Ferndown Upper School
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Community school in Ferndown, BH22 9EY, taking ages 13 to 19, 1,134 on roll.
Will an address get in?
In the 2025/26 round, the furthest-away child offered a place at Ferndown Upper School lived 5.15 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 5.15 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
| Admissions | Non-selective |
| Religious character | No religious character |
| Sixth form | Has a sixth form |
| How full | 1,134 pupils in 1,146 places (99% full) |
| Local authority | Dorset |
Department for Education register (GIAS).
How the school is doing
| Attainment 8 | 45.7 (2024/25) |
| Year | Progress 8 |
|---|---|
| 2024/25 | not published |
| 2023/24 | +0.34 |
| 2022/23 | +0.72 |
Ofsted, and the Department for Education's published performance data.
Who goes to Ferndown Upper School
| Girls and boys | 50.2% girls, 49.8% boys |
| English as an additional language | 5.9% of pupils |
| Free school meals | 19.5% of pupils eligible |
DfE school census, most recent published year.
Where Ferndown Upper School's Year 11 went next
| Stayed for the sixth form | 60.9% |
| Sixth-form college | 0.0% |
| Further education college | 25.3% |
| Apprenticeship | 1.3% |
| Employment | 3.6% |
| No sustained destination recorded | 5.8% |
DfE destination measures, 2022/23. Broad categories only: the DfE does not publish which named schools or colleges pupils moved to.
What it costs to live within reach of Ferndown Upper School
The postcode districts whose centre falls inside the 5.15 miles the school admitted from in 2025/26, cheapest first, by the median of real sales around each district's centre. The cheapest is BH8 at £295,000; the dearest, BH21, £480,000. A district is wide, so check the address itself, not the list.
| District | Area | From the school | Median sold price |
|---|---|---|---|
| BH8 | Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole | 4.9 mi | £295,000 103 sales |
| BH12 | Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole | 4.9 mi | £312,500 130 sales |
| BH3 | Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole | 4.9 mi | £315,000 94 sales |
| BH11 | Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole | 3.1 mi | £324,880 59 sales |
| BH9 | Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole | 4.1 mi | £330,000 95 sales |
| BH10 | Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole | 3.2 mi | £370,000 88 sales |
| BH31 | Dorset | 5.0 mi | £372,500 141 sales |
| BH22 | Dorset | 0.6 mi | £373,276 138 sales |
| BH21 | Dorset | 3.2 mi | £480,000 65 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 Ferndown Upper School against the independent sector? Every fee-paying school around BH22: 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 Ferndown Upper School?
Ferndown Upper 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 5.15 miles away, per Dorset.
How close do I need to live to get a place at Ferndown Upper School?
Nobody can say in advance, and anyone who does is guessing. 5.15 miles was enough in 2025/26, and at 99% 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 Ferndown Upper 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.