St James Church of England First School, Wimborne

Overview

St James Church of England First School is a state-funded school (academy converter) in Wimborne, South West, for pupils aged 2–9. This summary is generated only from official structured fields.

School details

Official establishment type: Academy converter
Establishment group: Academies
Phase of education: Primary
Age range: Ages 2–9
Gender of entry: Mixed
Boarding: No boarders
Sixth form: No
Religious character: Church of England
School capacity: 125
Pupils on roll: 134
URN: 148300

Admissions

Local authority: Dorset
Academy trust or group: DIOCESE OF SALISBURY ACADEMY TRUST

Contact the school or your local authority for catchment and application deadlines.

School places

DfE school capacity survey · May 2025 (2024/25)

Capacity at survey date: 115
Pupils on roll: 113
Unfilled places at survey date: 2

A dated snapshot from the Department for Education school capacity survey, separate from the school details above. Unfilled places at the survey date do not mean places are currently available for admission. About this data

Official admissions data

Applications & demand

Preferences expressed by families through coordinated admissions, shown over time.

2026/27 admissions · Reception

First preferences: 25
Total preferences: 53
Offers made: 25

First preferences compared with offers

1 first preferences per offer

25 first preferences and 25 offers were recorded for 2026/27.

What does this mean?

This is the Department for Education's own published comparison of first preferences with total offers recorded. It indicates the level of requests made through coordinated admissions. Offers are not necessarily the school's maximum capacity, admissions arrangements vary between local authorities, the figure is not a measure of school quality, and it should not be used on its own to judge the likelihood of gaining a place.

First preferences over time

Latest five available admissions years. Missing years are not estimated.

Admissions history

Admissions year	First preferences	Total preferences	Offers made
2026/27	25	53	25
2025/26	35	54	24
2024/25	23	30	24
2023/24	18	36	18
2022/23	26	41	26

Source: Department for Education · Applications and offers data.

Official inspection data

Ofsted inspections

Inspection information published by Ofsted, shown in Ofsted's own words.

Ofsted inspection

Inspected 4 February 2025 · Published 12 March 2025

Original education inspection framework (September 2024 to November 2025)

Ofsted did not give schools an overall effectiveness grade during this inspection period. The judgements Ofsted did publish are shown below.

Quality of education: Good
Behaviour and attitudes: Good
Personal development: Good
Effectiveness of leadership and management: Good
Safeguarding was effective: Yes
Early years provision (where applicable): Good

View on Ofsted(opens in a new tab)

Ofsted changed how it inspects and reports on schools in November 2025. Judgements from the previous and current frameworks use different systems and should not be directly compared.

School Nest shows the inspection information Ofsted currently publishes for this school. It is not a complete record of every inspection the school has ever had.

Source: Ofsted · Inspections and outcomes. Official Ofsted page for this school

Location

Address: Gaunts Common, Wimborne, Dorset, BH21 4JN
Local authority: Dorset
Area: Schools in Dorset

Ask School Nest AI

Ask a question about St James Church of England First School

Answers use only this school's official Department for Education record and the information the school has published on School Nest. If we don't hold the answer, School Nest AI will say so rather than guess.

AI can make mistakes and doesn't decide admissions — check important details with the school. Questions are sent to our AI provider and aren't stored by School Nest. See our Privacy Notice.

Contact this school

Parent Enquiries let families send a message straight to the school.