How far Dorset schools admitted from
How far away the last child offered a place lived, for 34 Dorset schools, from the council's own figures. Tightest first.
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Primary and secondary schools, from the 2025/26 round.
Applying for September 2027? Secondary applications close on 31 October 2026, with offers on 1 March 2027; primary applications close on 15 January 2027, with offers on 16 April 2027.
The tightest is St Mary's Catholic First School, Dorchester at 0.39 miles in 2025/26; the most far-reaching, Broadwindsor Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School, admitted from 12.28 miles.
Primary schools
| School | Ofsted | Admitted from | Round | How full |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| St Mary's Catholic First School, Dorchester | Good | 0.39 mi | 2025/26 | 97% |
| Rushcombe First School Wimborne | Outstanding | 0.52 mi | 2025/26 | 102% |
| Hayeswood First School Wimborne | Good | 0.81 mi | 2025/26 | 99% |
| St Nicholas and St Laurence Church of England Primary School Weymouth | No current grade | 0.86 mi | 2025/26 | 101% |
| The Prince of Wales School Dorchester | No current grade | 0.87 mi | 2025/26 | 104% |
| Trinity Church of England First School Verwood | No current grade | 0.95 mi | 2025/26 | 85% |
| Colehill First School Wimborne | Good | 1.02 mi | 2025/26 | 99% |
| Bincombe Valley Primary School Weymouth | Report card | 1.1 mi | 2025/26 | 84% |
| Radipole Primary School Weymouth | Good | 1.12 mi | 2025/26 | 98% |
| Wimborne First School and Nursery Wimborne | Good | 1.13 mi | 2025/26 | 130% |
| Oakhurst Community First School Ferndown | Report card | 1.17 mi | 2025/26 | 83% |
| Parley First School Ferndown | Good | 1.42 mi | 2025/26 | 99% |
| Wool Church of England Primary School Wareham | Good | 1.44 mi | 2025/26 | 82% |
| St Mary's Church of England First School, Charminster Dorchester | No current grade | 1.47 mi | 2025/26 | 99% |
| Southill Primary School Weymouth | Good | 1.56 mi | 2025/26 | 97% |
| Sandford St Martin's Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School Wareham | Good | 1.64 mi | 2025/26 | 79% |
| St Ives Primary & Nursery School Ringwood | Outstanding | 2.6 mi | 2025/26 | 102% |
| Conifers Primary School Weymouth | Good | 2.65 mi | 2025/26 | 83% |
| Lytchett Matravers Primary School Poole | Good | 2.69 mi | 2025/26 | 111% |
| Salway Ash Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School Bridport | Good | 2.99 mi | 2025/26 | 104% |
| Hazelbury Bryan Primary School Sturminster Newton | Good | 3.31 mi | 2025/26 | 96% |
| Henbury View First School Wimborne | Good | 3.47 mi | 2025/26 | 96% |
| St James Church of England First School Wimborne | No current grade | 3.55 mi | 2025/26 | 107% |
| St George's Church of England School, Bourton Gillingham | No current grade | 3.63 mi | 2025/26 | 119% |
| Symondsbury Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School Bridport | No current grade | 3.99 mi | 2025/26 | 96% |
| Pamphill Church of England First School Wimborne | Good | 4.56 mi | 2025/26 | 89% |
| Broadwindsor Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School Beaminster | Requires improvement | 12.28 mi | 2025/26 | 89% |
Secondary schools
| School | Ofsted | Admitted from | Round | How full |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| St Michael's Church of England Middle School, Colehill Wimborne | Good | 3.43 mi | 2025/26 | 101% |
| Cranborne Middle School Wimborne | Ungraded inspection, March 2025: some aspects not as strong | 4.27 mi | 2025/26 | 104% |
| St Osmund's Church of England Middle School Dorchester | Good | 4.47 mi | 2025/26 | 99% |
| Ferndown Upper School Ferndown | Report card | 5.15 mi | 2025/26 | 99% |
| West Moors Middle School Ferndown | Report card | 5.23 mi | 2025/26 | 100% |
| Lytchett Minster School Poole | Good | 5.25 mi | 2025/26 | 98% |
| Gillingham School Gillingham | Good | 6.96 mi | 2025/26 | 91% |
If a place is refused
You can appeal. In 2025, 34 of 105 secondary appeals heard here were allowed (32.4%; England 19.9%), counted for all the council's schools together.
How to read this
Every refusal carries a right of appeal to an independent panel. In Dorset, panels heard 105 appeals for secondary places in the 2025 round and allowed 34 of them, 32.4%, against 19.9% across England. These are the council's figures for all its schools together: appeals are not published school by school, so no one can tell you the rate for one named school, and this page will not pretend to.
An infant class appeal, for reception to year 2, can only be allowed on narrow legal grounds, which is why its share is a fraction of the others.
| Appeals in 2025 | Lodged | Heard | Allowed | Share allowed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Secondary | 143 | 105 | 34 | 32.4% |
| Primary | 28 | 20 | 3 | 15.0% of 20 heard |
| Primary (infant classes) | 19 | 11 | 0 | 0.0% of 11 heard |
How every council compares, and what the figures are and are not.
How often children here are out of school
Primary schools here missed 5.4% of sessions in 2024/25 (England 5.2%), and 12.8% of pupils were persistently absent (England 13.0%).
How to read this
In Dorset, 5.4% of primary school sessions were missed in 2024/25, about the same as the 5.2% across England. That is days missed. The second figure is children: 12.8% of primary pupils here were persistently absent, meaning they missed a tenth or more of their sessions, about the same as England's 13.0%.
| 2024/25 | Sessions missed | England | Persistently absent | England |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Primary | 5.4% | 5.2% | 12.8% | 13.0% |
| Secondary | 9.1% | 8.4% | 24.6% | 23.4% |
What the figures mean
Persistently absent means missing a tenth or more of their sessions, for any reason, authorised or not. A council's rate is moved by things no school controls, term-time holidays and a bad winter among them, so read it as the weather around the schools rather than a mark against them. Higher or lower is said only where the two rates differ by at least 1 percentage point.
These are Dorset's figures for all its schools together. The Department for Education publishes absence by council, not school by school, so no one can give you the rate for one named school from this release. Source: DfE pupil absence in schools in England, explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk. Read on 1 October 2026.
Source: DfE pupil absence in schools in England, by council, not school by school
Reading the numbers
These are distances, not catchment areas, and they move every year.
How to read this
For every oversubscribed school, Dorset publishes how far away the last child offered a place lived. A short distance means a school that fills up close to its gates; a long one means places went further afield. The address on the deadline is the one the council uses.
These are not catchment areas: most English schools have none. Each figure is the distance from the school to the home of the furthest child who was offered a place under the distance criterion in that round, as Dorset measures it, which is usually a straight line from a fixed point at the home to one at the school. Looked-after children, siblings and, at faith schools, faith criteria come before distance, so a school can fill before distance is reached at all. The figure moves every year with the number of applications. How the whole process works →
Checking an address against these
Each school's page has a checker that measures a postcode against that school's distance. The full property report measures every nearby school at once, alongside sold prices, flood risk and the rest of the house.
Admission distances published by Dorset. School details and grades from the Department for Education's register and Ofsted. If a figure looks wrong, tell us and it goes on the accuracy log.