Secondary school
Sources and method
This school
URN 113854 · LAESTAB 838/4022 · Source: Get Information about Schools, DfE, OGL v3.0 (record under Visit & links).
Against South West and Dorset
Track: South West's middle 80% (10th to 90th percentile); L = South West median; D = Dorset median, shown when 10 or more of its schools have a figure; the dot is this school.
South West state schools in Close Knit with a published figure, same phase (primary or secondary) and year; the borough median only when 10 or more of its schools have one. 10th, 50th and 90th percentiles with linear interpolation (PostgreSQL percentile_cont).
Colour only where lower or higher is clearly better (absence: lower): blue = better than the South West median, red = in South West's worst 10%.
Money: Compared only with maintained schools' accounts (CFR), same financial year.
Results
England rank: Key stage 4: Attainment 8 average score. Ranked among 3,280 secondaries in England, 2024/25. England's state-funded mainstream schools with a published figure that year (suppressed or missing figures are left out); equal figures share a rank; top % = rank ÷ schools × 100, rounded up.
Top % in England by year: the first and best years are labelled; the dashed line is the middle (top 50%).
Against South West: South West state secondaries, same year, cohort 30+, suppressed figures left out. Steps: the score out of 10 against South West (10 = top 10%).
Arrows: change in South West percentile points.
Pupils counted: Attainment 8 249 pupils (2024/25) · Grade 5+ English and maths 249 pupils (2024/25) · EBacc point score 249 pupils (2024/25) · Progress 8 232 pupils (2023/24) · A level points per entry 113 pupils (2024/25).
Progress 8: Not published for 2024/25: Progress 8 returns with 2026/27 results.
Getting in
Got in = first-choice families offered a place on national offer day ÷ families who put the school first. Putting a school first gives no priority: siblings and distance decide.
First-choice applications not offered a place on national offer day: 100 × (1 − first-preference offers ÷ first preferences). Applications count preferences, not children; places can still be offered from waiting lists after offer day.
Source: DfE, Primary and secondary school applications and offers.
Last distance offered: the straight line from the school to the furthest child offered a place under the distance rule. Not a catchment: it changes every year.
Inspections
GoodInadequateReport cardUngraded visit, no grade
Dates are the day each inspection started: Mar 2026 Report card, lowest Expected · Dec 2021 Remains Good · May 2016 Good · Jan 2014 Inadequate · Nov 2010 Good · Mar 2008 Good. Each dot opens its Ofsted report. Report cards and 2024–25 inspections have no overall grade: the badge takes the lowest area's colour.
Report-card areas graded Exceptional or Strong standard, and Needs attention or Urgent improvement, out of the areas graded; Expected standard counts as neither. Counted from Ofsted's grades, never scored from the report text.
Source: Ofsted, state-funded schools inspections and outcomes.
Pupils
Full = pupils on roll ÷ the school's capacity (1,146 places), from Get Information about Schools.
Pupil profile and absence: DfE school census and pupil absence (Compare school and college performance). Free school meals = eligible at any time in the past 6 years; persistently absent = missed 10% or more of sessions. Withheld = suppressed by DfE.
Parent View
Survey period 10 Nov 2025 to 6 Apr 2026, as at 6 Apr 2026. Source: Ofsted Parent View management information, OGL v3.0 (dataset). The school's own survey page is under Visit & links.
Ofsted changed the survey on 10 Nov 2025. The card shows the newest survey with 10 or more responses; an earlier survey is labelled and never mixed with the current one.
Share of the parents who answered, from Ofsted's published percentages: agree = strongly agree + agree; yes/no and overall-view questions show the share answering Yes or Positive. Where a question does not apply to every parent (Not applicable, I have not raised any concerns), agree is the share of the parents it applies to: strongly agree + agree divided by 100% minus that answer; the card says how many it did not apply to. Don't know stays in. Ofsted publishes a school only with 10 or more submissions. The questions changed on 10 November 2025: the card shows the current survey when the school has one, else the earlier survey (one academic year of submissions, the latest with 10 or more), never both.
Workforce
School workforce census, 2025/26. Staff in FTE (full-time equivalent), rounded to 1 decimal on the card. As published: teachers 67.55, leadership 14.8, teaching assistants 14.48, support staff incl. TAs 54.58, whole workforce 122.13 (149 people), 74 teachers by headcount.
Other support = support staff incl. TAs minus teaching assistants.
Per adult counts teachers, TAs and other classroom support; excludes admin staff.
- DfE: FTE pupils (January census) ÷ FTE teachers (November census)
- DfE: FTE pupils ÷ FTE teachers, teaching assistants, other school support staff and technicians; administrative, auxiliary and business staff are not counted
- Teachers in leadership posts: head, deputy and assistant heads
Financials
Maintained school accounts (CFR) · April 2025 to March 2026.
Published total ÷ FTE pupils in the same return, to the nearest pound; income and spend per pupil are left out when the return covers less than 12 months.
CFR (maintained schools, April–March) and AAR (academies, September–August) are different accounts and years: do not compare a maintained school with an academy.
Destinations
Students who finished the stage in the cohort year, followed through the next year: sustained = at least six months in education, an apprenticeship or employment
Source: DfE destination measures.
All sources and licences (8)
- Department for Education, Compare school and college performance
- Ofsted, state-funded schools inspections and outcomes
- Department for Education, 16-19 destination measures, academic year
- Department for Education, Consistent Financial Reporting
- Department for Education, Key stage 4 destination measures, academic year
- Department for Education, School workforce in England, reporting year 2025
- Department for Education, Get Information about Schools
- Ofsted, Ofsted Parent View management information
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
How we compare schools · release rel-202610230107-census-layers-england
Ferndown Upper School
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Results · 2024/25
Ranked 1,640 of 3,280 secondaries in England · top 50%
A-level results
#124 of 224 South West sixth forms, state and independent, 2024/25
Independent and selective (grammar) schools choose their pupils, so high results partly reflect who gets in, not only teaching. Some independent schools don't publish results.
Against South West
Show exam results by year
No exams 2019/20–21
Getting in
No admissions figures or last distance offered published
Visit & links
Open days aren't open data: the school site lists them.
Official
Guides
Links open in a new tab. Close Knit counts the click, never what you do there.
Inspections · 2008–2026
- InclusionStrong
- AchievementStrong
- Curriculum and teachingExpected
- Attendance and behaviourStrong
- Leadership and governanceStrong
- Personal development and wellbeingStrong
- Post-16 provisionExpected
- SafeguardingMet
- 2008Good
- 2010Good
- 2014Inadequate
- 2016Good
- 2021Remains Good
- 2026Lowest Expected
Pupils · 2024/25
Girls 50.3%Boys 49.7%
99% full · 1,146 places · 313 in sixth form
Parent View
As at 6 Apr 2026 · 101 responses (8.6% of pupils)
Workforce · 2025/26
- Classroom teachers 52.7
- Leadership 14.8
- Teaching assistants 14.5
- Other support 40.1
Teachers 67.5 FTE · Whole workforce 122.1 · 149 people
Financials · 2025/26
- +£59,252revenue reserve
- +£166,772in-year balance
Grants £8,083 · self-generated £452 · premises £425 per pupil
Destinations · 2023/24 leavers
After Year 11
239 students, followed through 2024/25 · Provisional
After sixth form (16–18)
154 students, followed through 2024/25 · Provisional