Shaftesbury Church of England Primary School
Shaftesbury, SP7 8PZ · Dorset local authority
Shaftesbury’s School Grade D− better than 3% of towns in England
What stands out about Shaftesbury Church of England Primary School
- Its own letter, D: Key Stage 2 results near the bottom of England’s primary schools (better than 6%)
- 41% meet the expected standard in reading, writing and maths, 21 points below England’s schools
- Ofsted report card, June 2026: achievement needs attention, safeguarding met (shown, not graded)
- Every family who put it first got a place for September 2026 (40 of 40)
- Homes in its postcode sector (SP7 8) sold for a median £287,000; Shaftesbury’s is £282,000
Results
DfE · Key Stage 2Reading, writing and maths 41%
Met the expected standard, DfE’s 3-year average 2023–2025 · higher than 6% of England’s 14,979 graded primaries · Dorset avg 56%
Each subject, 2025
Met the expected standard; the mark is England’s schools · average scaled score: reading 101, maths 99 (100 = the expected standard)
Disadvantaged pupils, 2025
Met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths: the 15 disadvantaged pupils and the rest, beside England’s schools
England’s figures are of its graded mainstream state schools, each school counted once; grammar schools are included, which is why the right-hand tail is long. Small cohorts are suppressed.
How hard is it to get a place at Shaftesbury Church of England Primary School?
Every family who put it first got a place for September 2026.
In every year shown, every family who put it first was offered a place. The council runs the coordinated admissions; each school’s rules (siblings, distance, faith) decide who gets in. DfE doesn’t publish the furthest distance offered, so check the council’s admissions booklet for that. Sherborne Area Schools' Trust sets the admissions rules. Apply through Dorset council’s coordinated admissions.
Outline = places offered · green = families who put it first · striped = more first choices than places
100% got their first choice
Shaftesbury and Dorset, side by side
2023–2025All 87 graded primaries in Dorset. Schools with more pupils on free school meals usually score lower, so a school above the crowd for its free school meals is doing better than its intake predicts. Shaftesbury’s schools are coloured by their letter.
Show as a table
| School | Letter | Free school meals | KS2 expected standard |
|---|---|---|---|
| All Saints Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School | A+ | 22% | 94% |
| St Ives Primary & Nursery School | A+ | 5% | 90% |
| Trent Young's CofE Primary School | A+ | 6% | 85% |
| Spetisbury CofE Primary School | A+ | 13% | 83% |
| Pimperne Church of England VC Primary School | A− | 14% | 74% |
| Durweston Church of England Primary School | A− | 9% | 73% |
| Thorner's Church of England School, Litton Cheney | A− | 13% | 71% |
| Parrett and Axe Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School | A− | 21% | 71% |
| St Andrew's Church of England Primary School | B+ | 18% | 70% |
| Atlantic Academy Portland | B+ | 35% | 70% |
| Lockyer's Middle School | B+ | 12% | 70% |
| Lytchett Matravers Primary School | B+ | 9% | 70% |
| Holy Trinity Church of England VC Primary School & Community Nursery | B+ | 33% | 69% |
| Buckland Newton Church of England Primary School | B+ | 15% | 69% |
| Stalbridge Church of England Primary School | B | 22% | 67% |
| St Mary's Catholic Primary School, Swanage | B | 18% | 67% |
| Blandford St Mary Church of England Primary School | B | 27% | 67% |
| Archbishop Wake Church of England Primary School | B | 27% | 66% |
| Thornford CofE Primary School | B | 8% | 66% |
| Emmanuel Church of England Middle School | B | 17% | 66% |
| The Abbey CofE VA Primary School, Shaftesbury | B− | 17% | 64% |
| St Mary the Virgin Church of England Primary School | B− | 12% | 64% |
| St Mary's Catholic Primary School, Marnhull | B− | 13% | 62% |
| St Michael's Church of England Middle School, Colehill | B− | 16% | 62% |
| Hazelbury Bryan Primary School | B− | 20% | 61% |
| St George's Church of England School, Bourton | B− | 9% | 61% |
| Conifers Primary School | C+ | 34% | 60% |
| Bovington Academy | C+ | 19% | 60% |
| St George's Church of England Primary School, Langton Matravers | C+ | 17% | 60% |
| Maiden Newton, Greenford Church of England Primary School | C+ | 20% | 59% |
| Beechcroft St Paul's CofE Primary School | C+ | 51% | 59% |
| St Nicholas and St Laurence Church of England Primary School | C+ | 19% | 59% |
| Bridport Primary School | C+ | 22% | 58% |
| Milldown CofE Academy | C+ | 23% | 58% |
| Swanage Primary School | C+ | 17% | 58% |
| Powerstock Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School | C | 12% | 57% |
| Symondsbury Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School | C | 14% | 56% |
| Radipole Primary School | C | 13% | 55% |
| Wyke Regis Church of England Junior School | C | 32% | 55% |
| Stoborough Church of England Primary School | C | 8% | 55% |
| Broadwindsor Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School | C | 13% | 54% |
| Allenbourn Middle School | C | 14% | 54% |
| Milton-on-Stour Church of England Primary School | C | 11% | 54% |
| Salway Ash Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School | C− | 11% | 53% |
| Cranborne Middle School | C− | 19% | 53% |
| Chickerell Primary Academy | C− | 22% | 53% |
| Bridport, St Mary's Church of England Primary School | C− | 30% | 53% |
| Upton Junior School | C− | 27% | 53% |
| William Barnes Primary School | C− | 25% | 52% |
| Sticklands Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School | C− | 6% | 52% |
| West Moors Middle School | C− | 37% | 52% |
| Beaminster St Mary's Academy | C− | 32% | 52% |
| St Augustine's Catholic Primary School, Weymouth | C− | 20% | 52% |
| Burton Bradstock Church of England Voluntary Controlled School | C− | 8% | 52% |
| St Osmund's Church of England Middle School | C− | 17% | 52% |
| Southill Primary School | C− | 14% | 51% |
| St George's Foundation Primary School | C− | 27% | 51% |
| St Mary's Church of England Middle School, Puddletown | C− | 21% | 51% |
| Ferndown Middle School | C− | 21% | 51% |
| Bincombe Valley Primary School | C− | 48% | 50% |
| Dunbury Church of England Academy | C− | 12% | 50% |
| Corfe Castle Church of England Primary School | C− | 25% | 50% |
| St Mary's Church of England Primary School, Bradford Abbas | C− | 10% | 50% |
| Sherborne Primary School | C− | 18% | 50% |
| Motcombe CofE Primary School | C− | 16% | 49% |
| Sherborne Abbey Church of England Primary School | C− | 25% | 49% |
| Bere Regis Primary and Preschool | C− | 20% | 49% |
| Sandford St Martin's Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School | D | 15% | 47% |
| Wareham St Mary Church of England Primary School | D | 34% | 47% |
| St Mary & St Joseph's Catholic Primary School | D | 14% | 46% |
| Shillingstone Church of England Primary School | D | 26% | 46% |
| Swanage St Mark's Church of England Primary School | D | 49% | 45% |
| Gillingham Primary School | D | 25% | 45% |
| Lulworth and Winfrith CofE Primary School | D | 20% | 45% |
| Dorchester Middle School | D | 22% | 44% |
| Downlands Community School | D | 5% | 43% |
| Loders CofE Primary Academy | D | 14% | 43% |
| Wool Church of England Primary School | D | 14% | 43% |
| St Nicholas Church of England Primary School, Child Okeford | D | 14% | 43% |
| Stower Provost Community School | D | 13% | 42% |
| St Andrew's Church of England Primary School | D | 22% | 42% |
| Shaftesbury Church of England Primary School | D | 24% | 41% |
| St Catherine's Roman Catholic School | D | 21% | 40% |
| St John's Church of England Primary School | D | 26% | 40% |
| Portesham Church of England Primary School | D− | 17% | 33% |
| St Andrew's Church of England Primary School | D− | 17% | 31% |
| Marshwood CofE Primary Academy | D− | 23% | 27% |
Who goes here
DfE school census, January 2025338 pupils. SEN support is extra help in school for a special educational need; an EHC plan is the council’s legal plan for pupils who need more.
Girls and boys
Shaftesbury Church of England Primary School’s letter
Its own results against England’s schools, not the town’s School Grade.
How school letters are worked out
Each school’s measure is compared with every graded school in England of the same phase: for primaries, the share of pupils meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (DfE’s three-year average); for secondaries, Attainment 8 and the share with grade 5 or above in English and maths, each turned into a z-score against England’s schools and averaged. The letter comes from the share of those schools it beats, in the same bands as every grade on the site. The same method gives U.S. schools their letters, against their own state.
Graded: England’s open mainstream state schools with published results (grammar schools included, which select by test). Not graded: special schools, alternative provision, nurseries, 16–19 colleges, UTCs and studio schools, Welsh schools. Ofsted plays no part.
Ofsted inspections
Shown, not graded: Ofsted is never part of a letter or the School Grade.
Report card, inspection starting June 2026.
Before the report card: Graded inspection: Good, February 2022.
Living near Shaftesbury Church of England Primary School
For families thinking of moving: what homes cost around the school, and the other schools close by.
Home prices in SP7 8, the school’s postcode sector
Shaftesbury property prices →Median sale price each year, 2010 to 2025
By type, the 36 months to August 2026
Homes in SP7 8 sell for about the same as Shaftesbury’s typical price. HM Land Registry Price Paid, standard sales. Catchments aren’t published, so the postcode sector stands in for “around the school”.
Schools within 1.6 miles
2 state schoolsLocation
Directions ↗Shaftesbury, SP7 8PZ
Shaftesbury Church of England Primary School: common questions
Is Shaftesbury Church of England Primary School a good school?
By its published results, well below average: its Key Stage 2 results are better than 6% of England’s primary schools (its letter is D), with 41% of pupils meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and maths, against 62% for England’s schools. Ofsted: a report card in June 2026.
How hard is it to get into Shaftesbury Church of England Primary School?
For September 2026, 40 families put Shaftesbury Church of England Primary School first and all of them were offered a place; 40 places were offered in all.
What is Shaftesbury Church of England Primary School’s Ofsted rating?
Its latest inspection (June 2026) gave a report card: achievement needs attention, safeguarding met. Ofsted stopped giving one-word overall grades in September 2024.
How much do houses cost near Shaftesbury Church of England Primary School?
Homes in its postcode sector, SP7 8, sold for a median £287,000 over the 36 months to August 2026 (594 sales).
Sources: DfE Get Information about Schools (16 October 2026), Key Stage 2 performance tables (2023–2025, three-year average) and Key Stage 4 (2025/26, provisional); Ofsted state-funded school inspections as at 30 September 2026. All under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Also: DfE Key Stage 4 performance, schools data (2023/24 and 2024/25 final, 2025/26 provisional) and Key Stage 2 performance tables 2024/25 by subject; DfE school census, January 2025; DfE school-level applications and offers, September 2019 to 2026 entry; HM Land Registry Price Paid by postcode sector, 2010 to August 2026.
A school’s letter is our own summary of its published results against England’s schools of the same phase; Shaftesbury’s School Grade is a separate grade, built from the results of the schools in and around the town against other towns. Map: © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026 (ONS boundaries). Northern Ireland: Source: NISRA; contains Land & Property Services data and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland information, © Crown copyright, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Scotland: contains National Records of Scotland data, Registers of Scotland data and SEPA data, © Crown copyright / © SEPA 2025, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.