Damers First School
Damers First School is a converter academy in Dorchester for boys and girls aged 4 to 9. It has 475 pupils and room for 600. About 19 in every 100 pupils come from a low-income family, a bit fewer than at most schools.
Liscombe Street, Poundbury, Dorchester, DT1 3DF01305 264924damers.dorset.sch.ukMrs Louise Greenham headteacherAll details
Ofsted
Ofsted hasn't published an inspection for this school yet.
Results
No published results yet for this school.
Getting a place
Admissions policy not published.
121 places were empty (20% of the total), so almost everyone who applies gets in. Pupil numbers have grown by 3% since 2021/22.
The last child to get a place lived 2.6 miles away in 2024, 7.3 miles away in 2021, 1.3 miles away in 2020. Children in care, brothers and sisters of current pupils, faith and other priority groups are placed first. After that, the closer you live, the better your chances. Type in your postcode to see how far away you are.
We measure in a straight line from the middle of your postcode to the school. The council measures its own way, and the cut-off changes every year. Use this as a rough guide, and read the council's admissions booklet before you apply.
How places were given out for September 2024. More children applied than there were places. The last place went to a child living 2.6 miles from the school. Living closer than that didn't guarantee a place, but living much further away meant missing out that year.
| Entry | Places | Put it first | Applied at all | Got a place | How far the last child lived | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 Primary | 90 | 85 | 171 | 90 | 2.6 miles | LA |
| 2022 Primary | 90 | 87 | 163 | 90 | – | LA |
| 2021 Primary | 90 | 76 | 162 | 90 | 7.3 miles | LA |
| 2020 Primary | 90 | 93 | 195 | 90 | 1.3 miles | LA |
The distances are the council's own, usually measured in a straight line from home to the school gate. If the distance is getting shorter each year, the school is getting harder to get into. See which councils we have this data for.
Who goes here
Who the school teaches, from the latest school census.
Specialist SEND provision. Resourced provision (extra staff and funding within a mainstream school) with 10 pupils, for other needs.
To get a place in the unit or resourced provision, a child normally needs an education, health and care plan (EHCP) that names the school. Other schools in Dorset with other needs provision.
Infant classes (Reception to Year 2) average 29.7 pupils (England 25.5); junior classes (Years 3 to 6) average 29.8 (England 27.3).
The most common needs among pupils getting extra support: language and communications needs (77), Specific learning difficulty (31), emotional and mental health (18), Multi-sensory impairment (4), Autistic spectrum disorder (3), Moderate learning difficulty (2).
How the mix of pupils has changed
| Census | 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils on roll | 475 | 477 | 494 | 484 | 468 | 450 |
| Pupils from low-income familiesFree school meals | 19% | 19% | 22% | 21% | 21% | 21% |
| Pupils learning EnglishEnglish as an additional language | 13% | 14% | 12% | 7% | 7% | 6% |
| Pupils getting extra supportSEN support | – | 17% | 16% | 14% | 13% | 16% |
| Pupils with an EHC planEducation, health and care plans | – | 6% | 7% | 6% | 6% | 6% |
Attendance and behaviour
In 2024/25 pupils were in school 95.7% of the time. Across similar schools in England it was 94.8%.
Attendance year by year
| Measure | 2024/25 | 2023/24 | 2022/23 | 2021/22 | 2020/21 | 2018/19† | England |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sessions missedOverall absence | 4.3% | 4.7% | 5.1% | 5.2% | 2.2% | 3.4% | 5.2% |
| Missed with permissionAuthorised absence | 3.3% | 3.6% | 4.0% | 4.2% | 1.7% | 2.4% | – |
| Missed without permissionUnauthorised absence | 1.1% | 1.1% | 1.1% | 1.0% | 0.5% | 1.0% | – |
| Pupils missing a lot of schoolPersistent absence | 8.6% | 9.8% | 11.8% | 11.7% | 4.8% | 5.4% | 12.8% |
| SuspensionsSuspension rate | 0.4 | 2.0 | 0.8 | 0.0 | 0.2 | – | – |
| Permanent exclusionsPermanent exclusions | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – |
† These attendance figures are for Damers First School, the school this one replaced in November 2019. Same building and the same children. It got a new registration number, usually because it joined an academy trust.
Staff and money
From the government's count of school staff in November 2025 and the school's published accounts.
Money
From the academy accounts return, year to August 2025. The per-pupil figures are compared with other primary schools in England that report their accounts the same way.
Reserves are the money left over at the end of the year, kept back for emergencies and big projects. Being in the red year after year is a warning sign. Very large reserves can mean money sitting in the bank instead of being spent on today's pupils. Academy figures are rounded to the nearest £1,000 and include a share of any money the trust holds centrally.
The area around the school
Crime figures come from police.uk. The police record each crime at the nearest of a fixed set of map points rather than the exact spot, so “within 500 m” is only rough. House prices are from HM Land Registry sales nearby over the last two years.
Nearby schools
The closest primary schools, nearest first. Hover over a row to see it on the map.
| School | Type | Distance | Pupils | Ofsted | Score | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dorchester Middle School | Academy | 0.8 miles | 527 | Report card 2026 | 20 | Compare |
| The Prince of Wales School | Council | 0.8 miles | 156 | No overall grade 2025 | 55 | Compare |
| St Mary's Church of England First School, Charminster | Academy | 1.2 miles | 148 | Not inspected | – | Compare |
| St Mary's Catholic First School, Dorchester | Academy | 1.5 miles | 177 | Good 2023 | 42 | Compare |
| St Osmund's Church of England Middle School | Academy | 1.5 miles | 714 | Good 2022 | 55 | Compare |
| Manor Park Church of England First School | Academy | 1.6 miles | 396 | Report card 2026 | 69 | Compare |
| Winterbourne Valley Church of England Aided First School | Church of England | 3.4 miles | 60 | Report card 2026 | 19 | Compare |
| Broadmayne First School and Nursery | Council | 4.2 miles | 139 | Good 2023 | 39 | Compare |
Questions parents ask
Is Damers First School a good school?
We don't have enough published data to score Damers First School yet.
How many pupils does Damers First School have?
475 pupils aged 4 to 9 were on the roll in January 2026. It has 600 places, so it is 79% full.
Is Damers First School oversubscribed, and how far away can you live?
Yes. For September 2024 the last place went to a child living 2.6 miles away. Children in care, brothers and sisters of current pupils and other priority groups come before distance, so the cut-off moves every year.
What is attendance like at Damers First School?
Pupils were in school 95.7% of the time in 2024/25. Similar schools in England managed 94.8%. 9% of pupils missed at least a tenth of the year.
How big are the classes at Damers First School?
The average class had 29.7 pupils in January 2026. Across England it was 25.4. 10% of classes had more than 30 pupils.
Does Damers First School have specialist SEND provision?
Yes. It has resourced provision (extra staff and funding within a mainstream school) for other needs. To get a place there, a child normally needs an education, health and care plan (EHCP) that names the school.
These answers come straight from the figures on this page and update when new data comes out.
Contact and details
- Address
- Liscombe Street, Poundbury, Dorchester, DT1 3DF
- Telephone
- 01305 264924
- Website
- www.damers.dorset.sch.uk
- Headteacher
- Mrs Louise Greenham
- Type of school
- Converter academy (Academy converter, academies)
- Phase
- Primary school, ages 4-9
- Gender
- Mixed
- Multi-academy trust
- Wessex Multi Academy Trust (12 schools)
- Local authority
- Dorset
- Ward
- Dorchester Poundbury
- Constituency
- West Dorset
- Setting
- Urban: Further from a major town or city
- Opened
- 1 November 2019 (academy converter)
- URN
- 147559 · LAESTAB 8382015 · UKPRN 10084726
- Formerly
- Damers First School
Where these figures come from
- School details: Department for Education, Get Information About Schools, refreshed daily (this page rebuilt 13 September 2026).
- Inspections: Ofsted management information, monthly; latest publication in our data 27 August 2026.
- Attendance: DfE pupil absence in schools in England, 2024/25 full year.
- Pupil characteristics: DfE school census, January 2026.
- Staff: DfE school workforce census, November 2025.
- Class sizes: DfE schools, pupils and their characteristics, January 2026.
- Pupil premium: DfE allocations and conditions of grant, 2026 to 2027.
- Money: DfE financial benchmarking and insights tool, academy accounts return 2024/25.
- Admissions outcomes: Dorset council's published allocation statistics (source), entry years 2020, 2021, 2022, 2024.
- Neighbourhood: police.uk street-level crime, HM Land Registry price paid data, NaPTAN bus stops, English Indices of Deprivation 2025.
- All under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Full list and update calendar.