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State primary · 4 to 9 · Mixed · 475 pupils

Damers First School

Liscombe Street, Poundbury, Dorchester, DT1 3DF · Dorset
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COULD YOUR CHILD GET IN? · RECEPTION 2027

We hold no offer-day distances for this school yet. Enter your postcode to see how far it is from your home.

Free, no account needed. Your postcode is used for this check and not kept.
Ofsted: Standards maintained · February 2025No 2025 resultsFewer first choices than places (2026)

Summary

The key facts, in one place
Inspection
Standards maintained, February 2025
Getting in
Not full for Reception 2026
Size
475 pupils; 75 places a year; classes of 30
Run by
Wessex Multi Academy Trust
Type
Academy converter
Ages
4 to 9 · Mixed
Strengths, and things to check
  • Sessions missed: 4.3%, against 5.2% in Dorset.
  • Persistently absent: 8.6%, against 11.6% in Dorset.
  • We hold no offer-day distances for this school: ask the council how far places went.
Schools for usRank every school near you by the measures that matter to your family, each reason shown.Rank schools →

At a glance

Against Dorset and England
This schoolDorsetEnglandHover or tap a bar for the figures
Attendance and behaviour
Sessions missedHalf-day sessions missed, authorised or not, as a share of all sessions in the school year (DfE pupil absence). Lower is better.
4.3%
Better than Dorset
Persistently absentPupils who missed one session in ten or more. Lower is better.
8.6%
Better than Dorset
Suspensions per 100 pupilsSuspensions in the school year for every 100 pupils on roll. Lower is better; one or two incidents move a small school a lot.
0.4
Better than Dorset
Pupils and classes
Average class sizeAverage pupils per class, from the school census. Shown for context, not as a score.
29.7
Context
Free school mealsPupils eligible for free school meals. Context for reading the results, not a measure of the school.
19%
Context
Pupils for each teacherPupils on roll for each full-time teacher, from the school workforce census. Shown for context.
21.5
Context
Demand for places
First choices per placeFamilies who put this school first, for each Reception place in 2026 (DfE applications and offers). Above 1 means more first choices than places.
0.9
Less sought after than Dorset
Dorset and England: DfE's own averages for results. For the rest, the middle state primary school of the same phase, from every school we hold, since DfE publishes no council figure we hold.Where these figures come from →

Overview

Getting in

  • 68 families put it first for 75 places; every one of them got in DfE, school applications and offers · Reception 2026
  • We hold a catchment map for this school.
  • We can't tell how far Reception places reached: we hold no offer-day figures for this school. Ask the council or the school for the last distance offered.

Quality

  • Standards maintained Ofsted · inspected 12 February 2025
  • We hold no published results for this school: it may be new, or have no pupils in the tested years.

Daily life

  • Absence: 4.3% of sessions missed; 8.6% of pupils miss 1 in 10 or more. Schools with a similar intake: 4.6% and 9.6% DfE, Pupil absence in schools in England: absence rates by school level · 2024/25
  • Suspensions: 0 per 100 pupils (schools with a similar intake: 1); 0 permanent exclusions DfE, Suspensions and permanent exclusions in England: school level · 2024/25
  • Classes average 29.7 pupils; 10% of classes have more than 30 DfE, school workforce and pupil census · 2025/26
  • 21.5 pupils for each teacher DfE, school workforce · November 2025
  • Nearest stops, in a straight line: bus 212 m DfT, NaPTAN (National Public Transport Access Nodes) · within 800 m
  • 7 police-reported road collisions within 500 m (0 fatal, 1 serious) DfT, Road safety data (STATS19): collisions and casualties, last five years · 2021 to 2025
  • Air: nitrogen dioxide 5.8 µg/m³, PM2.5 5.6 (1 km square, background level) DEFRA, Pollution Climate Mapping (PCM) 1 km background maps · 2024

Who runs it

  • Wessex Multi Academy Trust, with 12 schools DfE, Get Information about Schools: group links · joined November 2019
  • Opened as an academy (converter) on 1 November 2019 DfE, open academies list
  • Replaced Damers First School (URN 113665) DfE, Get Information about Schools: links · 1 November 2019
  • We can't compare results before and after it converted: we hold results for only one side of the date, because DfE publishes a few years at a time.

Getting in

How far offers reached

How far away the last child offered a place under the distance rule lived, as the council measures it. It changes every year with who applies: a record, not a promise. Children with a higher priority can be offered places from further away.

Reception. Distance of the last child offered a place on offer day. What the last distance means →

Applications and offers, DfE

EntryYearPlacesFirst choicesAny choiceFirst choices offered
Reception2026756815868
Reception2025816314863
Reception2024898316879
Reception2023888416284
Reception2022898616279
Reception2021907616275
Reception2020858418576

Source: DfE, Primary and secondary school applications and offers (school level, Open Government Licence), 2020 to 2026. Families name up to three schools, so most applications are somebody's second or third choice.

Could you get in?Enter a home or postcode: we set it against every year's last offer and this school's rules.

Results

Inspections

DateKindOutcome
12 February 2025Ungraded visitStandards maintained

Source: Ofsted, 2025.

Daily life

Absence

YearSessions missedAuthorisedUnauthorisedPupils missing 1 in 10Pupils missing 1 in 2
2024/254.3%3.3%1.1%8.6%1.0%
2023/244.7%3.6%1.1%9.8%0.2%
2022/235.1%4.0%1.1%12%0.5%
Schools with a similar intake4.6%9.6%

Source: DfE, Pupil absence in schools in England: absence rates by school level, 2024-25. Similar intake: state schools of the same phase with free school meals in the same band (10-20%), the median of 4894 schools.

Suspensions and exclusions

YearSuspensions per 100 pupilsPupils suspendedSuspensionsPermanent exclusions
2024/250.40.2%20
2023/242.00.6%100
2022/230.80.4%40
Schools with a similar intake0.8

Source: DfE, Suspensions and permanent exclusions in England: school level, 2024-25.

Class sizes and staff

MeasureFigureYear
Average class size29.72025/26
Classes over 30 pupils10%2025/26
Pupils for each teacher21.5November 2025

Source: DfE, school workforce; school census, 2025/26.

Stops nearby

KindNearest (metres, straight line)
bus212

Source: DfT, NaPTAN (National Public Transport Access Nodes), current. A stop across a railway or main road may be a long walk. Bus frequency is not held.

Road collisions within 500 m

YearCollisions
20251
20241
20230
20224
20211

Source: DfT, Road safety data (STATS19): collisions and casualties, last five years, 2021 to 2025. 1 serious and 0 fatal in all; 2 involved a pedestrian, 1 a cyclist. Only collisions with an injury reported to police are counted.

Air quality

PollutantAnnual mean (µg/m³)Year
NO25.82024
PM1010.52024
PM255.62024

Source: DEFRA, Pollution Climate Mapping (PCM) 1 km background maps. A 1 km background figure: not the air at the school gate beside a busy road.

Pupils

Who goes there

MeasureShare of pupilsYear
Eligible for free school meals19%2025/26
First language other than English13%2025/26
SEN support22%2025/26
Education, health and care plan6.9%2025/26
Girls50%2025/26

Source: DfE, schools, pupils and their characteristics; special educational needs, 2025/26.

Who runs it

Who runs it

  • Wessex Multi Academy Trust, with 12 schools DfE, Get Information about Schools: group links · joined November 2019
  • Opened as an academy (converter) on 1 November 2019 DfE, open academies list
  • Replaced Damers First School (URN 113665) DfE, Get Information about Schools: links · 1 November 2019
  • We can't compare results before and after it converted: we hold results for only one side of the date, because DfE publishes a few years at a time.

Area

Homes in reach of this schoolLook up any home near here: its sales, an open-data valuation, and which schools it keeps in reach.Search homes →

Sources

  • DEFRA, Pollution Climate Mapping (PCM) 1 km background maps
  • DfE, Primary and secondary school applications and offers (school level, Open Government Licence)
  • DfE, Pupil absence in schools in England: absence rates by school level
  • DfE, Suspensions and permanent exclusions in England: school level
  • DfE, school workforce; school census
  • DfE, schools, pupils and their characteristics; special educational needs
  • DfT, NaPTAN (National Public Transport Access Nodes)
  • DfT, Road safety data (STATS19): collisions and casualties, last five years
  • Ofsted
  • School register: DfE Get Information about Schools (this school)
  • How we check these figures: How we know

More in schools in Dorchester and the Dorset league table. School register: DfE Get Information about Schools, updated 17 October 2026.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Sources are named beside each figure. How we know · All sources.