The new school site will be great for Poundbury parents
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Photo by Chris Vile © Duchy of Cornwall
The new school site will be great for Poundbury parents
Sarah Collins, Poundbury mum
Mr Conibear welcomed the addition of the first school that will also help make Poundbury a more attractive place for people with young children to set up home, with more and more younger families already taking up residence in the development.“ There has been an increasing proportion of younger families moving into Poundbury and we think this will be a great facility for them,” he adds. In addition to the 20 classrooms, there will be a two new halls and multi-use space internally. Outside there will be a playing field, games courts, hard play areas and bike stores.
Within Poundbury there is a popular nursery Sunny Days which offers childcare for children up to 11 years. For school age children the schools in Dorchester are consistently Outstanding in recent Ofsted
Inspections. Children aged four to nine living in and around Poundbury will fall into two catchment schools. The first is Damers First School and the other is the Prince of Wales First School. Both of the schools in the catchment area have been classified as Outstanding in their last Ofsted reports. They both also have popular pre-schools which operate waiting lists.
“ Schools in Dorchester are consistently Outstanding in recent Ofsted inspections”
The three-tier system in Dorchester is highly sought after by parents. There are two first schools, a choice of two middle schools – Dorchester Middle School and St. Osmund’ s CE Middle School. Teenagers aged 13-18 in Dorchester attend
The Thomas Hardye School. The highly sought after school was judged by Ofsted inspectors to be Outstanding in all areas of their recent inspection in 2015. Head teacher Michael Foley said:“ We are absolutely delighted with the report. " We are particularly pleased to see that the inspectors recognised that Thomas Hardye is an exceptionally inclusive school and that achievement is outstanding for all our students. " Sixth Form teaching was described as ' inspirational ' and it is this level of performance that has consistently led to the best results in Dorset.“ The inspectors saw a real passion for learning in our students, who were also seen to benefit from an exceptional range of enrichment activities. The school is characterised by high expectations and our students have the best possible preparation to meet their aspirations.”
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