Dounby Community School, Orkney
Dounby Community School is a primary school for pupils in Orkney.
- Attendance
- 94.7%
Data last updated 25 Oct 2026
Dounby Community School in detail
School in Scotland
Dounby Community School is a local authority school in Scotland. Scottish schools are inspected by Education Scotland rather than Ofsted, and Scotland does not publish school-by-school exam league tables.
Dounby Community School has a pre-school (nursery) class.
In the 2025 pupil census it had 118 pupils, an average class size of 19.7 and 13.1 pupils per teacher.
55% of pupils have an additional support need recorded.
Attendance was 94.7% in 2024/25, and 14% of pupils were persistently absent (missing 10% or more of sessions).
The 2026 school estate survey rated its buildings' condition as satisfactory (B) and their suitability for teaching as good (A); the school was 57% full.
Getting there
There is no railway, tram or Underground station within about three miles of Dounby Community School.
2 bus stops are within a five-minute walk; the closest is Hourston Road End (opposite), 160 metres away.
Sources: Scottish Government school statistics: pupil census, attendance and absence, school estate, leaver destinations (OGL); NaPTAN (Department for Transport)
Key Information
Scottish GovernmentInspection
HM Inspectorate of Education (Education Scotland) last published an inspection of Dounby Community School in June 2025.
- 1.3 Leadership of changesatisfactory
- 2.3 Learning, teaching and assessmentsatisfactory
- 3.1 Ensuring wellbeing, equality and inclusionsatisfactory
- 3.2 Raising attainment and achievementsatisfactory
HMIE grades on a six-point scale: unsatisfactory, weak, satisfactory, good, very good, excellent.
Source: HM Inspectorate of Education (Education Scotland), Open Government Licence.
At a Glance
No
Boarding
Yes
Nursery
No
Special Measures
Keep up with Dounby Community School
Getting There
Bus Stops
Safety and surroundings
Road collisions within 500 m (2021 to 2025)
No injury road collisions were reported to the police within 500 m of the school's mapped location in 2021 to 2025.
The typical figure for schools in Orkney Islands is 0 (the median across 21 schools, same distance and years).
Serious and slight counts use the Department for Transport's severity adjustment, which allows for changes in how police forces record injuries; they are estimates, rounded to whole numbers. Distances are in a straight line. Source: Department for Transport, Road Safety Data (STATS19), Open Government Licence v3.0.
Commute and house prices
Questions parents ask about Dounby Community School
When was Dounby Community School last inspected?
HM Inspectorate of Education (Education Scotland) last published an inspection of Dounby Community School in June 2025. Inspectors evaluated leadership of change as satisfactory; learning, teaching and assessment as satisfactory; ensuring wellbeing, equality and inclusion as satisfactory and raising attainment and achievement as satisfactory, on a six-point scale from unsatisfactory to excellent.
What is the catchment area for Dounby Community School?
Scottish schools have catchment (zoned) areas, and Dounby Community School is no exception: children living in its zone are normally given a place there automatically. Families who want a different school make a placing request to Orkney Islands. Orkney Islands publishes the zone boundary.
How do I apply to Dounby Community School?
If you live in Dounby Community School's catchment zone your child is normally allocated a place automatically, and Orkney Islands will write to you. To ask for a place here from outside the zone, make a placing request to Orkney Islands - requests usually open in November and close in mid-March for the following August.
How many road collisions happen near Dounby Community School?
No injury road collisions were reported to the police within 500 m of the school's mapped location in 2021 to 2025. The typical figure for schools in Orkney Islands is 0 (the median across 21 schools, same distance and years).
Where is Dounby Community School?
Dounby Community School is at Dounby, Orkney, Orkney, KW17 2JA.
Source: Department for Transport, Road Safety Data (STATS19)