Shaftesbury School

Shaftesbury School is performing well overall, demonstrating strengths across various domains, including the quality of education, behaviour, personal development, and leadership. The school has a strong academic core in its curriculum and provides excellent support for students, including those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). Furthermore, pupils enjoy a wealth of extracurricular activities and benefit from positive relationships with their teachers, contributing to an overall good learning environment where pupils feel safe and motivated to succeed.

Strengths

• Strong and positive relationships between pupils and staff.
• Well-designed curriculum enabling broad subject knowledge.
• Effective support for pupils with special educational needs.
• Engagement in a wide range of extracurricular activities.
• Emphasis on reading across all year groups.

Areas for Improvement

• Inconsistent teaching of relationships and sex education.
• Teachers do not always have accurate information to support SEND pupils.

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 Shaftesbury School attended 88.6% of sessions (the national figure for secondary schools was 91.6%). 32.2% of pupils were persistently absent, missing at least one session in ten (nationally 23.4%).

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, 5.1% of pupils at Shaftesbury School were suspended at least once (nationally 7.3%). 4 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 Shaftesbury School had 18.4 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for secondary schools was 16.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 32.1% were no longer at the school a year later (nationally 14.1%).

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, 19.2% of pupils at Shaftesbury School were on SEN support (nationally 14.1%) and 3.3% had an education, health and care (EHC) plan (nationally 3.5%).

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 secondary schools. Counts are as published, with small numbers not hidden.

In 2022–23 Shaftesbury School received £7,996 and spent £6,984 for each of its 905 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £40,000 (£44 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). Academy figures include a share of the trust's central services, shared out by pupil numbers, and are rounded to the nearest £1,000. Premises costs were defined differently from 2024, so compare them across that gap with care.

• Primary Schools
• Secondary Schools

All schools in Shaftesbury · Dorset local authority: places and applications

Shaftesbury School is part of Sherborne Area Schools' Trust, which runs 17 schools. The nearest others:

• Shaftesbury Church of England Primary School Shaftesbury
• Motcombe CofE Primary School Shaftesbury
• St Andrew's Church of England Primary School Shaftesbury
• St Mary the Virgin Church of England Primary School Gillingham
• St Nicholas Church of England Primary School, Child Okeford Blandford Forum
• Sturminster Newton High School Sturminster Newton
• Shillingstone Church of England Primary School Blandford Forum
• King Arthur's School Wincanton
• Charlton Horethorne Church of England Primary School Sherborne
• Sherborne Primary School Sherborne

What is Shaftesbury School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Shaftesbury School is Good, from an inspection in May 2023.

When was Shaftesbury School last inspected by Ofsted?

Shaftesbury School was last inspected in May 2023.

How many pupils does Shaftesbury School have?

Shaftesbury School has 782 pupils on roll.

What age range does Shaftesbury School cover?

Shaftesbury School for pupils aged 11 to 18.

What are Shaftesbury School's GCSE results?

In 2026 its average Attainment 8 score was 40.1, and 25% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above in both English and maths GCSE.

Where is Shaftesbury School?

Shaftesbury School is at Salisbury Road, Shaftesbury, Dorset, SP7 8ER.