Sturminster Newton High School

Dorset · DT10 1DT

General information Secondary School · 11-18 years Who goes here 605 pupils, 30% FSM

Educational attainment Ofsted report card

Parent score Rate this school No reviews yet - be the first SEN 16.7% on SEN support Behaviour 10.9% absence rate Staff 19.2% turnover Financials Spending and funding Environment Buildings and facilities

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Sturminster Newton High School

General Information

Address: Bath Road, Sturminster Newton, DT10 1DT – View on map
Phone: 01258472642
Website: Visit school website
Headteacher: Mr Michael Motteram
Age range: 11-18 years
Demand for places (Year 7, September 2026): 89 families put it first for 93 places – 10 for every 10 places. Every one of them was offered a place. 6 of the 93 places went to families living outside the council area. Children putting it first, for every 10 places: 2024 10 · 2025 10 · 2026 10
Sixth form: Yes
Intake: Mixed
Religious character: Does not apply
Nursery provision: No

Who goes here

605 pupils out of 900 places Plenty of room

Pupils eligible for free school meals: 162
% eligible for free school meals: 30.0%
Pupil mix: 2 in 10 (similar to the Dorset average)
English as an additional language: 7% (England 22%)

Staff

Teachers leaving each year

Teacher turnover: 19.2% a year (Dorset 15%, typical in England 15.5%)
Where they went: about 33% moved to another school, 67% left state schools altogether (retirement, other careers, independent schools, abroad)
Data years: 2022/23 to 2024/25 (average of 2 years, DfE school workforce census)

Teachers who moved school or left state schools in the year after each November, as a share of all the school's teachers. Some turnover is healthy – retirements, promotions, moving house.

Behaviour

Awaiting Data

About this Behaviour status

We've asked this school for real behaviour figures under Freedom of Information and haven't had a response yet.

Across Dorset: suspensions by reason

Suspensions for sexual misconduct: 49 (2.0 per 1,000 pupils; England 1.7)
Permanent exclusions for sexual misconduct: 2
Suspensions for bullying: 54 (2.2 per 1,000 pupils; England 1.9)
Suspensions for abuse against sexual orientation or gender identity: 20 (0.8 per 1,000 pupils; England 0.8)
Data year: 2024/25 (DfE suspensions and exclusions statistics)

These are figures for all state secondary schools in Dorset, not this school's own – the government doesn't publish them school by school. A suspension can have up to three reasons. Most sexual harassment between pupils never leads to a suspension, so these figures show only part of the picture.

Attendance

Overall absence: 10.9%
Persistently absent pupils: 29.2%
Data year: 2024/25

About persistent absence

A pupil is counted as "persistently absent" if they miss 10% or more of their possible school sessions - roughly one day in every two weeks. Schools and Ofsted both pay close attention to this figure specifically, since it can highlight a pattern the overall absence rate alone might hide.

SEN

No dedicated Unit or Resourced Provision

SEN Unit and Resourced Provision

Most mainstream schools don't have a dedicated SEN Unit or Resourced Provision - it isn't a mark against a school that doesn't, just a different kind of setup than one that does.

Pupils on SEN Support: 16.7%
Pupils with an EHC Plan: 5.5%
Data year: 2025/26

Most common needs - SEN Support

Social, emotional and mental health: 40 pupils
Specific learning difficulty: 21 pupils
Speech, language and communications needs: 16 pupils
Autistic spectrum disorder: 10 pupils
Moderate learning difficulty: 6 pupils

Most common needs - EHC Plan

Social, emotional and mental health: 11 pupils
Autistic spectrum disorder: 9 pupils
Speech, language and communications needs: 7 pupils
Specific learning difficulty: 2 pupils
Hearing impairment: 2 pupils

These figures show the makeup of the school.

About these SEND figures

These figures give a sense of the makeup of the school - they aren't a judgement on the quality of support provided.

Parent score - no reviews yet –

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Behaviour

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Openness

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Teaching Quality

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School Ethos

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Ability to Deal with Problems

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Headteacher Approval

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SafeguardingSafeguarding (parent rating)How parents rate the school on keeping children safe - how safe their child feels, and how well concerns are listened to and acted on. It's parents' experience, not an inspection result; Ofsted checks safeguarding separately.

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Would recommend –

Educational Attainment

Ofsted report card April 2026

Ofsted's new report cards grade each part of school life separately, instead of giving one overall word.

Safeguarding Met
Inclusion Expected standard
Curriculum and teaching Expected standard
Achievement Expected standard
Attendance and behaviour Expected standard
Personal development and wellbeing Expected standard
Sixth form (post-16) Expected standard
Leadership and governance Expected standard

How Ofsted report cards work

Since November 2025, Ofsted grades each area of a school on its own five-point scale, and no longer gives a single word like “Good” or “Outstanding”. Safeguarding (keeping children safe) is simply met or not met.

Exceptional The very best practice nationally
Strong standard Above what Ofsted expects
Expected standard What Ofsted expects of every school
Needs attention Some weaknesses the school needs to fix
Urgent improvement Serious weaknesses needing urgent action

“Expected standard” is a sound result – it's what Ofsted expects a good school to do. Report cards aren't directly comparable with the old single grades, which is why we don't turn them into one.

Attainment 8 score: 46.1
Compared with the area: 1.8 points above the Dorset average (44.3)
Compared with schools with similar pupils: As expected (+0.3 points against an expected 45.8)
Grade 4+ in English and maths: 67% (Dorset 64%, England 65%) Improving
Data year: 2024/25

View the School Context Comparator – how this school's results compare with schools teaching similar pupils.

GCSE results over time

This schoolDorset averageEngland↗ Improving Up 5.0 points since 2022/23. In 2024/25 this school was 1.8 points above the Dorset average (44.3).

About the Attainment 8 score

Attainment 8 measures a pupil's average result across 8 GCSE-equivalent qualifications (English and maths count double). It shows how pupils performed, not how much progress they made getting there - a school with a higher score doesn't necessarily add more value, since pupils often arrive with different starting points. Progress 8 is the measure designed to account for that, but it currently can't be calculated for any school for the two most recent academic years, due to a nationwide gap in the data caused by COVID-19 disruption to Key Stage 2 testing.

7th of 18 secondary schools in Dorset for Attainment 8

#5Lytchett Minster School46.8
#6The Gryphon School46.7
#7Sturminster Newton High School46.1
#8Ferndown Upper School45.7
#9Queen Elizabeth's School43.3

Click to see the full ranking

Attainment 8 ranking

Illustrative MVP scores - not based on verified data yet.

Rank School Score

#1The Woodroffe School51.4
#2The Thomas Hardye School49.8
#3Beaminster School47.0
#4The Blandford School47.0
#5Lytchett Minster School46.8
#6The Gryphon School46.7
#7Sturminster Newton High School46.1
#8Ferndown Upper School45.7
#9Queen Elizabeth's School43.3
#10The Sir John Colfox Academy43.0
#11Budmouth Academy Weymouth42.0
#12The Purbeck School41.9
#13Wey Valley Academy41.0
#14Shaftesbury School39.1
#15The Swanage School36.9
#16All Saints' Church of England Academy35.6
#17Dorset Studio School34.1
#18Atlantic Academy Portland34.0

Leaver Destinations

In education, employment, or training a year later: 91.0%
Went into further education: 77.0%
Data year: 2024/25

About leaver destinations

This shows where a school's Year 11 leavers were recorded the following year - in a "sustained" destination means in education, an apprenticeship, or employment for at least 6 months, not just enrolled briefly. It's a different picture from exam results alone, and can highlight schools that support pupils well beyond just their GCSE grades.

GCSE Subjects Offered

Maths (General)
English Language
English Literature
French Language
Science Double Award
Geography
History
Art & Design
Biology
Chemistry (General)
Physics (General)
Photography
Business Studies
Religious Studies
Media Studies
Computer Science
Speech & Drama
Music Studies (General)
Portuguese
Statistics
Polish

About this subject list

This isn't the school's own description of its curriculum - it's real DfE exam entry data, showing which GCSE subjects this school's pupils were actually entered for in 2024/25. A subject not appearing here may still be taught but had no pupils entered that year, so treat this as a helpful guide rather than a complete guarantee - it's worth confirming directly with the school for the year your child would actually study.

View full Ofsted inspection report

Financials

Spending per pupil, and how this school compares to others nearby, will appear here once we've linked in official DfE spending data.

View on the Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool (GOV.UK)

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General Information

Who goes here

Staff

Teachers leaving each year

Behaviour

Across Dorset: suspensions by reason

Attendance

SEN

Most common needs - SEN Support

Most common needs - EHC Plan

Educational Attainment

Attainment 8 ranking

Leaver Destinations ?

GCSE Subjects Offered ?

Financials

Leaver Destinations

GCSE Subjects Offered