SF School Facts UK

Primary school in Weymouth, Dorset

Beechcroft St Paul's CofE Primary School

Corporation Road, Weymouth, Dorset, DT4 0LQ

Ofsted Requires improvement · 2024 Church of England
School website 01305783500
Ofsted Requires improvement February 2024
Met the expected standard 47% in the bottom quarter nationally
Chance of a place 100% of first choices offered
Local deprivation 3/10 more deprived

Ofsted

Requires improvementas at 20 February 2024

Graded Requires improvement at its last graded inspection, on 20 February 2024.

Ofsted stopped awarding single-word overall grades in September 2024. This grade is 2 years old and will not be updated — the school keeps it until its next inspection, which will not produce a replacement grade.

Read the Ofsted report

Current published outcome
Requires improvement
Last overall grade in this dataset
Requires improvement
Days since inspection
955 days
Framework era
Historic overall-grade framework (ended September 2024)

These four fields describe the latest published inspection on this record. The dataset does not keep a previous inspection row, so a school inspected under the current framework will usually have no overall grade to show as “prior”.

Key stage 2 results 2024/25

Met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths

47% England 60.7%

Reached the higher standard

6% England 8.1%

Average reading score

103 England 105.3

Average maths score

101 England 104.1

On the headline measure this school is in the bottom quarter of state-funded primaries in England.

Compared with the fifth of schools whose intake is second most disadvantaged, which is where this one sits, it is in the bottom quarter.

There are no progress measures for primary schools any more. They were calculated from a key stage 1 baseline, and statutory key stage 1 tests ended in 2023, so nothing has been published since. That makes attainment the only official measure — and attainment tracks intake closely, which is why the comparison against similar schools above is the more useful of the two lines.

Getting a place 2026/27 entry

About as many first choices as places. Of the 12 families who named this school as their first choice, 100% were offered a place.

Places offered
14

for entry into Reception

Named it first choice
12
First choices per place
0.86

England average 1.00

First choices offered a place
100%

England 95.1%

First preferences per place are down 14% on three years ago.

These are offers made on national offer day for 2026/27 entry, from the local authority's co-ordinated admissions round. They exclude later movement — waiting lists, appeals and in-year admissions — so a school shown as oversubscribed may still have places by September.

Oversubscription measures popularity, not quality, and the two are not the same thing: a school can be heavily oversubscribed because of its intake, its faith designation or simply because the nearest alternative is further away. We do not publish catchment maps, because catchments are not published: each admissions authority applies its own criteria afresh every year, and the distance that got a child in last year is not a boundary. Read the school's own admissions arrangements for the rules that will actually apply.

Pupils

Pupils on roll
189
Places
218
How full
87% full — 189 of 218 places taken
Girls / boys
92 / 97
Overall absence
10%

primary schools average 5.2%

Persistently absent
26%

primary schools average 12.8% — pupils missing 10% or more of sessions

Free school meals, last 6 years
49%

England 25.7%

English as an additional language
20%

England 18.7%

With an EHC plan
11%

England 3.5%

On SEN support
20%

England 15%

School funding 2025-26 financial year

Not found for this URN in the 2025-26 release.

Evidence found
Not found for this URN in the 2025-26 release; this is not represented as £0.
Source coverage
DfE mainstream-school allocations for running costs for pupils aged 5-16, importer snapshot 23 August 2026.
What this means
The official mainstream allocation release does not provide a publishable row for this establishment.
What this does not mean
The school received no public funding or has no budget; other establishment types and funding streams use different publications.

Allocation is not expenditure. DfE says this release combines the schools block with several other revenue grants and excludes capital spending. Funding is shown for context and is never used in School Facts ordering, peer groups or quality claims. Source, licence and coverage.

Roads and getting there

Road casualties within 500m

Child pedestrian casualties
0

England average 1.6 — pedestrians under 16, over five years

All reported collisions
16

England average 24.2 over five years

Of those, serious or fatal
3
Busiest road nearby
A354

17,802 vehicles a day (2025)

Public transport

Bus stops within 500m
17

England average 11.9

Nearest station
Weymouth Rail Station

1 km away — railway station

Traffic volume is the context the collision count needs: a school beside a major road will record more collisions than one on a quiet street without being any less well run.

Every collision reported to the police within 500m of the school over the five years to 2024, from the Department for Transport's road casualty statistics. A high count usually says the school sits on or near a busy road, not that the school is unsafe — counts rise with traffic and with how built up an area is, and a rural school on a fast road may have fewer collisions but a worse one. Distances are straight-line from the school's recorded position.

The area around the school

3/10 Deprivation decile

Among the more deprived half of England.

3/10 Child poverty decile

Among the more deprived half of England for children in low-income families.

Indices of Deprivation 2019, for the small area the school stands in. 1 means the most deprived tenth of England, 10 the least. The second measure counts only children living in low-income families, which is the one that describes the intake a school is likely to draw on.

What homes cost nearby

Median sale price
£265,000

postcode sector DT4 0 · 505 sales

Typical range
£205,000 to £310,000

middle half of sales

Detached
£400,000
Semi-detached
£291,500
Terraced
£247,500
Flat
£160,000

Homes around this school are close to the England average.

Every residential sale registered in this postcode sector since January 2024, from HM Land Registry. A sector covers roughly 2,500 addresses. England's median over the same period was £293,000.

Who lives there

Adults with a degree
23%

England 33.8%

Adults with no qualifications
19%

England 18.3%

In professional or managerial work
10%

England 13.4%

Households deprived in 2+ ways
19%

England 17.8%

Residents in very good health
43%

England 48.4%

Housing

Owned by the occupier
68%

England 62.7%

Social housing
20%

England 17%

Privately rented
11%

England 19.2%

Detached homes
38%

England 38.2%

Four or more bedrooms
22%

England 22.5%

No car
15%

England 21.9%

Census 2021, for Dorset 041A and the wider neighbourhood around it. These figures describe the area, not the pupils — children may travel in from much further away, and for selective, faith and independent schools they usually do.

School details

Type
Academy converter
Phase
Primary
Ages
Ages 2–11
Gender
Mixed
Religious character
Church of England
Sixth form
No
Nursery
Yes
Boarding
Day school
Headteacher
Headteacher: Caroline Hawker
Opened as this establishment
1 August 2017
Register status
Open
Local authority
Dorset
Ward
Westham
Constituency
South Dorset
URN
144298

The unique reference number used in all official school data.

Official DfE record
Open the register entry

The source record for this establishment and URN.

The URN identifies this registered establishment. If a school converts or is replaced, DfE may issue a new URN; this page does not stitch different establishments together by a similar name.

Admissions history

The official school-level admissions releases contain up to 13 national-offer-day observations, from 2014/15 to 2026/27. The chart shows first choices per place; the table keeps the underlying counts.

Reception

1.40 2018/19: 0.85 first choices per place2019/20: 1.23 first choices per place2020/21: 0.93 first choices per place2021/22: 0.89 first choices per place2022/23: 1.13 first choices per place2023/24: 1.00 first choices per place2024/25: 0.94 first choices per place2025/26: 1.00 first choices per place2026/27: 0.86 first choices per place20182020202220242026
All 9 annual observations
Entry yearPlacesFirst choicesPer placeFirst choices offered
2018/19 27 23 0.85 100%
2019/20 30 37 1.23 81%
2020/21 28 26 0.93 100%
2021/22 28 25 0.89 100%
2022/23 30 34 1.13 88%
2023/24 19 19 1.00 100%
2024/25 16 15 0.94 100%
2025/26 17 17 1.00 100%
2026/27 14 12 0.86 100%

These are annual observations, not forecasts. They exclude waiting lists, appeals and in-year admissions. Each series follows this exact URN only, so academy conversions and missing releases remain visible as gaps rather than being joined by name.

Nearest primary schools

SchoolOfstedExpected standardDistanceCompare
Conifers Primary SchoolCommunity school Good 2022 47% 0.6 mi
St Augustine's Catholic Primary School, WeymouthAcademy converter Good 2024 59% 0.7 mi
Holy Trinity Church of England VC Primary School & Community NurseryVoluntary controlled school Good 2024 68% 0.9 mi
Southill Primary SchoolCommunity school Good 2022 66% 0.9 mi
St John's Church of England Primary SchoolAcademy converter Good 2024 47% 1.1 mi
Radipole Primary SchoolCommunity school Good 2023 55% 1.2 mi
Wyke Regis Infant School and NurseryCommunity school No overall grade — 1.3 mi
Wyke Regis Church of England Junior SchoolVoluntary controlled school Good 2022 49% 1.4 mi

Schools like this

The 12 state schools in England whose intake most closely matches this one — same phase and sector, and as near as the data allows on size, disadvantage, SEN, English as an additional language and the deprivation of the surrounding area. These are the schools it can fairly be judged against.

This school 47%
Median of its 11 closest peers 41%
Dorset average 52.6%
England average 60.7%

Percentage meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and maths. This school is ahead of the schools that teach a comparable intake.

SchoolAreaOfstedExpected standardCompare
Whipton Barton Junior SchoolAcademy converter Exeter Good 2023 33%
Parkwall Primary SchoolAcademy converter Bristol Good 2023 —
Parklands Community Primary and Nursery SchoolAcademy converter Ellesmere Port Good 2022 56%
Barton Clough Primary SchoolAcademy sponsor led Manchester Good 2024 34%
Yeo Valley Primary SchoolAcademy sponsor led Barnstaple Good 2023 36%
All Saints Bedworth CofE AcademyAcademy converter Bedworth Good 2023 48%
Newlands Primary SchoolCommunity school Normanton No overall grade 41%
Holy Trinity Catholic Primary SchoolVoluntary aided school Liverpool Good 2023 67%
Meadow View Primary SchoolAcademy converter Rotherham No overall grade 36%
Mulberry Baird PrimaryAcademy sponsor led Hastings Requires improvement 2024 20%
Gunter Primary SchoolCommunity school Birmingham No overall grade 43%
Bayside AcademyAcademy sponsor led POOLE Report card 2026 45%

Matching uses only characteristics a school does not choose. It is not a ranking, and a close match on intake does not make two schools interchangeable — sixth form, faith character, admissions rules and simple geography all matter and are not in the calculation.

Evidence ledger

Reference dates and join methods are kept separate because the figures do not all describe the same year or geography.

EvidencePublisherReference dateHow it reaches this page
School identityGet Information About Schools23 August 2026Exact URN 144298; unified importer snapshot
Inspection evidenceOfsted management information31 July 2026Exact URN; inspection 20 February 2024
AttainmentDfE performance tables2024/25Exact URN; phase-specific definitions
AdmissionsDfE school applications and offers2026/27 plus history to 2014/15Exact URN and entry point; national offer day
Pupil intakeDfE school census2024/25Exact URN; suppressed values remain missing
Funding allocationDfE school funding statistics2025-26 financial yearNo row for this URN in the mainstream-school release; not represented as zero
Roads and transportDfT road casualties, traffic and NaPTANFive-year road window; access-node snapshotCoordinate join within the stated radius
NeighbourhoodONS Census2021LSOA/MSOA containing the school, not pupil homes
DeprivationEnglish Indices of Deprivation2019LSOA containing the school
Home pricesHM Land Registry Price Paid DataSales since January 2024School postcode sector, not a catchment

These sources are published for reuse under the Open Government Licence v3.0, including the Crown database-right notice that accompanies Price Paid Data. Definitions and source notes. If something here looks wrong, the school's own website is the authority on admissions and open days.

Questions this school record can answer

Which exact school is this?

Match the DfE URN, school name and address; names and structures can change while the URN remains the stable identifier.

What does the latest inspection evidence say?

Use the inspection date and framework shown. Do not compare a legacy overall grade directly with the newer report-card judgements.

How should I compare nearby schools?

Compare the same phase, cohort and academic year, then keep intake context and confidence intervals beside performance measures.

What must a parent verify?

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