Sturminster Marshall First School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 17 June 2025

Sturminster Marshall First school is a place where everyone is valued. Relationships between pupils, and across staff and pupils, are positive. Pupils feel safe to share any worries. They know they will receive the support that they need. Pupils recognise that their school value of 'kindness' underpins strong friendships. They play in harmony at social times, exploring the intricacies of nature and creating 'bug hotels'. The school is calm and orderly so that pupils can focus on their learning. Pupils behave well in lessons. The school aspires for pupils to succeed both academically and socially. However, despite the creation of an ambitious curriculum, some pupils, particularly older pupils, do not learn and achieve well enough. Although the school is working to tackle the areas that require improvement, this is not realised in how well pupils are academically ready for their next stage. Pupils enjoy attending a variety of clubs, including drama and multi-sports. They enjoy making a difference to their local community. For example, the elected school council take pride in working with the parish council to litter pick. Pupils develop social responsibility by donating to a local food bank. Trips to Lyme Regis spark pupils' interest in significant people such as Mary Anning.

What the school should improve

• Some older pupils have gaps in their learning due to weaknesses in the previous curriculum and the negative impact of staff instability. This hampers them from learning the new and improved curriculum well. The school must address gaps in pupils' knowledge to enable them to be well prepared for the next stage.
• The teaching of the curriculum is too variable across the school. Some learning tasks do not meet the ambition of the curriculum. Consequently, some pupils do not reach year group expectations and so are less prepared for their next stage. The school must develop teachers' understanding of how best to deliver the curriculum so that pupils can achieve well.
• In some subjects, the school has not considered carefully enough which knowledge pupils need to revisit and when. Therefore, pupils do not consistently build successfully on what they have learned before. The school must ensure the most important knowledge pupils need to learn is regularly revisited so that pupils can remember this learning over time and make meaningful connections.
• The school's processes to check the quality of its work are not rigorous. This means that the school, and those responsible for governance, struggle to review the impact of the actions taken. The school and governing body must refine accountability processes to help the school rapidly improve.

Read the full Ofsted report (opens in a new tab)