Education

In general the returned questionnaires suggest that parishes are, on the whole, happy with educational provision. Many, but not all, are Church of England Schools, in contrast with the schools in Tiverton. Whilst most schools are doing well in terms of teaching provision and being part of the community, Uplowman reports that their buildings leave much to be desired. A new build school for Bampton has been agreed, and will include a community room that can be used by Tiverton’s proposed Children’s Centre staff to ensure that Bampton families with young children are able to get advice when they need it. The issue of surplus school places is a live one across Devon County, but there are no indications from the questionnaire returns that any local village schools are under threat of closure. One primary school is in special measures.

Similarly, pre-school provision is available in the bigger villages but not elsewhere. A significant proportion of secondary school students receive the secondary education outside the Exe Valley Plan area. For the southern
parishes, students are within the Clyst Vale (Broadclyst) Learning Community (Silverton) and the Crediton Learning Community (Thorverton). Some students choose to attend Cullompton Community College. For Burlescombe and Sampford Peverell, students are within the Uffculme School Learning Community catchment area. Some students attend private schools in Tiverton, Wellington and Taunton. Some students from the far west may choose to attend Chulmleigh Community College.

In most of the larger parishes, primary children are able to walk to school. It is a different yet familiar picture in the smaller communities where the "school run" using the family car is the order of the day. Buses are provided to the local secondary school, but are not available to students whose parents choose to send then to a different secondary school. The postcode evidence on both primary and secondary schools from the Tiverton, Crediton, Cullompton and Clyst Vale Learning Communities shows that there is significant movement of pupils to schools that are not their local school within the Exe Valley Plan area, with movement away from Tiverton High School. Some town children attend rural primary schools.