Buckland Newton Church of England Primary School
Primary · Dorchester · DT2 7BY
Report-card inspection (current system, from November 2025)
The headline grade shown is the Achievement area of the school's report card.
Inspected 10 February 2026 · report published 20 April 2026
Read the Ofsted report ↗At a glance
110 pupils · 105% of 105 capacity (over capacity)
- School type
- Academy converter
- Age range
- 2–11
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- Church of England
- Free school meals
- 15.4% of pupils
- English as additional language
- 1.8% of pupils
- SEN support
- 25.7% of pupils
- EHC plan
- 4.6% of pupils
- Nursery
- Yes
- URN
- 144413
Admissions demand: Reception entry, September 2026
1.00 first-choice applications per place10 places offered · 10 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: Dorchester school admissions · Dorset school admissions
Key stage 2 results (2024/2025)
17 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 ahead of 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)
100% of teachers stayed at the school the following year
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.
Inspection history since 2015
- 10 February 2026: Expected standard
- 9 November 2021: School remains 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)
- 7/10less deprived than most of England
- Overall deprivation (IMD)
- 5/10around the middle for 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 | 40.3% | 33.9% |
| Adults with no qualifications | 12.9% | 18.1% |
| In managerial or professional work | 41.1% | 33.2% |
| Households deprived in two or more ways | 11.9% | 18.1% |
| Residents in very good health | 54.1% | 48.5% |
| Homes owned by the occupier | 70.7% | 62.3% |
| Social housing | 10.7% | 17.1% |
| Privately rented | 18.6% | 20.5% |
| Detached houses | 53.7% | 22.9% |
| Flats | 3.8% | 22.2% |
| Homes with four or more bedrooms | 38% | 21.1% |
| Households with no car or van | 6.6% | 23.5% |
Census 2021 (ONS) for statistical area E01020539 (a lower layer super output area), the neighbourhood of roughly 1,753 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.
Roads around the school
- Child pedestrian casualties
- 0a rural school averages 0.3
- Collisions at school-run times
- 0a rural school averages 0.7
- All reported collisions
- 1a 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.
Nearby schools
- Cerne Abbas CofE VC First School
- Piddle Valley Church of England First School
- Hazelbury Bryan Primary School
- All Saints Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School
- Cheselbourne Village School
- Sherborne Abbey Church of England Primary School
- St Mary's Church of England First School, Charminster
- St Mary's Church of England Middle School, Puddletown