Trinity School, Torquay Review 2026: All-through day and boarding in coastal Devon

Sea views, an all-through structure (Nursery to Sixth Form), and a small-school feel shape daily life here. Trinity educates pupils from early years through to sixth form, with boarding available and an ethos grounded in Christian values.

Leadership is currently held by Kate Unsworth. The school’s public pages describe a global education background and a focus on individual development, with boarding and an extended day positioned as central to the experience.

External assurance is through ISI rather than Ofsted. In April 2023, ISI judged academic and other achievements as Good, personal development as Excellent, and confirmed that compliance requirements were met across the inspected areas, including boarding standards. The inspection also records that the school was founded in 1979.

Trinity’s identity is tied closely to its setting and its through-school model. The official description emphasises a coastal outlook and the sense of being both a safe base and a launch point for growing independence, particularly for boarders and older students.

The stated guiding values are Optimism, Confidence and Charity. In practice, this shows up most clearly in how the school frames personal development, leadership opportunities, and service. For families who want a school where faith is present without being narrowly defined, Trinity’s stated approach is that pupils can engage with Christianity through chapel services, assemblies, a Church of England Confirmation course, and seasonal initiatives, while also feeling able to question and explore.

One feature that differentiates the culture from many larger independents is the explicit emphasis on “knowing” students well and intervening early when someone is struggling. The school describes half-termly academic and pastoral review meetings that pull together perspectives from teaching, learning support, and wider staff, so that concerns are identified and action plans are agreed before gaps widen. The implication for parents is straightforward: the school is signalling a systems-led approach to pastoral oversight rather than relying purely on informal relationships.

For parents, Trinity’s published story is about an individual pathway rather than a single headline metric. That matters because the available performance data presents a mixed picture.

GCSE outcomes

Trinity is ranked 3,828th in England for GCSE outcomes (FindMySchool proprietary ranking based on official data) and 6th locally within its listed area. This places the school below England average overall, sitting within the lower performance band (bottom 40% of schools in England on this measure).

GCSE Attainment 8 is 27.1, and the school’s EBacc average point score is 2.11.

A practical implication is that families should probe how these outcomes reflect cohort size and entry profile, and how the school supports progress for a broad ability range, especially given Trinity’s positioning as non-selective.

A-level outcomes

At A-level, Trinity is ranked 2,344th in England (FindMySchool proprietary ranking based on official data) and 5th locally within its listed area. The A-level grade profile recorded shows 0% A*, 10% A, 13.33% B, and 23.33% at A* to B combined.

The key implication is similar: parents should treat year-to-year volatility as a real factor (small sixth forms can swing sharply), and ask how subject choice, teaching capacity, and study support translate into outcomes for different learner profiles.

If you are comparing local schools, the FindMySchool Local Hub comparison tools can be useful for seeing these metrics side by side, rather than trying to interpret one school’s figures in isolation.

The academic model described by the school leans heavily on small-group teaching and targeted support, rather than mass delivery. The most concrete evidence sits in the Learning Success detail: Trinity describes a dedicated Learning Success room at the centre of the school, referred to as “The Hub”, and a structured approach that includes Pupil Passports co-written with learners to clarify how they learn best.

Support is framed as both in-class (teaching assistants where appropriate) and via individual specialist lessons designed around literacy, numeracy, exam technique, and extended writing. The school also states that it has both a SENCo and an Assessment SENCo with an Assessment Practising Certificate and a specialist dyslexia qualification, enabling in-house assessment for exam access arrangements.

For families with identified needs, the implication is positive: there is an articulated model, specialist capability, and named infrastructure. The key due diligence step is understanding how access works in practice, how support is timetabled, and what sits within fees versus charged as an extra.

Trinity’s own pages discuss a spread of next steps, including university, apprenticeships, employment, and other pathways, but do not publish headline destination numbers for recent cohorts.

Where specific data is available, the most recent published cohort in the provided dataset is the 2023/24 leavers group, with a cohort size of 15. Within that group, 13% progressed to university, 7% to apprenticeships, and 40% into employment.

The implication is that parents considering sixth form should ask granular questions: which courses (A-level and BTEC) are driving progression, what careers guidance looks like, and how the school supports higher education applications versus vocational routes, especially in a small cohort where personalisation is more feasible.

Trinity positions admissions as flexible across year groups, with common entry points including Nursery, Reception, Year 7 and Year 10. For Prep and Senior entry, the stated decision factors include entrance tests, interview or trial day impressions, references, and prior attainment evidence where relevant.

For families aiming at Year 7 to Year 9, the school describes formal entrance tests in English, Mathematics and Verbal Reasoning conducted in January, while also noting that tests can be arranged individually at other times. Scholarship assessments for Years 7, 9 and 12 are also described as taking place in January.

Registration is described as requiring a completed form and a £50 registration fee. Deposit information is referenced but the exact amount is not stated in the publicly accessible materials reviewed here.

Open events are published on the school’s website. For early years, the school advertises themed Stay and Play sessions and indicates booking is required, which is useful for families wanting to test fit before committing to a formal process.

Parents using catchment-based shortlists should note that this is an independent school, so “distance offered” admissions patterns typical of state schools do not apply. FindMySchool’s Saved Schools feature can still be helpful for managing multiple deadlines and visit dates across a shortlist.

Pastoral care is presented as structured and multi-layered, combining form tutors, key stage leadership, boarding staff, and formal review meetings. The school describes half-termly academic and pastoral review meetings where feedback is gathered from teaching, medical, learning support, and wider staff, with plans put in place when concerns emerge.

The stated approach has a clear implication: it should reduce the risk of quiet underperformance, and it can be particularly valuable for students who need routine check-ins rather than crisis intervention. Families should still ask about practical access to counselling, safeguarding culture, and how the school handles behaviour expectations, especially given the broad ability range and the boarding component.

Trinity’s extracurricular offer is broad, but the more helpful lens is to look at the pillars that recur across multiple age groups.

Outdoor challenge and leadership

Ten Tors and the Duke of Edinburgh Award feature explicitly, alongside Combined Cadet Force (CCF). These programmes tend to suit students who respond well to structured challenge, teamwork, and incremental responsibility. The school also references residential visits, including a Year 10 to Year 13 trip to Wales during the summer holidays.

Music, performance, and expression

The published club list includes Big Band, Choir, Theatre Workshop, Drama, and Recorder Club, indicating both performance routes and accessible entry points for pupils who are still building confidence.

Sport with performance pathways

Sport is a clear emphasis, and Trinity’s Elite Football Programme is positioned as a distinctive pathway. The school states that the programme was established in 2023 and references facilities including grass pitches, a floodlit 3G surface, a strength and conditioning gym, an indoor pool, and a dedicated lecture room. The implication for families is that football can be integrated as a serious strand alongside academic study, rather than being treated as a pure after-school activity.

For students who are not on an elite pathway, the general sports list also includes swimming, sailing, and sea rowing, with both competitive and participation routes described.

Trinity publishes a Schedule of Charges for 2025/26, stated as including VAT where applicable. Termly fees are listed as follows: Reception £3,885; Year 1 to Year 3 £4,515; Year 4 to Year 6 £5,245; Year 7 to Year 13 £6,458. Full boarding is listed at £14,065 per term.

Financial support is described through both scholarships and bursaries. Scholarships are stated to range from 5% to 50% depending on performance, with larger awards (those exceeding £600 per term) means-tested. The school also states that it offers a limited number of means-tested bursaries, with awards above 50% described as uncommon.

For Nursery fee details, use the school’s published early years information rather than relying on second-hand summaries. Government-funded hours are available for eligible families, and the school describes both 15 and 30-hour funding in its early years materials.

Boarding is organised across two houses: Chapel House for junior boarders (Year 5 to Pre-A level) and MD Halls for senior boarders (Pre-A level to Year 13). The school also describes a mixed international cohort within boarding, stating that Chapel House currently includes boarders from 10 different countries.

Weekends are framed as active rather than purely downtime. The boarding pages describe organised trips for junior boarders and more independent local access as students get older, including opportunities for Year 9 students to spend time in Teignmouth and for Years 10 and above to visit Exeter.

A practical insight for parents is that boarding has a clear rhythm. A published attendance and punctuality policy sets out core timings, including school finishing at 15.40, clubs extending to 17.00, and evening boarding routines with scheduled dinner and study periods.

The school’s published timings indicate that the main school day ends at 15.40, with school closing at 17.00 after clubs. Breakfast provision is referenced, and the school describes an “extended day” offer.

For early years, the nursery states core hours of 08:00 to 17:00, Monday to Friday, for 50 weeks of the year, with a Breakfast Club option earlier in the morning.

Transport-wise, the school references a minibus service from Exeter and surrounding areas, and it also highlights regional connectivity via Teignmouth’s rail links. Parents should confirm routes and timings directly with the school as these can change.

• Performance profile varies by phase. The available GCSE and A-level metrics place the school in the lower performance band in England on those measures, which makes it important to understand cohort context and how improvement is being driven.

• Leadership has changed since the latest inspection. ISI’s April 2023 report names a different head than the current headteacher, so families should test what has changed and what has stayed consistent.

• Boarding is structured and time-bound. Evening routines and study expectations are explicit, which suits some students well and feels restrictive to others.

• Fees are only part of the cost picture. Scholarships and bursaries exist, but some additional costs (uniform and certain activities) may still apply and are worth clarifying early.

Trinity suits families who want a through-school with boarding, structured pastoral oversight, and a clear commitment to student support, including for additional needs. The strongest fit is for children who benefit from being known well, and for students who will make the most of the wider programme, particularly leadership and sport pathways. The key decision point is academic outcomes: parents should interrogate how teaching quality, subject options, and learning support translate into results for a child with a specific starting point and trajectory.