience top level DT, horticulture and agriculture on the school’s 110-acre site. Unequivocally mainstream but exemplary SEN provision which supports a higher proportion of students than in almost all mainstream settings. More Kaleb from Clarkson’s Farm than Olly Alexander, Harry Styles or Ai Weiwei, though…
What the school says...
Based in Somerset on the edge on Cannington village, surrounded by views of the Quantock Hills and the Bristol Channel, Brymore Academy is a small, friendly state boarding and day school providing a 'hands-on' experience of learning for boys aged 11 to 17.
Proud to be unique. Brymore is not just about what we offer but the way in which we approach everything, an education at Brymore is quite simply - an experience to last a life-time. Brymore Academy offers something different for boys today, a hands-on experience for learning. With a farm, walled garden, greenhouses and workshops including a foundry and forge, plus high standards of sporting achievement, Brymore is an active, physical place for boys aged 11-17 years.
Add the boarding experience and Brymores own three Rs of Resilience, Responsibility and Resourcefulness and Brymore brings out more from the boys than most. It is an opportunity that appeals to many but is offered to few.
Our best advocates are the boys themselves and all boys show visitors around, often within their first term of being at Brymore Academy. Parents speak highly of the change that Brymore brings. Half of the school's governing body are parents of past or present pupils. Brymore does attract great loyalty and affection. ...Read more
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School associations
State boarding school
What The Good Schools Guide says
Head
Since 2011, Mark Thomas BSc PGCE NPQH, previously acting head at Court Field School, Wellington. Brought up in Cornwall, Mr Thomas read geography at Kingston but went way north for his PGCE from Liverpool. Until Brymore, he had taught entirely in mixed schools and ‘farming was not the pull to come’, he said wryly, but it clearly cast a powerful spell over this pragmatic straight-talking head, who has stayed for 14 years after being asked to stand in for a term or two. ‘I stopped talking three hours later when my wife asked me how it was,’ he told us. Such early enthusiasm shows no sign of diminishing, even though to our surprise and disappointment (widely shared by the boys and parents: ‘I’m devastated!’ admitted one mum), he is to retire in July 2024....
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Overall school performance (for comparison or review only)
Results by exam and subject
Subject results
Entry/Exit
Special Education Needs
The SEN department at Brymore is staffed by a friendly and experienced team. We aim to support 90% of the timetable in year 9 lower sets. We offer daily reading sessions for small groups and individuals, and daily help is offered to support prep. 09-09
| Condition | Provision for in school |
|---|---|
| ASD - Autistic Spectrum Disorder | Y |
| Aspergers | Y |
| Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorders | Y |
| CReSTeD registered for Dyslexia | |
| Dyscalculia | |
| Dysgraphia | |
| Dyslexia | |
| Dyspraxia | |
| English as an additional language (EAL) | |
| Genetic | |
| Has an entry in the Autism Services Directory | |
| Has SEN unit or class | |
| HI - Hearing Impairment | |
| Hospital School | |
| Mental health | |
| MLD - Moderate Learning Difficulty | |
| MSI - Multi-Sensory Impairment | |
| Natspec Specialist Colleges | |
| OTH - Other Difficulty/Disability | |
| Other SpLD - Specific Learning Difficulty | |
| PD - Physical Disability | |
| PMLD - Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulty | |
| SEMH - Social, Emotional and Mental Health | |
| SLCN - Speech, Language and Communication | |
| SLD - Severe Learning Difficulty | |
| Special facilities for Visually Impaired | |
| SpLD - Specific Learning Difficulty | |
| VI - Visual Impairment |
Interpreting catchment maps
The maps show in colour where the pupils at a school came from*. Red = most pupils to Blue = fewest.
Where the map is not coloured we have no record in the previous three years of any pupils being admitted from that location based on the options chosen.
For help and explanation of our catchment maps see: Catchment maps explained
Further reading
If there are more applicants to a school than it has places for, who gets in is determined by which applicants best fulfil the admissions criteria.
Admissions criteria are often complicated, and may change from year to year. The best source of information is usually the relevant local authority website, but once you have set your sights on a school it is a good idea to ask them how they see things panning out for the year that you are interested in.
Many schools admit children based on distance from the school or a fixed catchment area. For such schools, the cut-off distance will vary from year to year, especially if the school give priority to siblings, and the pattern will be of a central core with outliers (who will mostly be siblings). Schools that admit on the basis of academic or religious selection will have a much more scattered pattern.
*The coloured areas outlined in black are Census Output Areas. These are made up of a group of neighbouring postcodes, which accounts for their odd shapes. These provide an indication, but not a precise map, of the school’s catchment: always refer to local authority and school websites for precise information.
The 'hotter' the colour the more children have been admitted.
Children get into the school from here:
regularly
most years
quite often
infrequently
sometimes, but not in this year
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