Stower Provost Community School
Woodville Stour Provost, Gillingham, SP8 5LX
- Phase
- Primary
- School type
- Community school
- Ages
- 4 to 11
- Gender
- Mixed
- Acting Headteacher
- Mrs Ailsa Boardman-Hirst
- Constituency
- North Dorset
- Setting
- Smaller rural: Further from a major town or city
- Capacity
- 146
- Pupils on roll
- 92
- URN
- 113674
- Local authority
- Dorset
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01747838370
About this school
Stower Provost Community School is a community primary school in Gillingham. It teaches children aged 4 to 11 and has 92 pupils on roll.
You can read Ofsted's latest judgement for the school below. Where the Department for Education has published them, its results and pupil characteristics appear below. Seeing a school for yourself shows what no page can, so arrange a visit before you apply.
Ofsted judgement
Ofsted did not give an overall grade. Between September 2024 and September 2025 inspections graded each area of a school's work without a single overall judgement, ahead of the move to report cards. How Ofsted report cards work
- Quality of education
- Good
- Behaviour and attitudes
- Good
- Personal development
- Good
- Leadership and management
- Good
- Early years
- Good
- Safeguarding
- Effective
Exam results
Key stage 2 (end of primary school)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 2 | 8 | 8 | 15 |
| Met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths | 38% | 50% | 40% |
| Reached the higher standard in reading, writing and maths | 13% | 13% | 0% |
| Expected standard in reading | 63% | 50% | 73% |
| Expected standard in maths | 38% | 50% | 53% |
| Expected standard in grammar, punctuation and spelling | 50% | 63% | 53% |
| Average scaled score in reading | 105.0 | 104.0 | 106.0 |
| Average scaled score in maths | 102.0 | 100.0 | 99.0 |
| Reading progress | +0.80 | - | - |
| Writing progress | +1.90 | - | - |
| Maths progress | -0.90 | - | - |
Progress measures ended nationally after the 2022/23 school year, when the key stage 1 assessments they were based on were stopped. Blank progress figures in later years are not missing school data.
Trends over time
How Stower Provost Community School has moved over recent years against the local and national picture. Every figure is shown in the table beneath its chart.
| Year | This school | Dorset average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 38% | 53.5% | 57.9% |
| 2023/24 | 50% | 53.3% | 58.8% |
| 2024/25 | 40% | 54.4% | 60.3% |
Department for Education KS2 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 5.3% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 3.5% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 4.4% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 84 |
| 2023/24 | 90 |
| 2024/25 | 88 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Stower Provost Community School compares
Stower Provost Community School ranked 83rd of 89 primary schools in Dorset for KS2 results in 2024/25. Its KS2 result was higher than 11% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 74% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | KS2 RWM (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 40% | 4.4% | 15.9% | 92 | — |
| St Mary's Catholic Primary School, Marnhull | 67% | 5.7% | 21.6% | 82 | 1.7 miles |
| St Gregory's Church of England Primary School, Marnhull | 50% | 5.6% | 29.8% | 51 | 2.4 miles |
| St Mary the Virgin Church of England Primary School | 59% | 4.3% | 17.9% | 242 | 2.6 miles |
| Wyke Primary School | 71% | 4.8% | 19.3% | 161 | 3.0 miles |
| Gillingham Primary School | 50% | 5.4% | 24.8% | 233 | 3.1 miles |
Results reflect each school's cohort as much as its teaching, and free school meals share is context, not a judgement. Small gaps between neighbouring schools are rarely meaningful on their own.
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 15.91%
- English as an additional language
- 1.1%
- Overall absence
- 4.44%
- Persistent absence
- 9.64%
Location
Nearby schools
-
St Mary's Catholic Primary School, Marnhull1.7 miles
Primary · Sturminster Newton
-
St Gregory's Church of England Primary School, Marnhull2.4 miles
Primary · Sturminster Newton
-
St Mary the Virgin Church of England Primary School2.6 miles
Primary · Gillingham
-
Wyke Primary School3.0 miles
Primary · Gillingham
-
Gillingham Primary School3.1 miles
Primary · Gillingham
Other schools in Gillingham
Stower Provost Community School ranks 5th of the 6 ranked primary schools in Gillingham.
- Gillingham Primary School Primary
- Milton-on-Stour Church of England Primary School Primary
- St George's Church of England School, Bourton Primary
- St Mary the Virgin Church of England Primary School Primary
- Wyke Primary School Primary
- Gillingham School Secondary
Common questions
- What year groups does Stower Provost Community School teach?
- Stower Provost Community School teaches children aged 4 to 11. It is a primary school in Gillingham.
- Who is the acting headteacher of Stower Provost Community School?
- The acting headteacher of Stower Provost Community School is Mrs Ailsa Boardman-Hirst, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was Stower Provost Community School last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Stower Provost Community School, and its latest judgement is set out in the inspection section on this page, with the framework and the date it was made.
- How big is Stower Provost Community School?
- Stower Provost Community School has 92 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 4 to 11.
- Is Stower Provost Community School full?
- Stower Provost Community School has capacity for 146 pupils and 92 on roll (63%), so it has space against its published capacity. Places are allocated through the local authority's admissions process, so capacity alone does not tell you whether a place is available.
- Is Stower Provost Community School a faith school?
- No. Stower Provost Community School has no designated religious character.
- Does Stower Provost Community School have a nursery?
- No. The schools register records Stower Provost Community School as having no nursery classes.
- How have Stower Provost Community School's results changed over recent years?
- Its share of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths was 38% in 2022/23 and 40% in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Stower Provost Community School rank locally?
- Stower Provost Community School ranked 83rd of 89 primary schools in Dorset for key stage 2 results. Its KS2 result was higher than 11% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 74% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Stower Provost Community School's absence rate?
- Stower Provost Community School's overall absence rate is 4.4% in the latest published census, at or below the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Stower Provost Community School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Stower Provost Community School's key stage results are shown in the results section on this page, with the last three years so you can see the trend rather than a single year.
School details come from the Department for Education's Get Information About Schools register. Inspection outcomes come from Ofsted, and exam results from the Department for Education's school performance service. This page was last updated on 29 June 2026.