Downlands Community School
Primary · Blandford Forum · DT11 8BG
Report-card inspection (current system, from November 2025)
The headline grade shown is the Achievement area of the school's report card.
Inspected 13 January 2026 · report published 1 March 2026
Read the Ofsted report ↗At a glance
201 pupils · 48% of 420 capacity
- School type
- Community school
- Age range
- 3–11
- Gender
- Mixed
- Free school meals
- 4.7% of pupils
- English as additional language
- 31.6% of pupils
- SEN support
- 28.8% of pupils
- EHC plan
- 4.7% of pupils
- Nursery
- Yes
- Website
- www.downlandsschool.org
- URN
- 113659
Admissions demand: Reception entry, September 2026
0.95 first-choice applications per place22 places offered · 21 first-choice applications · roughly balanced
First-choice applications per place, by entry year
Applications and offers on national offer day, DfE. A ratio above 1.00 means more families named this school first choice than there were places.
Compare admissions across the area: Blandford Forum school admissions · Dorset school admissions
Key stage 2 results (2024/2025)
26 pupils at the end of key stage 2 in 2024/2025
Source: DfE performance tables 2024/2025. “Suppressed” means the DfE withholds figures for very small cohorts.
Schools with a similar intake
Meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and maths, 2024/2025
On meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and maths, this school is behind the schools that teach a comparable intake.
The twelve below are matched on intake alone, from every state school in England, so most are not local. They are the evidence behind the comparison above, not a shortlist. For schools you could realistically apply to, see nearby schools.
The 12 state schools in England whose intake most closely matches this one: same phase and admissions type, and as near as the data allows on size, free school meals, English as an additional language, SEN and the child poverty of the surrounding area (IDACI 2025). Matching uses only characteristics a school does not choose. It is not a ranking, and a close match on intake does not make two schools interchangeable: sixth form, faith character, admissions rules and plain geography all matter and are not in the calculation. Results: DfE performance tables, 2024/2025. How the matching works.
Attendance (2025/26 autumn term)
Autumn-term absence, DfE pupil absence data. Lower is better.
Staffing
Full-time-equivalent, 2025/26.
Teacher retention (2024/25)
77% of teachers stayed at the school the following year · 9% moved to another state school · 15% left the state-funded sector
School Workforce Census, DfE. The ratio counts full-time-equivalent qualified teachers; retention follows teachers in post one November to the next. Open Government Licence v3.0.
Spending per pupil
Total expenditure ÷ pupils, council-maintained school finance return (DfE Schools Financial Benchmarking, latest year). Higher spending is not a measure of quality. It often reflects greater pupil need or a smaller school. Open Government Licence v3.0.
Inspection history since 2015
- 13 January 2026: Needs attention
- 7 June 2023: Requires improvement
- 3 October 2017: Yes - improving (good)
Ofsted management information. Ungraded and monitoring visits do not award a new grade. How the two inspection systems work.
The area around the school
- Child poverty (IDACI)
- 9/10among the least deprived fifth of England
- Overall deprivation (IMD)
- 7/10less deprived than most of England
English Indices of Deprivation 2025 (MHCLG), decile of the small area the school stands in: 1 is the most deprived tenth of England, 10 the least. IDACI counts only children in low-income families, which is the measure closest to the intake a school is likely to draw on.
| Census 2021 | This area | England |
|---|---|---|
| Adults with a degree or higher | 32.3% | 33.9% |
| Adults with no qualifications | 8.3% | 18.1% |
| In managerial or professional work | 37.4% | 33.2% |
| Households deprived in two or more ways | 6.5% | 18.1% |
| Residents in very good health | 61.2% | 48.5% |
| Homes owned by the occupier | 45.4% | 62.3% |
| Social housing | 9.7% | 17.1% |
| Privately rented | 44.9% | 20.5% |
| Detached houses | 32% | 22.9% |
| Flats | 6.1% | 22.2% |
| Homes with four or more bedrooms | 29.3% | 21.1% |
| Households with no car or van | 5.4% | 23.5% |
Census 2021 (ONS) for statistical area E01034378 (a lower layer super output area), the neighbourhood of roughly 2,109 adults that the school stands in. These figures describe the area, not the pupils. Children travel in from further away, and for selective, faith and some other schools usually much further. Open Government Licence v3.0.
What homes cost nearby
- Median sale price
- £397,50048 sales within 2 km, January 2024 to July 2026
- Typical range
- £295,000–£440,000the middle half of sales
- England median
- £300,000all sales over the same period
Homes around this school are dearer than most school neighbourhoods in England, comparing the median within 2 km across every state school.
Fewer than ten homes sold within 1 km, so the figures use 2 km.
Every residential sale registered with HM Land Registry within 2 km of the school (straight line) since January 2024, market sales of houses and flats only. A sale is dated by completion and registered weeks later, so the most recent months are incomplete. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. This data is licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Postcodes located with OS Code-Point Open: contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026; contains Royal Mail data © Royal Mail copyright and database right 2026; contains National Statistics data © Crown copyright and database right 2026.
Roads around the school
No collision was reported to the police within 500 m of the school in 2021–2025.
- Child pedestrian casualties
- 0a rural school averages 0.3
- Collisions at school-run times
- 0a rural school averages 0.7
- All reported collisions
- 0a rural school averages 3.4
- Of those, serious or fatal
- 0a rural school averages 0.9
Every collision reported to the police within 500 m of the school in 2021–2025, from the Department for Transport's road casualty statistics (STATS19). "Child pedestrians" counts casualties aged under 16 on foot; "school-run times" means weekdays 07:30–09:00 and 15:00–16:30 outside August. A high count usually says the school sits on or near a busy road, not that the school is unsafe: counts rise with traffic and with how built-up an area is, which is why the comparison is with other rural schools. Distances are straight-line from the school's recorded position. Open Government Licence v3.0.