Winterbourne Valley Church of England Aided First School, Dorchester
Data last updated 11 Sept 2026
Key Information
DfE GIASOfsted Rating
Overall
Ofsted Insights
What This School Does Well
This school excels at creating a caring, respectful community where children thrive emotionally and behaviourally. Teachers use excellent phonics teaching to get children reading confidently early on, and the early years provision is particularly strong with nurturing staff who help children settle quickly. Parents can be confident their child will be happy, well-behaved and supported to learn.
Key Strengths
- Excellent phonics teaching with above-average results in Year 1 screening tests
- Strong behaviour and attendance, well above national figures
- High-quality early years provision with effective communication development
- Well-designed, broad curriculum with secure teacher subject knowledge
- Effective safeguarding with open culture where pupils feel safe
Areas for Improvement
- Checks on pupils' learning not used effectively to identify and address gaps quickly enough
- Inaccuracies in basic knowledge such as letter and number formation persist
- Inconsistent recall of key knowledge across subjects and year groups
- Some adaptations for pupils with SEND need further refinement
Safeguarding
Safeguarding standards are met - leaders have established an open culture where safeguarding is everyone's responsibility, concerns are actively identified and acted upon, and pupils feel safe.
Extracurricular Activities
Gardening club, kick boxing club, school council, residential visits for Year 4, trips to Roman house and Tutankhamun exhibition
Winterbourne Valley Church of England Aided First School is a welcoming community school where pupils are proud to attend and behave well. The school has strong foundations in early reading and phonics, though leaders are working to improve how they check and address gaps in pupils' basic knowledge across all subjects.
At a Glance
13.3%
Free School Meals
No
Boarding
Yes
Nursery
No
Sixth Form
No
Special Measures
Class Sizes
16.5
Avg class size
12.0
Infant (KS1)
2
Total classes
2024/25 academic year
Getting There
Bus Stops
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Capacity & Demand
School Occupancy
67%
Available places
60 pupils
90 capacity
30 spare places available
Area Demand Pressure - Dorchester
Based on MHCLG housing supply data for Dorchester
Admissions Demand - Dorset
Places available
3,776
Applications
2,808
Got 1st preference
94.1%
Got preferred school
99.1%
Primary admissions across Dorset (2025/26)
Inspection History(10)
House Prices
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SEN Provision
How many pupils have special educational needs, what types of support the school provides, and how it compares to similar schools.
Pupil Demographics
The school's pupil mix - ethnicity breakdown, free school meals eligibility, and English as an additional language. Useful context when evaluating school fit.
Teachers & Staff
Teacher qualification rates, pupil-to-teacher ratio, staff turnover, and salary data. Shows how well-resourced and stable the school's workforce is.
School Funding
Annual funding per pupil, total budget, pupil premium grants, and how the school's resources compare to similar schools nationally.
Pupil Absence2024/25
4.31603%
Overall absence
12.2807%
Persistent absence
57
Enrolments
Absence trend
Source: DfE pupil absence statistics. Persistent absence = pupils missing 10%+ sessions.
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