Thorncombe, St Mary's Church of England Primary Academy
Primary · Thorncombe · TA20 4NE
Graded inspection under the pre-November 2025 system
This is an overall-effectiveness grade from the previous inspection framework. The school has not yet had a report-card inspection.
Inspected 10 October 2023
Read the Ofsted report ↗At a glance
34 pupils · 44% of 77 capacity
- School type
- Academy converter
- Age range
- 2–11
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- Church of England
- Free school meals
- 26.9% of pupils
- English as additional language
- 0% of pupils
- SEN support
- 15.6% of pupils
- EHC plan
- 12.5% of pupils
- Nursery
- Yes
- URN
- 151307
Compare admissions across the area: Dorset school admissions
Key stage 2 results (2024/2025)
2 pupils at the end of key stage 2 in 2024/2025
suppressed (small cohort)
suppressed (small cohort)
suppressed (small cohort)
suppressed (small cohort)
Source: DfE performance tables 2024/2025. “Suppressed” means the DfE withholds figures for very small cohorts.
Attendance (2025/26 autumn term)
Autumn-term absence, DfE pupil absence data. Lower is better.
Staffing
Full-time-equivalent, 2025/26.
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, academy 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.
The area around the school
- Child poverty (IDACI)
- 6/10around the middle for England
- Overall deprivation (IMD)
- 4/10more 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 | 36.1% | 33.9% |
| Adults with no qualifications | 15.9% | 18.1% |
| In managerial or professional work | 36.2% | 33.2% |
| Households deprived in two or more ways | 11.5% | 18.1% |
| Residents in very good health | 45% | 48.5% |
| Homes owned by the occupier | 77.6% | 62.3% |
| Social housing | 8.4% | 17.1% |
| Privately rented | 14% | 20.5% |
| Detached houses | 65.7% | 22.9% |
| Flats | 2.6% | 22.2% |
| Homes with four or more bedrooms | 34.1% | 21.1% |
| Households with no car or van | 4.9% | 23.5% |
Census 2021 (ONS) for statistical area E01020535 (a lower layer super output area), the neighbourhood of roughly 1,526 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
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.