Best Grammar Schools in Bournemouth and Poole: GCSE and A Level Results Ranked

For parents asking which are the best grammar schools in Bournemouth and Poole, Bournemouth School ranks first on average Attainment 8 score at 74.2, followed by Bournemouth School for Girls at 72.2, Poole Grammar School at 70.2 and Parkstone Grammar School at 68.5. All four are state grammar schools that select on academic ability at the 11+.

Four schools are ranked, on a single measure: average Attainment 8 score from the latest DfE key stage 4 performance tables, which combines each pupil's grades across eight GCSE-level qualifications with English and maths double-weighted, out of a maximum of 90. The percentage achieving grade 5 or above in English and maths and the average A level grade, where published, sit alongside it in the table.

Which grammar schools in Bournemouth and Poole have the best GCSE results?

Average Attainment 8 scores run from 74.2 at Bournemouth School down to 68.5 at Parkstone Grammar School, with Bournemouth School for Girls at 72.2 and Poole Grammar School at 70.2 between them. The figures fall in two pairs: the two Bournemouth schools hold ranks 1 and 2, and the two Poole schools hold ranks 3 and 4. No two schools share a rank.

The percentage of pupils achieving grade 5 or above in English and maths is 96 at both Bournemouth School and Bournemouth School for Girls, 95.5 at Poole Grammar School and 90.3 at Parkstone Grammar School. The first three sit close together on this measure, whilst Parkstone Grammar School is the one school below them. Boys' and girls' schools alternate down the table: Bournemouth School (boys) is 1st, Bournemouth School for Girls 2nd, Poole Grammar School (boys) 3rd and Parkstone Grammar School (girls) 4th. Each town therefore has one boys' and one girls' school, and the higher-ranked school of each pair is the one in Bournemouth.

The A level grades follow a different order from the GCSE ranking. Parkstone Grammar School, 4th on Attainment 8, has the highest average A level grade at B+, whilst Bournemouth School and Poole Grammar School both record B and Bournemouth School for Girls records B-. A parent weighing sixth form outcomes will therefore find the GCSE order a partial guide only.

How does entry to grammar schools in Bournemouth and Poole work?

Entry to all four schools runs through the Dorset Consortium of Grammar Schools, which means a child considering more than one of them sits a single set of 11+ tests on the same day. A family registers for the test at whichever consortium school suits them, and the result is then considered by every school named on the application. Boys can sit the test at either Bournemouth School or Poole Grammar School, whichever venue is more convenient.

Registering for the test is a separate step from applying for a place, which goes through the home local authority's Common Application Form; each school then applies its own published oversubscription criteria once results are known. The current papers are set by GL Assessment and cover mathematics, English and verbal reasoning in multiple-choice format, with the mathematics paper running for 50 minutes and up to 25 per cent additional time available to children with an Education, Health and Care Plan or Statement of Special Educational Need. From the next September sitting the tests move to Quest Assessments, and Bournemouth School's admissions pages note that no content beyond the Year 5 National Curriculum will be tested.

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Which grammar schools are in Bournemouth and which are in Poole?

Bournemouth School and Bournemouth School for Girls are the two Bournemouth schools, and Poole Grammar School and Parkstone Grammar School are the two in Poole. All four are academies with a Year 7 entry point reached through the 11+.

Bournemouth School is in Charminster, takes boys into the main school and has a co-educational sixth form that admits girls. Poole Grammar School is a boys' school on Gravel Hill whose sixth form also takes applicants from other schools, whilst Parkstone Grammar School, on Sopers Lane, is a girls' school. Bournemouth School for Girls is a girls' grammar school academy.

What do the GCSE and A level results show about these schools?

The ranking shows how pupils at each school score on average across eight GCSE-level qualifications, with English and maths double-weighted, and it does not show how well any school would suit an individual child. All four schools select on academic ability, so the figures describe cohorts that have already passed the consortium's entrance tests.

The grade 5 percentage in English and maths separates Parkstone Grammar School at 90.3 from the other three at 95.5 or above, and the A level grades vary from B- to B+ in an order that differs from the GCSE ranking. Families comparing the schools usually weigh these figures alongside single-sex or co-educational sixth form provision, location and the oversubscription criteria each school publishes.

How the schools are ranked

The ranking covers every state grammar school in Bournemouth and Christchurch and Poole with a published Attainment 8 score in the Department for Education's key stage 4 performance data, ordered from highest to lowest, with schools on the same figure sharing a rank. Every school in the table selects by ability at eleven, so the figures reflect a selective intake as well as the teaching; Progress 8 was not calculated for this cohort.

The data is the Department for Education's own download from Compare school and college performance, so anyone can reproduce the order from the same file; the data year and source are listed in the key facts above.

Admissions guides for the ranked schools

• Bournemouth School (ranked 1)
• Bournemouth School for Girls (ranked 2)
• Poole Grammar School (ranked 3)
• Parkstone Grammar School (ranked 4)

Related guides

• Dorset Grammar Schools
• Best private schools in Dorset
• Best grammar schools in the UK by GCSE results
• Grammar schools in England: the full directory
• The 11+ entrance exam explained

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