SF School Facts UK

Primary school in Wareham, Dorset

Bovington Academy

Holt Road, Bovington, Wareham, Dorset, BH20 6LE

Ofsted Good · 2023
School website 01929462744
Ofsted Good October 2023
Met the expected standard 57% in the lower half nationally
Chance of a place 100% of first choices offered
Local deprivation 6/10 mid-range

Ofsted

Goodas at 17 October 2023

Graded Good at its last graded inspection, on 17 October 2023.

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
Good
Last overall grade in this dataset
Good
Days since inspection
1,081 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

57% England 60.7%

Reached the higher standard

0% England 8.1%

Average reading score

103 England 105.3

Average maths score

102 England 104.1

On the headline measure this school is in the lower half of state-funded primaries in England.

Compared with the fifth of schools whose intake is second least disadvantaged, which is where this one sits, it is in the lower half.

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 24 families who named this school as their first choice, 100% were offered a place.

Places offered
26

for entry into Reception

Named it first choice
24
First choices per place
0.92

England average 1.00

First choices offered a place
100%

England 95.1%

Demand has been broadly steady over three years.

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
180
Places
210
How full
86% full — 180 of 210 places taken
Girls / boys
73 / 107
Overall absence
5%

primary schools average 5.2%

Persistently absent
8%

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

Free school meals, last 6 years
19%

England 25.7%

English as an additional language
3%

England 18.7%

With an EHC plan
4%

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
3

England average 24.2 over five years

Of those, serious or fatal
1

Public transport

Bus stops within 500m
7

England average 11.9

Nearest station
Wool Rail Station

2.5 km away — railway station

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

6/10 Deprivation decile

Among around the middle for England.

6/10 Child poverty decile

Among around the middle for 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
£317,500

postcode sector BH20 6 · 140 sales

Typical range
£263,875 to £400,000

middle half of sales

Detached
£420,000
Semi-detached
£311,250
Terraced
£272,000
Flat
£180,250

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
25%

England 33.8%

Adults with no qualifications
13%

England 18.3%

In professional or managerial work
12%

England 13.4%

Households deprived in 2+ ways
15%

England 17.8%

Residents in very good health
49%

England 48.4%

Housing

Owned by the occupier
40%

England 62.7%

Social housing
26%

England 17%

Privately rented
34%

England 19.2%

Detached homes
36%

England 38.2%

Four or more bedrooms
22%

England 22.5%

No car
7%

England 21.9%

Census 2021, for Dorset 035E 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 sponsor led
Phase
Primary
Ages
Ages 4–11
Gender
Mixed
Religious character
None
Sixth form
No
Nursery
No
Boarding
Day school
Headteacher
Headteacher: Liesel Muraro
Opened as this establishment
1 July 2019
Register status
Open
Local authority
Dorset
Ward
West Purbeck
Constituency
South Dorset
URN
147264

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

1.10 2020/21: 1.00 first choices per place2021/22: 1.00 first choices per place2022/23: 1.00 first choices per place2023/24: 1.00 first choices per place2024/25: 1.00 first choices per place2025/26: 1.00 first choices per place2026/27: 0.92 first choices per place2020202220242026
All 7 annual observations
Entry yearPlacesFirst choicesPer placeFirst choices offered
2020/21 33 33 1.00 100%
2021/22 22 22 1.00 100%
2022/23 30 30 1.00 97%
2023/24 16 16 1.00 100%
2024/25 19 19 1.00 100%
2025/26 13 13 1.00 100%
2026/27 26 24 0.92 100%

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
St Mary & St Joseph's Catholic Primary SchoolAcademy converter Requires improvement 2024 65% 1.5 mi
Wool Church of England Primary SchoolAcademy sponsor led Good 2023 50% 1.9 mi
Bere Regis Primary and PreschoolAcademy sponsor led No overall grade 39% 3.8 mi
Frome Valley CofE First SchoolAcademy converter No overall grade — 3.8 mi
Lulworth and Winfrith CofE Primary SchoolAcademy converter No overall grade 56% 5.1 mi
Puddletown Church of England First SchoolAcademy converter No overall grade — 5.4 mi
Wareham St Mary Church of England Primary SchoolAcademy converter Good 2022 39% 5.6 mi
Milborne St Andrew First SchoolAcademy converter Good 2023 — 5.9 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 57%
Median of its 10 closest peers 66%
Dorset average 52.6%
England average 60.7%

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

SchoolAreaOfstedExpected standardCompare
St Luke's Park Primary SchoolFree schools Wickford No overall grade —
Dobwalls Community Primary SchoolAcademy converter Liskeard Good 2023 73%
St Michael and All Angels CofE Primary & Pre SchoolFoundation school Halifax Good 2022 30%
Thorpe Primary SchoolCommunity school Wakefield Good 2023 66%
Coton-in-the-Elms Cof E Primary SchoolVoluntary controlled school Swadlincote Good 2023 72%
Ellwood Primary SchoolCommunity school Coleford Good 2023 63%
Featherstone All Saints CofE AcademyAcademy converter Pontefract No overall grade 72%
Wychbold First and Nursery SchoolAcademy converter Droitwich Good 2022 —
Hemsby Primary SchoolCommunity school Great Yarmouth No overall grade 38%
Rivenhall Church of England Primary SchoolAcademy converter Witham Good 2023 47%
Yeadon Westfield Junior SchoolFoundation school Leeds Good 2022 53%
Alresford Primary SchoolCommunity school Colchester Good 2023 81%

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 147264; unified importer snapshot
Inspection evidenceOfsted management information31 July 2026Exact URN; inspection 17 October 2023
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?

Check current admissions rules, travel practicality, support for the child’s needs and the school’s latest official information before deciding.