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Best secondary schools in Bournemouth and Poole
Best secondary schools in Blandford
Best secondary schools in Sherborne
Best secondary schools in Dorchester and West Dorset
Girls head to Bournemouth School for Girls and Parkstone Grammar School, while boys apply to Bournemouth School and Poole Grammar School. The Good Schools Guide has detailed reviews of all four.
Bournemouth School offers 180 places a year to boys joining year 7. Girls can join in the sixth form and parents describe pupils as ‘driven' and 'all-round happy’. Priority is given to children living in certain postcodes (check school admissions policy). Similarly, Poole Grammar School is over-subscribed and very competitive, with an average of two applicants per place. The school motto is ‘finis opus coronat’ or ‘the end crowns the work’ – very appropriate for these high achievers. Like Bournemouth School, priority is given to boys living in specific postcodes so make sure you do your homework.
Parkstone Grammar School receives nearly 500 applications for 192 year 7 places. Applicants come from more than 40 feeder schools (state and independent), but preference is given to those living in the Borough of Poole or specific local postcode areas. Bournemouth School for Girls is very highly thought of – the top performing state school in the area. Yes, it’s a place for bright and able pupils but parents say there isn’t a hothouse atmosphere. With nearly three applicants for every place, it’s heavily oversubscribed; parents describe the school as ‘a happy place’. Selection is via an entrance test in the September before entry. Those with an education, health and care plan get priority, then looked after children, then those on pupil premium. Next up are the 130 who scored highest in the test (regardless of where they live), then those who live in one of the designated Bournemouth postcodes and finally those who live outside the catchment area.
Top secondary schools include Glenmoor Academy and Winton Academy, two single-sex academies with a shared campus north of the centre of Bournemouth. Places at both are keenly sought-after by parents. Co-ed Magna Academy Poole in Canford Heath tends to be over-subscribed too – and is also excellent.
At Avonbourne Boys’ Academy and Avonbourne Girls’ Academy boys and girls are taught separately in years 7 to 9, with opportunities for co-ed teaching from year 10 onwards. Both have impressive Progress 8 scores.
Best primary schools in Bournemouth and Poole
Best private schools in Bournemouth and Poole
Best nurseries in Bournemouth and Poole
Nine miles east of Blandford is Queen Elizabeth’s School in Wimborne. Known locally as QE, the school achieves good results and has the benefit of an ultra-modern campus. GCSE grades tend to be well above the local average and sixth formers can choose from 30 A levels and 13 vocational options.
Shaftesbury School in North Dorset is 11 miles north of Blandford and has a very good reputation locally. A thriving 11-18 school for the local community, it’s also one of around 30 state boarding schools in England, with more than 100 boarders from across the UK and around the world.
Best primary schools in Blandford
Best private schools in Blandford
Families opting for state education in Sherborne put The Gryphon School at the top of their list. A large 11-18 school, with 1,500 pupils, it’s always over-subscribed. The head describes it as ‘a big school with a small school feel,’ and our reviewer wholeheartedly agreed.
Best primary schools in Dorchester and West Dorset
Best private schools in Dorchester and West Dorset
Best nurseries in Dorchester and West Dorset
There aren’t any grammar schools in this area but just over the border into Devon is Colyton Grammar School, a co-ed selective academy serving students from East Devon, West Dorset and South Somerset. The school’s results are stellar – our reviewer described it as, ‘The school that most parents locally would cheerily saw off an arm and a leg to get their child into.’
The mighty The Thomas Hardye School (it has 2,000 pupils, including 780 in the sixth form) on the edge of Dorchester admits children from the age of 13 and achieves good results. Most pupils come from three middle schools, two in Dorchester and one in nearby Puddletown, plus a few from Weymouth and a handful from Sunninghill Preparatory School. At 16 the catchment area widens considerably, with pupils travelling from as far afield as Bridport, Lyme Regis, Axminster, Sherborne, Poole and Bournemouth. Further down the Jurassic coastline is The Woodroffe School in picturesque Lyme Regis, an 11-18 secondary school which is highly rated and over-subscribed.
Best primary schools in Bournemouth and Poole
Best private schools in Bournemouth and Poole
Best nurseries in Bournemouth and Poole
Information on secondary school provision for children with special educational needs can be found on the websites of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council and Dorset Council.
Special schools with secondary provision include Beaucroft Foundation School in Wimborne, a 4 to 19 school for pupils with learning difficulties, complex needs and autism and Linwood School in Bournemouth, for pupils aged 3 to 19 with a comprehensive range of SEND and complex needs. Other options are Westfield Arts College in Weymouth and Yewstock School in Sturminster Newton.
Need help? Perhaps you suspect your child has some learning difficulty and you would like advice on what you should do. Or perhaps it is becoming clear that your child's current school is not working for him or her, and you need help to find a mainstream school which has better SEN provision, or to find a special school which will best cater for your child's area of need. Our SEN consultancy team advises on both special schools, and the mainstream schools with good SEN support, from reception through to the specialist colleges for 19+. Special Educational Needs Index
Find top international, British, IB and American schools in over 40 countries. The Good Schools Guide International publishes impartial and forthright reviews of international schools across the world.
We examined the value-added from KS2 to GCSE for 2022 to see which state selective grammar schools added the most value to their offspring. A note of caution - the more highly selective a grammar school, the less scope there will be to add value.
Grammar schools are state-funded, academically selective senior schools. The education a child receives at grammar school is paid for by the state unlike at private schools which provide education for a fee. There are currently around 163 located in 36 English local authorities, with around 167,000 pupils between them. Northern Ireland has a further 67 grammar schools, but there are none in Wales or Scotland. A word of caution: there are private schools that have the word 'grammar' in their name but this is purely for historical reasons.
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