St Mary's Church of England Middle School, Puddletown
Ofsted: Good · September 2019State middle deemed secondary · 9 to 13MixedChurch of England441 pupils
Coombe Road, Puddletown, Dorchester, DT2 8SA · Dorset
COULD YOUR CHILD GET A PLACE? · YEAR 7 2027
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Summary
The key facts, in one place- Inspection
- Good, September 2019
- Size
- 441 pupils; classes of 24
- Faith
- Church of England
- Run by
- Wessex Multi Academy Trust
- Type
- Academy converter
- Ages
- 9 to 13 · Mixed
Ofsted, September 2019The judgements from the school's latest inspection. Reports from November 2025 use Ofsted's new report card, with different headings; we show whichever the latest report uses.Read the report ↗
Quality of educationGood
Behaviour and attitudesGood
Leadership and managementGood
Strengths, and things to check
- Sessions missed: 6.5%, against 8.5% in Dorset.
- Persistently absent: 18.8%, against 22.0% in Dorset.
- We hold no offer-day distances for this school: ask the council how far places went.
- A faith school: read its admission policy for any priority by faith.
At a glance
Against Dorset and EnglandThis 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.
6.5%
Better than DorsetPersistently absentPupils who missed one session in ten or more. Lower is better.
18.8%
Better than DorsetSuspensions 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.
10.6
Better than DorsetPupils and classes
Average class sizeAverage pupils per class, from the school census. Shown for context, not as a score.
24.5
ContextFree school mealsPupils eligible for free school meals. Context for reading the results, not a measure of the school.
21%
ContextPupils for each teacherPupils on roll for each full-time teacher, from the school workforce census. Shown for context.
18.5
ContextDorset and England: DfE's own averages for results. For the rest, the middle state secondary school of the same phase, from every school we hold, since DfE publishes no council figure we hold.Guide: what these measures mean →
Overview
Getting in
- A Church of England school: its admissions policy may give priority by faith.
- We hold no catchment map for this school, so we can't say which addresses are inside it.
- We can't tell how far Year 7 places reached: we hold no offer-day figures for this school. Ask the council or the school for the last distance offered.
Quality
- Good
- We hold no published results for this school: it may be new, or have no pupils in the tested years.
Daily life
- Absence: 6.5% of sessions missed; 19% of pupils miss 1 in 10 or more. Schools with a similar intake: 8.5% and 24%
- Suspensions: 11 per 100 pupils (schools with a similar intake: 17); 0 permanent exclusions
- Classes average 24.5 pupils; 28% of classes have more than 30
- 18.5 pupils for each teacher
- Nearest stops, in a straight line: bus 68 m
- 1 police-reported road collisions within 500 m (0 fatal, 0 serious)
- Air: nitrogen dioxide 4.7 µg/m³, PM2.5 5.3 (1 km square, background level)
Who runs it
- Wessex Multi Academy Trust, with 12 schools
- Opened as an academy (converter) on 1 June 2012
- Replaced St Mary's Church of England Middle School, Puddletown (URN 113897)
- 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.Year 7. Distance of the last child offered a place on offer day. How places are offered →
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
| Date | Kind | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| 22 January 2025 | Ungraded visit | Some aspects not as strong |
| 18 September 2019 | Graded inspection | Good |
Source: Ofsted, 2025.
Daily life
Absence
| Year | Sessions missed | Authorised | Unauthorised | Pupils missing 1 in 10 | Pupils missing 1 in 2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024/25 | 6.5% | 4.8% | 1.7% | 19% | 1.7% |
| 2023/24 | 6.6% | 5.3% | 1.4% | 15% | 2.1% |
| 2022/23 | 6.5% | 5.1% | 1.4% | 18% | 1.8% |
| Schools with a similar intake | 8.5% | 24% |
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 (20-30%), the median of 896 schools.
Suspensions and exclusions
| Year | Suspensions per 100 pupils | Pupils suspended | Suspensions | Permanent exclusions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024/25 | 10.6 | 5.4% | 47 | 0 |
| 2023/24 | 6.1 | 3.9% | 28 | 0 |
| 2022/23 | 5.4 | 2.9% | 26 | 0 |
| Schools with a similar intake | 16.8 |
Source: DfE, Suspensions and permanent exclusions in England: school level, 2024-25.
Class sizes and staff
| Measure | Figure | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Average class size | 24.5 | 2025/26 |
| Classes over 30 pupils | 28% | 2025/26 |
| Pupils for each teacher | 18.5 | November 2025 |
Source: DfE, school workforce; school census, 2025/26.
Stops nearby
| Kind | Nearest (metres, straight line) |
|---|---|
| bus | 68 |
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
| Year | Collisions |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 0 |
| 2024 | 0 |
| 2023 | 1 |
| 2022 | 0 |
| 2021 | 0 |
Source: DfT, Road safety data (STATS19): collisions and casualties, last five years, 2021 to 2025. 0 serious and 0 fatal in all; 0 involved a pedestrian, 0 a cyclist. Only collisions with an injury reported to police are counted.
Air quality
| Pollutant | Annual mean (µg/m³) | Year |
|---|---|---|
| NO2 | 4.7 | 2024 |
| PM10 | 9.5 | 2024 |
| PM25 | 5.3 | 2024 |
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
| Measure | Share of pupils | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Eligible for free school meals | 21% | 2025/26 |
| First language other than English | 2.3% | 2025/26 |
| SEN support | 22% | 2025/26 |
| Education, health and care plan | 6.8% | 2025/26 |
| Girls | 45% | 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
- Opened as an academy (converter) on 1 June 2012
- Replaced St Mary's Church of England Middle School, Puddletown (URN 113897)
- 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, 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. All sources.