Broadwindsor Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School

About Broadwindsor Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School

Broadwindsor Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School was rated Requires Improvement in its most recent Ofsted inspection in November 2023, a downgrade from its previous Good rating. The inspection report highlighted that the quality of education and leadership and management both require improvement, though behaviour and attitudes, personal development, and early years provision were all rated Good. On the most informative exam metric available, just 50% of pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined at Key Stage 2 in the 2023/24 academic year. That places the school well below the Dorset local authority average of 56%, and ranks it 42nd out of 68 primary schools in the area. Only 13% of pupils reached the higher standard across all three subjects, and the school sits in the bottom 50 nationally on this measure.

Looking more closely at the individual subject results, reading was the strongest area: 81% of pupils reached the expected standard and 38% achieved the higher standard. Writing was weaker, with 56% at expected and 13% at the higher level, while maths saw 69% at expected and 25% at the higher level. The average scaled scores were 105 in reading and 103 in maths. The school does not publish progress scores, so it is not possible to see how much value it adds relative to pupils' starting points. The Ofsted report noted that early years provision is Good, which may offer some reassurance for families with younger children. The school has 93 pupils on roll against a capacity of 105, and 16.1% of pupils are eligible for free school meals, which is close to the national average.

Broadwindsor is a Church of England primary school in Dorset, serving children aged 4 to 11. It offers a range of facilities including a sensory room, forest school, chapel, art studios, and an ICT suite, plus sports such as swimming, tennis and gymnastics. Clubs include coding, chess, eco club and film club. The school has specific SEND provision for dyslexia, moderate learning difficulties, social and emotional mental health needs, and speech and language communication needs. For the 2025/26 intake, the school was oversubscribed: there were 25 applications for 9 places, with 9 first-preference offers made, giving an oversubscription ratio of 2.78. This suggests it is a popular choice locally despite the Requires Improvement rating, and families considering it should weigh the academic data against the school's strengths in early years, behaviour and personal development.

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