Sturminster Marshall First School

Sturminster Marshall First School is a small, caring community school where pupils feel safe, behave well and benefit from good personal development and early years provision. Reading is a notable strength: phonics is taught daily and all pupils met the expected standard in the 2024 Year 1 phonics screening check. Attendance has improved and safeguarding is effective. However, the quality of education and leadership and management require improvement. A period of staffing instability and weaknesses in the previous curriculum have left some older pupils with gaps, and teaching is inconsistent. In some lessons, tasks do not match the ambition of the new curriculum, teachers do not consistently check learning, and revisiting of prior knowledge is uneven. Pupils with SEND are identified early but do not always build detailed knowledge because of these implementation issues. The school has overhauled its curriculum and leaders know what needs to change, but checks on the impact of their actions are not rigorous enough. Governors and leaders are committed to improvement, and the report sets out the need to close older pupils' gaps, strengthen curriculum delivery, make revisiting more purposeful and refine accountability so improvement happens rapidly.

Strengths

• Pupils feel safe and relationships are positive, with kindness underpinning strong friendships.
• Behaviour and attitudes are good; the school is calm and orderly and pupils are attentive in lessons.
• Early years provision is good, helping children develop social skills and independence.
• Reading is well led, with daily phonics and all pupils meeting the Year 1 phonics standard in 2024.
• Personal development is strong, with clubs, community action and a good understanding of British values.
• Leaders' actions have improved attendance so more pupils attend promptly and regularly.
• Safeguarding arrangements are effective.

Areas for Improvement

• Teaching is inconsistent, and some learning activities are not ambitious enough to challenge pupils.
• Some older pupils have gaps in learning caused by the previous curriculum and staffing instability.
• Teachers do not consistently check how well pupils have learned or understand the intended end points.
• Revisiting of prior knowledge is uneven, so pupils do not always build successfully on earlier learning.
• Pupils with SEND do not develop detailed knowledge across the curriculum as well as they could.
• Leaders' checks on the impact of improvement work are not precise or rigorous enough.
• Some pupils, particularly older pupils, are not well prepared academically for their next stage.

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 Sturminster Marshall First School attended 94.2% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 13.1% 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, 4.4% of pupils at Sturminster Marshall First 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 Sturminster Marshall First School had 15.3 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 37.7% 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, 6.1% of pupils at Sturminster Marshall First School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 6.1% 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 Sturminster Marshall First School received £13,689 and spent £13,912 for each of its 49 pupils. It ended the year with a deficit of £44,000 (-£907 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 Wimborne · Dorset local authority: places and applications

What is Sturminster Marshall First School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Sturminster Marshall First School is Requires Improvement, from an inspection in July 2025.

When was Sturminster Marshall First School last inspected by Ofsted?

Sturminster Marshall First School was last inspected in July 2025.

How many pupils does Sturminster Marshall First School have?

Sturminster Marshall First School has 49 pupils on roll.

What age range does Sturminster Marshall First School cover?

Sturminster Marshall First School for pupils aged 4 to 9.

Where is Sturminster Marshall First School?

Sturminster Marshall First School is at 78 High Street, Sturminster Marshall, Wimborne, Dorset, BH21 4AY.