Dorset grammar schools & catchment areas, in plain English.
Dorset’s 4 grammar schools are all in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole conurbation — two in Bournemouth, two in Poole, one for boys and one for girls in each. All 4 share a single entry test, but they do not share a catchment: which of the two areas you live in decides which pair you have a real chance at. This page explains both, and lets you check your postcode against all 4.
Check your postcode against every Dorset grammar
See which of the two catchment areas you fall inside, your distance to each school and your eligibility — free, no account needed.
Real, published boundaries and the latest distance cut-offs — not straight-line estimates.
How Bournemouth and Poole grammar admissions work.
All 4 schools select through the shared BCP Consortium 11+ — one set of GL Assessment papers, sat once, that counts for every one of them. You register with the consortium by 4 September; the test is sat in late September and results come back in mid-October.
That single registration is the part parents most often get right by accident and wrong on the detail: one entry covers all 4 schools, but you still have to name the ones you want on your home council’s application form by 31 October. Offers go out on 1 March.
Reaching the qualifying standard makes a child eligible at any of the 4. Where they live then decides which ones are realistic.
One test, two catchment areas.
The 4 schools split into two pairs with different areas. Poole Grammar and Parkstone Grammar prioritise the historic Borough of Poole and its postcodes; Bournemouth School and Bournemouth School for Girls prioritise Bournemouth and Christchurch postcodes. Qualifying children inside the relevant area are placed ahead of those outside it, with the highest scorers offered first.
Bournemouth School for Girls is the exception worth knowing: after looked-after and Pupil Premium girls, it fills 100 places on score alone from anywhere, and only then reserves what is left for girls in its catchment. It is the one route into a Dorset grammar that does not depend on your address.
The rest of Dorset — Dorchester, Weymouth, Bridport, Sherborne and the Dorset Council area generally — has no state grammar schools at all; the 4 here are the county’s complete set. GrammarBound maps both published areas — open the map or check your postcode above.
Every Dorset grammar school, by town.
All 4 grammar schools in Bournemouth and Poole. Each links to a plain-English admissions guide with that school’s exact catchment, criteria and deadlines.