Parley First School
Academy converter in Ferndown, BH22 8QE, taking ages 4 to 9, 313 on roll.
Homes you looked at
Each measured from its postcode's centre against the 1.42 miles Dorset published for 2025/26, as the checker measures.
Opened on this device and kept on it only: just their postcodes are sent, to this site, to measure them.
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Will an address get in?
In 2025/26, the furthest child offered a place lived 1.42 miles away.
Applying for September 2027? Primary applications close 15 January 2027; offers on 16 April 2027.
How this compares: every Dorset school's distance, tightest first →
The circle is 1.42 miles, the distance the school admitted from in 2025/26.
Parley First School: 1.42 miles, 2025/26 West Moors Middle School: 5.23 miles, 2025/26, published by Dorset
How to read this
Most English schools do not have a catchment area. When Parley First School is oversubscribed, places go outward from the school until they run out, so the distance moves each year with how many families applied and where they lived.
Distances are measured from the postcode's centre, not a front door; a postcode covers a few houses. Siblings, looked-after children come before distance, so a school can fill before distance counts at all.
Real admission areas are not circular: the circle is the distance, not a boundary. The labels on the map are postcode districts whose centre falls inside both circles; each opens the district's guide.
The address on the closing date is the one the council uses. How admissions work.
One published year so far: 2025/26, from Dorset. With two or more, the map can draw any of them.
Source: Dorset, published admission distances, 2025/26
Where Parley First School and West Moors Middle School are both in reach
Both distances are drawn on the map above. West Moors Middle School admitted from 5.23 miles in 2025/26, published by Dorset. Its own page has the rest of its figures.
The postcode districts whose centre falls inside both published distances, cheapest first by the median of real sales around each district's centre. The cheapest is BH22 at £373,276. A district is wide, so check the address itself, not the list.
| District | Area | From Parley First School | From West Moors Middle School | Median sold price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BH22 | Dorset | 0.9 mi | 1.2 mi | £373,276 134 sales |
Sold prices from HM Land Registry, via each district's area guide. Distances measured from each district's centre to each school's point on the Department for Education register.
Sign up to save both schools and be told when either council republishes the distance these answers rest on.
Drop West Moors Middle School and go back to one school.
If the answer is no, you can appeal. In Dorset, 34 of 105 secondary appeals succeeded in 2025 (32.4%; England 19.9%), counted for all the council's schools together. How every council compares.
Other schools nearby with a published distance
The closest schools to Parley First School that also have a council-published admission distance, nearest first.
| School | Phase | Admitted from | Away |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ferndown Upper School Both in reach | Secondary | 5.15 mi 2025/26 | 1.0 mi |
| West Moors Middle School Both in reach | Secondary | 5.23 mi 2025/26 | 2.0 mi |
| Oakhurst Community First School Both in reach | Primary | 1.17 mi 2025/26 | 2.2 mi |
| Hayeswood First School Both in reach | Primary | 0.81 mi 2025/26 | 2.7 mi |
| Colehill First School Both in reach | Primary | 1.02 mi 2025/26 | 2.8 mi |
The distance as a picture
What kind of school this is
| Religious character | No religious character |
| Sixth form | Does not have a sixth form |
| How full | 313 pupils in 315 places (99% full) |
| Trust | SOUTHERN EDUCATION TRUST |
| Local authority | Dorset |
Department for Education register (GIAS).
How the school is doing
| Ofsted | Good, inspected 18 September 2023 |
Ofsted, and the Department for Education's published performance data.
Who goes to Parley First School
| Girls and boys | 48.6% girls, 51.4% boys |
| English as an additional language | 1.0% of pupils |
| Free school meals | 11.5% of pupils eligible |
DfE school census, most recent published year.
What it costs to live within reach of Parley First School
Cheapest district inside the 1.42 miles: BH22, median £373,276.
| District | Area | From the school | Median sold price |
|---|---|---|---|
| BH22 | Dorset | 0.9 mi | £373,276 134 sales |
How to read this
The postcode districts whose centre falls inside the 1.42 miles the school admitted from in 2025/26, cheapest first, by the median of real sales around each district's centre. A district is wide, so check the address itself, not the list. Districts without enough recorded sales to rank are not shown.
How this compares across England: what a tight gate costs, school by school.
Source: HM Land Registry sold prices, via each district's area guide
Getting to Parley First School by bus
Best-served stop: Dudsbury Avenue, 0.3 mi away, with 3.1 buses an hour on weekday daytimes; first bus 06:13, last 00:43 after midnight.
Every stop within 600 m
| Stop | From the school | Weekday daytime, an hour | Evening | Sunday | Routes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glenmoor Road Shops | 51 yd | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 95 |
| Locksley Drive | 0.2 mi | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 95 |
| Dudsbury Avenue | 0.3 mi | 3.1 | 1.8 | 2.0 | 13, 13A, 486, 95, C18 |
These are scheduled departures, not buses observed running. Two stops on opposite sides of a road are two rows.
Source: operators' timetables on the Bus Open Data Service (Department for Transport), week of 8 Sep 2026
The fee-paying alternative
Weighing Parley First School against the independent sector? Every fee-paying school around BH22: ages, selection, and how full each one is → What it costs to live at BH22 8QE, by the school: council tax, energy, prices, rent, stamp duty →
Checking the house as well as the school
The full report checks one address against every nearby school, with sold prices, flood risk and crime.
Common questions
What is the catchment area for Parley First School?
Parley First 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 1.42 miles away, per Dorset.
How close do I need to live to get a place at Parley First School?
Nobody can say in advance, and anyone who does is guessing. 1.42 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 Parley First 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 →
Put Parley First School's figure on your own site
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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.