Schools in Dawlish

Dawlish has 7 schools in its broader catchment area — two mainstream primaries, one secondary and four specialist or independent settings — administered across Devon County Council's co-ordinated scheme. Four of the seven operate as academies, and one primary is officially oversubscribed. Average fill across schools with capacity data is 76 per cent, though this figure is weighted by the specialist provision; the two mainstream primaries operate closer to capacity than the headline figure suggests.

Gatehouse Primary Academy and Westcliff Primary Academy are the two mainstream state primaries in the town. Dawlish College is the secondary for most local pupils, serving a very wide rural hinterland as far as Teignmouth on the coast road. Devon's admissions round runs to the same January 15 national deadline as England generally, but families in coastal communities should note that Dawlish's transport links to Exeter can be disrupted by coastal rail closures — secondary school choice is therefore more constrained than the geography alone implies.