Primary
The Abbey CofE VA Primary School, Shaftesbury
St James's Street, Shaftesbury, SP7 8HQ
Key facts
- Phase
- Primary
- Type
- Voluntary aided school
- Ages
- 4 to 11
- Intake
- Mixed
- Pupils
- 201 of 210 places
- Pupils per teacher
- 22.7
- Local authority
- Dorset
- Religious character
- Yes
- Diocese
- Diocese of Salisbury
Staffing23/24
- Teachers (FTE)
- 8.8
- All staff (FTE)
- 15.3
- Pupils per adult
- 13.0
- Pupils
- 199
Staff are counted as full-time equivalents in the November school workforce census, so the pupil figure here is that census’s own and will differ a little from the roll above, which is counted in January.
Ofsted
Last inspected December 2022
Good
An ungraded inspection, which checks whether a school remains at its previous grade rather than re-grading it. Inspected under the previous framework, which used its own four-point scale. Ofsted now publishes a report card grading several areas separately, so these grades are not directly comparable with a recent inspection’s.
Read the full Ofsted report (opens in a new tab)SATs results
62%
11 points above the Shaftesbury average (51% across 5 schools)
108.0
4.2 above the Shaftesbury average (103.8 across 5 schools)
3rd of 6 by our score, among the primary schools in Shaftesbury we can score - see them all. Local and same-phase on purpose: a national table mostly measures who attends.
All published measures2024/2025
| Measure | Result |
|---|---|
| Average maths score | 106 |
| Average reading score | 108 |
| Reading, writing and maths | 62% |
| Working at a higher standard | 5% |
From the Department for Education. Measures are published per year and suppressed where a cohort is too small, so some schools show fewer. There are no results for 2019/20 or 2020/21, when exams and assessments were cancelled.
Results over time3 years
Each measure on its own scale, over every year we hold.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 22/23 | 72% |
| 23/24 | 58% |
| 24/25 | 62% |
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 22/23 | 106.0 |
| 23/24 | 103.0 |
| 24/25 | 108.0 |
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 22/23 | 107.0 |
| 23/24 | 103.0 |
| 24/25 | 106.0 |
St James's Street, Shaftesbury, SP7 8HQ
Admissions
How to apply (opens in a new tab)
You apply through your council, not the school - even for academies and free schools. Applications close on 15 January, the year before starting.
Dorset admissions (opens in a new tab)
The council publishes the oversubscription criteria and last year’s offer distances, which is the closest thing to knowing your chances.
If you are refused a place (opens in a new tab)
You can appeal, and you can join a waiting list at the same time. Accept whatever offer you get first - declining it can leave you with no place at all.
This school’s own admissions (opens in a new tab)
Schools that set their own criteria - faith schools, grammars, academies - publish them on their own site.
Contact
- Headteacher
- Michael Salisbury
- Address
- St James's Street, Shaftesbury, SP7 8HQ
- Telephone
- 01747852620