Dingle Community Primary School

Dingle Community Primary is a welcoming school where pupils enjoy attending, feel safe and behave well. Relationships between staff and pupils are respectful, attendance is strong, and pupils take pride in leadership roles and the wide range of clubs and visits on offer. Personal development is prioritised, and safeguarding arrangements are effective. The school has very recently had a change in leadership. New leaders have acted decisively and have an ambitious vision for improvement, and staff and parents are positive about the direction of travel. Early reading has been made a renewed priority, with phonics teaching, checks and support now in place. However, these systems are new and not yet embedded, and some staff lack the expertise to deliver the phonics programme consistently well. The main areas for improvement are the quality of education and early years provision. The curriculum in some subjects is not specified or sequenced well enough, and teachers' checks on learning are not precise enough to identify and address misconceptions. Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities, particularly in reading, do not achieve as well as they might. As a result, pupils are not as well prepared as they should be for the next stage of their education.

Strengths

• Pupils are polite, well-mannered and respectful, and relationships with staff are positive.
• Pupils behave well, follow clear rules and move calmly and safely around school.
• Attendance is frequent and punctual, and the school responds quickly to barriers.
• Personal development is prioritised through leadership roles, clubs, visits and wider opportunities.
• Pupils know how to keep themselves safe online and show respect for difference and diversity.
• Safeguarding arrangements are effective.
• Pupils with SEND have their needs identified quickly and benefit from sensory hub and nurture provision.
• Staff are positive about working at the school, and parents say new leadership is making improvements.
• New leaders have taken decisive action and set an ambitious vision for improvement.
• In subjects such as PE where knowledge is precisely identified, pupils know and remember more.

Areas for Improvement

• Phonics is not delivered consistently well, and some staff lack expertise, slowing pupils' reading fluency.
• The curriculum in some subjects, including early years, lacks identified key knowledge and progression.
• Teachers' checks on pupils' understanding are not precise enough, so misconceptions persist.
• Pupils with SEND do not achieve as well as they might, particularly in reading.
• New improvement systems are not yet embedded and have not had time to show impact.
• Pupils are not as well prepared as they should be for the next phase of education.

Admissions: local authority offers data from the Department for Education. A school is oversubscribed when at least 5% of the families who put it first were not offered a place, and undersubscribed when everyone who put it first got in but 10% or more of its places were unfilled in the Department's school capacity survey (the latest survey is used for entry years it does not cover). Places: Department for Education, School capacity, from local authorities' annual survey as at 1 May. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024–25); the survey was not run in 2020. Places include sixth form places. Forecasts are the local authority's own for the school's planning area, an area it uses to plan places that is not the school's catchment area. The forecast starts from a head count in 2025; the dashed line is the Department's estimate of places in that area, including those the authority has firm plans for. Planned places are cumulative, and only those with firm plans are counted.

In 2024–25 pupils at Dingle Community Primary School attended 94.3% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 16.7% of pupils were persistently absent, missing at least one session in ten (nationally 13.0%).

Sessions missed

Pupils persistently absent

Source: Department for Education, Pupil absence in schools in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Persistent absence means missing 10% or more of sessions; severe absence means 50% or more. No figures were published for 2019/20.

In 2024–25, 4.5% of pupils at Dingle Community Primary School were suspended at least once (nationally 1.1%). No pupils were permanently excluded.

Pupils suspended at least once

Source: Department for Education, Suspensions and permanent exclusions in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). A pupil can be suspended more than once, so suspensions per 100 pupils can be higher than the share of pupils suspended. Very small numbers are hidden by the DfE. Exclusion figures dropped in 2020 and 2021 because of school closures.

In 2025–26 Dingle Community Primary School had 21.9 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 43.2% were no longer at the school a year later (nationally 15.7%).

Pupils per teacher

Teachers who left the school within a year

Source: Department for Education, School workforce in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Pupils per teacher counts full-time-equivalent pupils and teachers. Turnover is the share of a year's teachers (full-time equivalent) who were not at the school the following year, whether they moved to another school or left state-funded teaching. Turnover and sickness figures run one year behind the ratios. Sick leave is the share of teachers who took at least one day in the year, so it swings widely at small schools, where a few teachers can make it 0% or 100%. The national figures are for all state schools of the same type.

In 2025–26, 16.5% of pupils at Dingle Community Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 5.9% had an education, health and care (EHC) plan (nationally 4.1%).

Pupils by main type of need

Source: Department for Education, Special educational needs in England (the 2025–26 school census). SEN support is extra help in school without an EHC plan. National figures are for all state-funded primary schools. Counts are as published, with small numbers not hidden.

In 2025–26 Dingle Community Primary School received £7,712 and spent £8,150 for each of its 189 pupils. It ended the year with a deficit of £82,000 (-£434 per pupil).

Income per pupil

Spending per pupil

Source: Department for Education, Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool. Each year is the one the financial year ends in (2024 is 2023–24).

• Primary Schools
• Secondary Schools

All schools in Kingswinford · Dudley local authority: places and applications

What is Dingle Community Primary School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Dingle Community Primary School is Requires Improvement, from an inspection in March 2025.

When was Dingle Community Primary School last inspected by Ofsted?

Dingle Community Primary School was last inspected in March 2025.

How many pupils does Dingle Community Primary School have?

Dingle Community Primary School has 188 pupils on roll.

What age range does Dingle Community Primary School cover?

Dingle Community Primary School for pupils aged 5 to 11.

What are Dingle Community Primary School's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 67% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Dingle Community Primary School?

Dingle Community Primary School is at Madeley Road, Kingswinford, West Midlands, DY6 8PF.