Cranborne Middle School
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Community school in Wimborne, BH21 5RP, taking ages 9 to 13, 265 on roll.
Will an address get in?
In the 2025/26 round, the furthest-away child offered a place at Cranborne Middle School lived 4.266 miles away, according to Dorset. Put a postcode in and it is measured against that distance.
Applying for September 2027? Secondary applications close on 31 October 2026, with offers on 1 March 2027. The address on the deadline is the one the council uses. How it works.
The circle is 4.266 miles, the distance the school admitted from in 2025/26. Real admission areas are not circular: this is the distance, not a boundary.
What kind of school this is
| Religious character | No religious character |
| Sixth form | Does not have a sixth form |
| How full | 265 pupils in 256 places (104% full, over capacity) |
| Local authority | Dorset |
Department for Education register (GIAS).
How the school is doing
| Meeting the expected standard | 65.0% in reading, writing and maths (2024/25) |
| Year | Meeting the expected standard |
|---|---|
| 2024/25 | 65.0% |
| 2023/24 | 34.0% |
| 2022/23 | 62.0% |
Ofsted, and the Department for Education's published performance data.
Who goes to Cranborne Middle School
| Girls and boys | 51.7% girls, 48.3% boys |
| English as an additional language | 0.4% of pupils |
| Free school meals | 18.5% of pupils eligible |
DfE school census, most recent published year.
What it costs to live within reach of Cranborne Middle School
The postcode districts whose centre falls inside the 4.266 miles the school admitted from in 2025/26, cheapest first, by the median of real sales around each district's centre. The cheapest is BH31 at £372,500. A district is wide, so check the address itself, not the list.
| District | Area | From the school | Median sold price |
|---|---|---|---|
| BH31 | Dorset | 3.7 mi | £372,500 141 sales |
Sold prices from HM Land Registry, via each district's area guide. Districts without enough recorded sales to rank are not shown.
The fee-paying alternative
Weighing Cranborne Middle School against the independent sector? Every fee-paying school around BH21: ages, selection, and how full each one is →
Checking the house as well as the school
The full report measures the distance from every nearby school to one address, alongside sold prices, flood risk, crime and the other checks on the same house.
Common questions
What is the catchment area for Cranborne Middle School?
Cranborne Middle School does not have one in the sense most people mean. Like most English schools, an oversubscribed year offers places outward from the school until they run out. The nearest thing to an answer: the furthest child admitted in 2025/26 lived 4.266 miles away, per Dorset.
How close do I need to live to get a place at Cranborne Middle School?
Nobody can say in advance, and anyone who does is guessing. 4.266 miles was enough in 2025/26, and at 104% full the school has little slack. The distance moves every year with the number of applications, so treat last year's figure as evidence, not a promise.
Does buying a house near Cranborne Middle School guarantee a place?
No. Admission criteria usually put looked-after children, siblings ahead of distance, so places can be filled before distance is reached. Councils also check that the address is genuinely where the child lives.
Every Dorset school's distance
All Dorset schools with a published admission distance, tightest first →
How school admissions actually work, and what the distance means →
Admission distance published by Dorset. School details from the Department for Education's register, ratings from Ofsted. Read how every figure on this site is sourced on the methodology page. If something here looks wrong, tell us and it goes on the accuracy log.