Drake Primary School

Drake Primary School A Member of South West Plymouth Education Trust.

Drake Primary School is an urban, single form entry school adjacent to Devonport Naval Base. The school has always been well regarded and has had high academic achievement. However, in recent years the variance in cohorts has grown and the children’s on entry skills have markedly declined, with a significant proportion entering the school up to two years behind their peers nationally.

With this in mind, the school was keen to develop self-sustaining school improvement systems. This led to the school becoming one of the founder members of South West Plymouth Education Co-operative Trust, SWPET, in September 2012. There has been a long history of schools working together in Plymouth, but the formation of the cooperative trust formalised these links with the schools agreeing to the key principles of the co-operative movement: self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equality, equity and solidarity. Initially, four schools, College Road, Drake, Morice Town and Pilgrim Primary Schools formed the trust but they were soon joined by Marlborough and Mount Wise Primaries and latterly High Street Primary School. All seven schools serve deprived communities with multiple challenges.