Sherborne Primary School
Harbour Way, Sherborne, DT9 4AJ
- Phase
- Primary
- School type
- Academy converter
- Ages
- 4 to 11
- Gender
- Mixed
- Trust
- SHERBORNE AREA SCHOOLS' TRUST
- Headteacher
- Mrs Felicity Griffiths
- Constituency
- West Dorset
- Setting
- Urban: Further from a major town or city
- Capacity
- 330
- Pupils on roll
- 304
- URN
- 144417
- Local authority
- Dorset
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01935812619
About this school
Sherborne Primary School is a primary academy in Sherborne. It teaches children aged 4 to 11 and has 304 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. Numbers and a report only go so far, so visit in person before you apply.
Ofsted judgement
Ofsted no longer gives schools a single overall grade. Each area of the school's work is graded on a five-point scale, and safeguarding is judged separately.
- Inclusion
- Expected standard
- Curriculum and teaching
- Needs attention
- Achievement
- Needs attention
- Attendance and behaviour
- Expected standard
- Personal development and wellbeing
- Expected standard
- Leadership and governance
- Expected standard
- Early years
- Expected standard
- Safeguarding
- Met
Exam results
Key stage 2 (end of primary school)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 2 | 49 | 49 | 51 |
| Met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths | 55% | 47% | 47% |
| Reached the higher standard in reading, writing and maths | 12% | 4% | 6% |
| Expected standard in reading | 67% | 73% | 69% |
| Expected standard in maths | 67% | 61% | 55% |
| Expected standard in grammar, punctuation and spelling | 69% | 78% | 71% |
| Average scaled score in reading | 104.0 | 104.0 | 103.0 |
| Average scaled score in maths | 102.0 | 102.0 | 100.0 |
| Reading progress | -0.40 | - | - |
| Writing progress | -0.10 | - | - |
| Maths progress | -1.60 | - | - |
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 Sherborne Primary 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 | 55% | 53.5% | 57.9% |
| 2023/24 | 47% | 53.3% | 58.8% |
| 2024/25 | 47% | 54.4% | 60.3% |
Department for Education KS2 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 6% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 6.2% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 5.4% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 299 |
| 2023/24 | 315 |
| 2024/25 | 319 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Sherborne Primary School compares
Sherborne Primary School ranked 66th of 89 primary schools in Dorset for KS2 results in 2024/25. Its KS2 result was higher than 18% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 52% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | KS2 RWM (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 47% | 5.4% | 21% | 304 | — |
| Sherborne Abbey Church of England Primary School | 48% | 5.8% | 22.4% | 336 | 1.3 miles |
| Milborne Port Primary School | — | — | — | 169 | 2.5 miles |
| Trent Young's CofE Primary School | 95% | 3.8% | 6.2% | 143 | 3.1 miles |
| Thornford CofE Primary School | 53% | 3.5% | 9.1% | 104 | 3.4 miles |
| Charlton Horethorne Church of England Primary School | — | 4.3% | 14.3% | 49 | 3.8 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.
Inspection history
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 21%
- English as an additional language
- 6.6%
- Overall absence
- 5.37%
- Persistent absence
- 12.64%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Sherborne Abbey Church of England Primary School1.3 miles
Primary · Sherborne
-
Milborne Port Primary School2.5 miles
Primary · Sherborne
-
Trent Young's CofE Primary School3.1 miles
Primary · Sherborne
-
Thornford CofE Primary School3.4 miles
Primary · Sherborne
-
Charlton Horethorne Church of England Primary School3.8 miles
Primary · Sherborne
Other schools in Sherborne
Sherborne Primary School ranks 4th of the 6 ranked primary schools in Sherborne.
- All Saints Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School Primary
- Charlton Horethorne Church of England Primary School Primary
- Milborne Port Primary School Primary
- Sherborne Abbey Church of England Primary School Primary
- St Andrew's Church of England Primary School Primary
- St Mary's Church of England Primary School, Bradford Abbas Primary
- Thornford CofE Primary School Primary
- Trent Young's CofE Primary School Primary
- The Gryphon School Secondary
- Harbour Vale School Academies
- Leweston School Independent schools
- Sherborne Preparatory School Independent schools
Common questions
- What year groups does Sherborne Primary School teach?
- Sherborne Primary School teaches children aged 4 to 11. It is a primary school in Sherborne.
- Who is the headteacher of Sherborne Primary School?
- The headteacher of Sherborne Primary School is Mrs Felicity Griffiths, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was Sherborne Primary School last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Sherborne Primary 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 Sherborne Primary School?
- Sherborne Primary School has 304 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 4 to 11.
- Is Sherborne Primary School full?
- Sherborne Primary School has capacity for 330 pupils and 304 on roll (92%), 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 Sherborne Primary School a faith school?
- No. Sherborne Primary School has no designated religious character.
- Does Sherborne Primary School have a nursery?
- No. The schools register records Sherborne Primary School as having no nursery classes.
- Who runs Sherborne Primary School?
- Sherborne Primary School is part of SHERBORNE AREA SCHOOLS' TRUST. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- How have Sherborne Primary School's results changed over recent years?
- Its share of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths was 55% in 2022/23 and 47% in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Sherborne Primary School rank locally?
- Sherborne Primary School ranked 66th of 89 primary schools in Dorset for key stage 2 results. Its KS2 result was higher than 18% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 52% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Sherborne Primary School's absence rate?
- Sherborne Primary School's overall absence rate is 5.4% in the latest published census, at or below the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Sherborne Primary School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Sherborne Primary 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 10 July 2026.