Sixpenny Handley First School and Nursery
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Sixpenny Handley First School and Nursery is a converter academy in Salisbury for boys and girls aged 2 to 9. It has 73 pupils and room for 125. About 8 in every 100 pupils come from a low-income family, far fewer than at most schools in England. We give it 71 out of 100. That puts it above schools like it, ahead of 71% of the 50 schools most like it. Ofsted's last grade was good, back in 2023.
Common Road, Sixpenny Handley, Salisbury, SP5 5NJ01725 552356sixpennyhandleyschool.co.ukMrs Laura Stone headteacherAll details
What Ofsted found
A shorter visit on 26 April 2023 found nothing to change the school's grade. Read the report on Ofsted's website.
Good overall. A shorter follow-up visit found nothing to change that. The last full inspection was before September 2019, which is as far back as Ofsted's public records go, so we can't show its date or the grades for each area.
Results
No published results yet for this school.
Getting a place
Admissions policy not published.
49 places were empty (45% of the total), so almost everyone who applies gets in. Pupil numbers have fallen by 33% since 2021/22, so places are getting easier to find.
Each council publishes its own figures on how many families applied and how far away the last child to get a place lived. We are adding councils one at a time. If you have a link to Dorset council's admissions booklet, send it to us.
Who goes here
Who a school teaches matters. That is why our score compares it with schools that take in a similar mix of children, not with every school in the country.
The most common needs among pupils getting extra support: emotional and mental health (4), language and communications needs (4), Moderate learning difficulty (3), Specific learning difficulty (2), Autistic spectrum disorder (1), SEN support but no specialist assessment of type of need (1).
How the mix of pupils has changed
| Census | 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils on roll | 73 | 82 | 89 | 97 | 106 | 91 |
| Pupils from low-income familiesFree school meals | 6% | 9% | 9% | 8% | 9% | 12% |
| Pupils learning EnglishEnglish as an additional language | 0% | 0% | 1% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Pupils getting extra supportSEN support | – | 22% | 19% | 18% | 11% | 15% |
| Pupils with an EHC planEducation, health and care plans | – | 1% | 3% | 1% | 0% | 0% |
Attendance and behaviour
In 2024/25 pupils were in school 96.8% 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 | 3.3% | 4.1% | 4.3% | 4.8% | 2.1% | 3.8% | 5.2% |
| Missed with permissionAuthorised absence | 2.5% | 3.2% | 3.3% | 4.2% | 1.9% | 3.2% | – |
| Missed without permissionUnauthorised absence | 0.8% | 0.9% | 1.1% | 0.6% | 0.2% | 0.6% | – |
| Pupils missing a lot of schoolPersistent absence | 3.8% | 6.8% | 9.2% | 2.7% | 1.3% | 8.6% | 12.8% |
| SuspensionsSuspension rate | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | – | – |
| Permanent exclusionsPermanent exclusions | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – |
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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wimborne St Giles Church of England First School and Nursery | Academy | 3.9 miles | 70 | Good 2023 | 65 | Compare |
| Cranborne Middle School | Council | 4.5 miles | 265 | Not inspected | 26 | Compare |
| Cranborne Church of England First School | Academy | 4.6 miles | 73 | Good 2023 | 79 | Compare |
Compared with schools like it
Our score compares Sixpenny Handley First School and Nursery with the 48 schools in England whose pupils are most like its own. We match on family income, how many children are learning English, special needs, the neighbourhood, the size of the school and how it admits pupils. Those 48 schools are dotted all over the country, so we don't list them. What matters is where this school sits among them.
How the score was worked out
The score is out of 100. A 71 means that once everything below is added up, this school comes out ahead of 71% of primary schools in England. Results bounce around from year to year, especially in small schools, so we also show a likely range: 41 to 88. That range is wide enough that the school could sit in the next band, so take the band as a rough guide rather than a verdict. Every part is judged against schools with a similar mix of pupils. For small schools we pull each part towards the group average, so one unusual year can't swing the score too far.
| What we looked at | How much it counts | Against schools like it | Effect on the score | Based on |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Results over three years | 0% | no data | – | |
| Ofsted inspection | 19% (normally 20%, cut because the inspection is old) | in line | +0.02 | Ofsted grade, 3.4 years old |
| Progress pupils make | 0% | no data | – | |
| Direction of travel over five years | 10% | in line | -0.04 | results and attendance falling year on year |
| Attendance and behaviour | 10% | well above | +0.27 | 2024/25; 53 pupils |
| Results, allowing for the mix of pupils | 0% | no data | – | |
| What parents say | 0% | no data | – |
Worked out on 13 September 2026 (method v1). Read how the score works, including every weight and the checks we run. Think a number is wrong? Tell us.
Questions parents ask
Is Sixpenny Handley First School and Nursery a good school?
Yes, going by the figures. Sixpenny Handley First School and Nursery scores 71 out of 100. That is above schools that take in a similar mix of pupils, and ahead of 71% of the 50 schools most like it in England. The score could fairly be anywhere from 41 to 88, so a few points either way between schools doesn't mean much.
What is Sixpenny Handley First School and Nursery's Ofsted rating?
Ofsted rated Sixpenny Handley First School and Nursery good at its last full inspection on 26 April 2023.
How many pupils does Sixpenny Handley First School and Nursery have?
73 pupils aged 2 to 9 were on the roll in January 2026. It has 125 places, so it is 58% full.
Is Sixpenny Handley First School and Nursery oversubscribed?
Probably not. 49 places were empty in 2024/25 (45% of the total), so most families who apply get a place.
What is attendance like at Sixpenny Handley First School and Nursery?
Pupils were in school 96.8% of the time in 2024/25. Similar schools in England managed 94.8%. 4% of pupils missed at least a tenth of the year.
How big are the classes at Sixpenny Handley First School and Nursery?
The average class had 20.0 pupils in January 2026. Across England it was 25.4. No class had more than 30 pupils.
These answers come straight from the figures on this page and update when new data comes out.
Contact and details
- Address
- Common Road, Sixpenny Handley, Salisbury, SP5 5NJ
- Telephone
- 01725 552356
- Website
- www.sixpennyhandleyschool.co.uk
- Headteacher
- Mrs Laura Stone
- Type of school
- Converter academy (Academy converter, academies)
- Phase
- Primary school, ages 2-9, with nursery
- Gender
- Mixed
- Multi-academy trust
- The Heath Academy Trust (6 schools)
- Local authority
- Dorset
- Ward
- Cranborne Chase
- Constituency
- North Dorset
- Setting
- Smaller rural: Further from a major town or city
- Opened
- 1 December 2015 (academy converter)
- URN
- 142503 · LAESTAB 8382021 · UKPRN 10054995
- Formerly
- Sixpenny Handley 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.
- 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.