TAUNTON has been ranked as the second most competitive catchment area for outstanding primary schools in the England.

New research shows that Taunton currently has over 1500 three-year-olds ready to journey into primary school but only one outstanding school in the area.

Outstanding is the highest rank given in Ofsted's school rating system and this research was based of the most recent inspections.

That school is Trull Church of England Primary School on Church Road in Taunton; they currently only have 259 pupils.

Therefore with 1503 potential students and only one outstanding school in the area, Taunton is a competitive catchment for primary schooling.

The study counted for outstanding schools within five miles of Taunton town centre.

The top ten most competitive regions for primary schools are as follows:

  1. Bath (1,924 pupils per school)
  2. Taunton (1,503 pupils per school)
  3. Swindon (1440.5 pupils per school)
  4. Peterborough (1,042 pupils per school)
  5. Coventry (931.6 pupils per school)
  6. Doncaster (730.4 pupils per school)
  7. Bradford (657.8 pupils per school)
  8. York (642 pupils per school)
  9. Chester (631.7 pupils per school)
  10. Derby (544.8 pupils per school)

At the other end of the spectrum, it was Norwich that had the best provision of outstanding primary schools when compared to the amount of pupils in the local area.

With 20 outstanding primary schools within five miles of the centre of Norwich to cater for 1,526 three-year-olds potentially vying for places, this equated to 76.3 potential pupils per outstanding school - the lowest in England.

For the combined rankings of primary and secondary education, Taunton appeared in fourth place.
This was based on a breakdown of three outstanding schools, one primary and two secondary, in the area to cater for 3,173 potential pupils.

Searches for outstanding schools have risen dramatically over the course of the pandemic according to Mojomortgages, suggesting competition for the most prestigious schools is on the rise.

Applications for the 2021/22 academic year close on October 31, so now is the time to start thinking about which school is best, if you haven't started already.

The research done in this study from Mojo Mortgages cross referenced the latest Ofsted inspections with data from the Office of National Statistics which indicates how many three year olds in each area are likely to be applying for a primary school place for September 2022.

The full data can be found here: https://mojomortgages.com/mortgage/englands-most-competitive-catchment-areas