Dorset

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Code: E06000059
Director of Children's Services: Paul Dempsey

Summary of Ofsted findings

Summary of Ofsted findings

Inspection of Dorset’s local authority children’s services

These inspections focus on the effectiveness of local authority services and arrangements:

  • to help and protect children, and enable families to stay together and get the help they need
  • the experiences and progress of children in care wherever they live, including those children who return home
  • the arrangements for permanence for children who are looked after, in stable, loving homes, including adoption
  • the experiences and progress of care leavers.
Inspection type Inspection start date Overall effectiveness Impact of leaders Help and protection Children in care Care leavers
ILACS Short Inspection 17 March 2025 Outstanding Outstanding Outstanding Outstanding Good
ILACS Standard Inspection 27 September 2021 Good Outstanding Good Good No outcome

Data source

Area SEND inspection of Dorset Local Area Partnership

The purpose of an area SEND inspection is to:

  • provide an independent, external evaluation of the effectiveness of the local area partnership’s arrangements for children and young people with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND)
  • where appropriate, recommend what the local area partnership should do to improve the arrangements.
Inspection outcome

Dorset was last inspected on 11 March 2024.

The local area partnership's SEND arrangements typically lead to positive experiences and outcomes for children and young people with SEND. The local area partnership is taking action where improvements are needed.

They were given no areas for priority action.

The next full area SEND inspection will be within approximately 5 years.

Ofsted and Care Quality Commission (CQC) ask that the local area partnership updates and publishes its strategic plan based on the recommendations set out in this report.

Data source

Joint targeted area inspection of Dorset local authority

The agencies for these inspections can include the police, children’s social care, probation services, education and relevant health services. Inspectors will also evaluate how local agencies work with education and childcare providers. The focus of these inspections is how effectively the local safeguarding partners work together at the practice and strategic levels.

Theme Inspection start date Link
There have been no JTAI inspections for this local authority.

Data source

Ofsted inspection reports and tools

Local authority inspection reports (opens in new tab)
Access to childcare dashboard (childcare deserts and oases) (opens in new tab)

Local authority context

Population 18 and under Number %
Dorset 71,164 18.2%
National 12,869,368 22.0%

Data source

Children looked after Number Rate per 10,000
Dorset 437 65
National 81,770 67

Data source

School-age pupils eligible for free school meals Number %
Dorset 9,200 21.2%
National 2,085,168 26.7%

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School-age pupils eligible for extra funding (pupil premium) Number %
Dorset 11,316 26.1%
National 2,266,608 29.3%

Data source

Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) in state-funded settings Number %
Dorset 11,568 22.1%
National 1,766,924 19.6%

Data source

School-age pupils with English as an additional language Number %
Dorset 2,610 5.5%
National 1,806,029 21.4%

Data source

% of children in income-deprived families (IDACI) Average %
Dorset 29.0%
National 38.0%
Back to the top of the section Data source
Health Index (children and young people) Health Index score
Dorset 112.8
National 100.8
More details about the health index metric

Indicates the health of an area measured in three domains: Healthy People, Health Lives and Healthy Places.

A score of 100 represents health in England in 2015. A higher number means better health and a lower number means worse health.

Data source

Remit overview

Contents

Early years

Population Number in Dorset % in Dorset % National
Aged 0 to 5 years 18,023 4.6% 6.4%
Aged 0 2,606 0.7% 1.0%
Aged 1 2,624 0.7% 1.0%
Aged 2 3,060 0.8% 1.1%
Aged 3 3,114 0.8% 1.1%
Aged 4 3,230 0.8% 1.1%
Aged 5 3,389 0.9% 1.1%

Data source

Disadvantaged Number in Dorset % in Dorset % National
Early years pupil premium 488 2.7% 3.3%
Children looked after (under 1 year) 16 0.6% 0.6%
Children looked after (1 to 4 years) 45 0.4% 0.4%

Data sources:

Special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) /
Education, health and care plans (EHCP) 		Number in Dorset % in Dorset % National
SEN support in state-funded settings (age 2 and under) 12 0.1% 0.3%
SEN support in state-funded settings (age 3) 39 1.3% 3.6%
SEN support in state-funded settings (age 4) 303 9.3% 9.5%
SEN support in state-funded settings (age 5) 450 13.4% 12.3%
Total: SEN support in state-funded settings (age 5 and under) 804 4.5% 4.5%
Children with an EHCP (age 2 and under) 3 0.0% 0.0%
Children with an EHCP (age 3) 39 1.3% 0.7%
Children with an EHCP (age 4) 125 3.8% 3.5%
Children with an EHCP (age 5) 161 4.8% 4.8%
Total: Children with an EHCP (age 5 and under) 328 1.8% 1.6%

Data sources:

Funded early years places for 2-year-olds Population aged 2-years-old Number of eligible 2-year-olds % of population aged 2 % take-up of funded places
Dorset 3,060 591 19.3% 71.2%
National 630,059 145,824 23.1% 65.2%

Data source

Funded early years places for 3-year-olds Population aged 3-years-old Number of eligible 3-year-olds % of population aged 3 % take-up of funded places
Dorset 3,114 All 3-year olds are eligible 101.8%
National 625,948 90.6%
The 2 and 3-year-old funded places tables look different because they measure different things; funded places for 2-year-olds are only for children considered to be disadvantaged, while for 3-year-olds everyone is entitled to a funded place.
Why these numbers might look odd for the 3-year-old funded take-up table
All 3-year-olds are eligible for funded places. Values over 100% are due to falling birth rates, which reduced the overall population more than the number registered for a place. A percentage above 100% shows very high take-up. In other words, more children are registered than the population estimate suggests exist.

Data source

Children's overweight and obesity Number in Dorset % in Dorset % National
Children's overweight and obesity (reception-age children) 670 25.0% 23.5%

Data source

Oral health Number examined in Dorset % examined in Dorset % in Dorset % National
Oral health (visible tooth decay in 5-year-olds) 236 7.0% 14.4% 22.4%
Back to the top of the section Data source

Schools

Population Number in Dorset % in Dorset1 % National1
Primary-age pupils (ages 5 to 11) 25,819 6.6% 8.2%
Secondary-age pupils (ages 12 to 16) 22,279 5.7% 6.2%

Data source

Population of looked-after-children Number in Dorset % in Dorset1 % National1
Ages 5 to 9 59 0.3% 0.4%
Ages 10 to 15 186 0.7% 0.7%

Data source

Pupils eligible for free schools meals Number in Dorset % in Dorset2 % National2
Primary 3,916 18.8% 25.3%
Secondary 4,830 22.4% 27.5%
Alternative provision 88 68.2% 64.6%
Special 366 45.3% 49.5%
Non-maintained special – – 31.0%

Data source

Pupils eligible for pupil premium Number in Dorset % in Dorset2 % National2
Primary 4,361 18.6% 25.1%
Secondary 4,710 23.7% 28.9%

Data source

Pupils with SEND Number in Dorset % in Dorset2 % National2
Primary 4,283 20.2% 18.2%
Secondary 4,684 18.7% 16.5%
Alternative provision 122 93.1% 83.4%
Special 977 100.0% 99.9%
Non-maintained special – – 99.7%
Independent schools 1,502 29.2% 24.1%

Data source

Pupils with English as an additional language Number in Dorset % in Dorset2 % National2
Primary 1,253 5.9% 23.4%
Secondary 1,340 5.4% 19.2%
Alternative provision 0 0.0% 7.6%
Special 17 1.7% 14.5%
Non-maintained special – – 11.0%
Back to the top of the section Data source
Attendance of all pupils up to week 4 of calendar year % in Dorset2 % National2
Primary 94.1% 95.0%
Secondary 91.0% 91.8%
Special 86.7% 87.1%

Data source

Attendance of pupils eligible for free school meals (summer term 2024/25) % in Dorset2 % National2
Primary 90.6% 91.9%
Secondary 83.6% 85.2%
Special 86.2% 85.1%

Data source

Attendance of pupils with SEND (summer term 2024/25) % in Dorset2 % National2
Primary 91.4% 92.1%
Secondary 84.4% 84.3%
Special – 87.3%

Data source

Primary attainment: Year 1 phonics screening pass Number in Dorset % in Dorset2 % National2
All pupils 2,469 79.4% 79.8%
Pupils eligible for free school meals 308 62.0% 66.6%
Pupils with SEND 260 43.8% 43.4%
Pupils with English as an additional language 138 74.6% 79.5%
Back to the top of the section Data source
Primary attainment: Year 4 times table check (full marks) Number in Dorset % in Dorset2 % National2
All pupils 1,182 34.0% 36.8%
Pupils eligible for free school meals 184 24.3% 27.4%
Pupils with SEND 117 13.6% 16.5%
Pupils with English as an additional language 85 42.3% 45.2%

Data source

Primary attainment: Key stage 2 reading, writing, maths combined (met the expected standard) Number in Dorset % in Dorset2 % National2
All pupils 2,033 56.9% 62.6%
Pupils eligible for free school meals 336 39.4% 47.7%
Pupils with SEND 163 19.3% 23.8%
Pupils with English as an additional language 102 51.5% 66.2%

Data source

Secondary attainment: Attainment 8 Average in Dorset2 National average2
All pupils 43.1 45.9
Pupils eligible for free school meals 31.1 35.0
Pupils with SEND 27.7 28.1

Data source

Population receiving education outside of their local authority Number outside of Dorset % outside of Dorset2 % National2
Primary 831 4.1% 4.1%
Secondary 1,478 7.2% 8.7%
Special 141 16.4% 9.0%
Back to the top of the section Data source
Children being home educated Number in Dorset % in Dorset1 % National1
Primary 310 1.2% 0.8%
Secondary 570 2.6% 2.5%
Total 880 1.8% 1.5%
More details about the children being home educated numbers
Local authority data in the source dataset has been rounded to the nearest 10. As a result totals may not equal the sum of their component parts.

Data source

Suspensions (from primary school) Number in Dorset Rate per 100 pupils in Dorset3 Rate per 100 pupils National3
Total number of suspensions 168 0.8 0.9
Total pupils with one or more suspensions 107 0.5 0.5
Pupils with one or more suspensions who are eligible for free school meals 51 1.3 (in group) 1.2 (in group)
Pupils with one or more suspensions with SEND 91 2.3 (in group) 2.4 (in group)
More details about suspensions from state-funded primary schools and totals not summing
Suspensions data on total number of pupils may not match, as a change in a pupil’s category within the same term results in them being counted separately under each category. For example, if a pupil receives multiple suspensions while classified as not having SEN, and then receives additional suspensions after being reclassified as receiving SEN support during the same term, they will be recorded as two separate enrolments in the data.

Data source

Suspensions (from secondary school) Number in Dorset Rate per 100 pupils in Dorset3 Rate per 100 pupils National3
Total number of suspensions 1,709 6.8 7.8
Total pupils with one or more suspensions 829 3.3 3.8
Pupils with one or more suspensions who are eligible for free school meals 399 7.7 (in group) 8.2 (in group)
Pupils with one or more suspensions with SEND 370 7.9 (in group) 9.1 (in group)
More details about suspensions from state-funded secondary schools and totals not summing
Suspensions data on total number of pupils may not match, as a change in a pupil’s category within the same term results in them being counted separately under each category. For example, if a pupil receives multiple suspensions while classified as not having SEN, and then receives additional suspensions after being reclassified as receiving SEN support during the same term, they will be recorded as two separate enrolments in the data.

Data source

Suspensions (from special school) Number in Dorset Rate per 100 pupils in Dorset3 Rate per 100 pupils National3
Total number of suspensions 18 1.9 5.1
Total pupils with one or more suspensions 12 1.2 2.9
Pupils with one or more suspensions who are eligible for free school meals 5 1.2 (in group) 4.1 (in group)
Pupils with one or more suspensions with SEND 12 1.2 (in group) 2.9 (in group)
More details about suspensions from state-funded special schools and totals not summing
Suspensions data on total number of pupils may not match, as a change in a pupil’s category within the same term results in them being counted separately under each category. For example, if a pupil receives multiple suspensions while classified as not having SEN, and then receives additional suspensions after being reclassified as receiving SEN support during the same term, they will be recorded as two separate enrolments in the data.

Data source

Back to the top of the section
Exclusions (from primary school) Number in Dorset % in Dorset2 % National2
Total number of pupils excluded 4 0.0% 0.0%
Pupils eligible for free school meals 1 0.0% 0.0%
Pupils with SEND 4 0.1% 0.1%

Data source

Exclusions (from secondary school) Number in Dorset % in Dorset2 % National2
Total number of pupils excluded 26 0.1% 0.1%
Pupils eligible for free school meals 13 0.3% 0.2%
Pupils with SEND 15 0.3% 0.3%

Data source

Exclusions (from special school) Number in Dorset % in Dorset2 % National2
Total number of pupils excluded 1 0.1% 0.0%
Pupils eligible for free school meals 0 0.0% 0.0%
Pupils with SEND 1 0.1% 0.0%
Back to the top of the section Data source

1. % of all children in Dorset / England.

2. % of all pupils in state-funded settings across Dorset / England.

3. Rate per 100 pupils in state-funded settings across Dorset / England.

Further education and skills

Population Number in Dorset % in Dorset % National
Aged 16 to 18 years 13,103 3.4% 3.6%
Aged 19 to 21 years 8,439 2.2% 3.6%
Aged 22 to 24 years 9,372 2.4% 3.6%
Aged 25 years and over 300,972 77.2% 70.8%

Data source

Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET) Number in Dorset % in Dorset % National
16- to 17-year-olds known to LA 7,997 2.3% 2.4%
NEET 327 4.1% 3.4%
Activity not known 28 0.3% 2.2%
Total NEET or activity not known 355 4.4% 5.6%

Data source

16 to 18 progression to higher education or training % in Dorset % National
Degrees (all) 58.0% 66.0%
Degrees at top third higher education institutions 22.0% 24.0%
Higher apprenticeships 2.0% 2.0%
Other study at level 4 and 5 3.0% 3.0%
Progressing to higher education or training 63.0% 70.0%
More details about the further education and skills destinations data

This data reflects the destinations of pupils based on the number on roll when they were aged 16 to 18, tracking where they progressed after completing their studies.

Degree destinations include any study at level 6 or higher such as bachelor degrees, graduate diplomas, and post-graduate degrees. The top third higher education institutions when ranked by average UCAS tariff score of entrants across their best 3 A levels.

Higher apprenticeships are those from level 4 to 7 and are equivalent to a foundation degree and above. Degree apprenticeships are available at levels 6 and 7.

Other study at level 4 or 5 destinations include those students studying qualifications such as foundation degrees, Higher National Certificates (HNCs) and Higher National Diplomas (HNDs).

Data source

Social care

Explore the findings from Ofsted's local authority inspections.

Explore population characteristics for this local authority.