Secondary schools in Dorset

Local authority · South West

Dorset has 37 secondary schools in this dataset — 30 state-funded and 7 independent. 3 are selective, admitting on an entrance test; 14 have a religious character; 22 have a sixth form.

How the area compares

The typical school here posts a three-year Progress 8 of -0.17 (average) — 0.15 of a grade per subject below the national median of -0.01. That is the middle of the 18 schools in this area with a published score.

The spread inside the area is wider than the gap between areas: from -0.83 to +0.54. Which school a child goes to matters more here than which area you move to.

For 2026 entry the typical school here drew 0.99 first preferences per place — more pressure than the national median of 0.95×. 1 of the 15 schools with published figures were named first by more families than they had places for. A high figure means popular, not good, and it is not your chance of a place — that depends on where you live.

Overall absence runs at 9.3% for the typical school here, above the national median of 8.7%. Absence is a plainer signal of whether pupils are turning up and engaged than any grade average.

The schools, ranked

Ordered on the three-year average Progress 8, which is steadier than any single year. Read the confidence interval beside each score before you read the order: it is the range the school's true figure is likely to sit in, and a wide one means a small year group rather than an unpredictable school.

6 of the 17 other schools ranked here have a confidence interval that overlaps Ferndown Upper School's. On these figures they cannot be told apart from the school at the top of the table, and the order between them is not a finding. 5 schools here have an interval that includes zero (shaded above) — those cannot be told apart from an average school nationally.

Schools with no Progress 8 score

These are not bottom of the table — they are not in it. A school with no published score has not done badly; the measure was not calculated for it, and the reason differs.

Where the competition is

The most sought-after school in Dorset for 2026 entry was The Gryphon School at 1.13 first preferences per place — 265 families named it first for 234 places.

Pressure is not a chance of admission. A school with two applicants per place can still admit every family living near it, while a less popular school further away turns you down. Distance from the gate is usually what decides it, and no national figure can tell you that for your own address.

See Dorset on the map →The same schools on a map, with every filter: results, admissions pressure, Ofsted, faith and selection — or sorted by distance from your own postcode.

Nearby areas

Admissions do not stop at an authority line. If you live near one, your realistic list of schools spans both sides of it.

• PooleTown in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole · 8 schools
• Bournemouth, Christchurch and PooleLocal authority · 29 schools
• BournemouthTown in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole · 15 schools
• SalisburyTown in Wiltshire · 9 schools
• SomersetLocal authority · 46 schools
• WiltshireLocal authority · 40 schools

What this page doesn't tell you

The results here are for 2023–24 and earlier, so they describe pupils who have already left. Nothing on this page covers sixth-form results, pastoral care, music, sport or drama, or how a school feels to walk around — which is what parents most often say settled it. The ranking is a starting point for a shortlist, not a verdict on a school.

Nor is it a prediction of a place. Admission depends on each school's criteria and, most often, on how far you live from it — and in Dorset you apply for a state-funded place through the council's coordinated scheme, naming several schools in order of preference.