Secondary school offers in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole: offer day 2027

National Offer Day Monday 1 March 2027 · 21 secondary schools · first-choice odds, waiting lists and appeals

How likely is a first choice here?

For September 2026 entry, 86.4% of families living in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole were offered their first-choice secondary school, against 83.6% across England. 114 families (3.1%) were offered none of the schools they named. Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole ranks 86 of 150 councils in England, hardest first (see every council).

10 of its 21 secondary schools had more first-choice applications than places.

The most sought-after, by first-choice applications per place offered: Poole Grammar School (1.4 per place; grammar, 11+ needed), Bournemouth School (1.3 per place; grammar, 11+ needed), Bournemouth School for Girls (1.3 per place; grammar, 11+ needed), Glenmoor Academy (1.2 per place), Livingstone Academy Bournemouth (1.2 per place).

If you didn't get your first choice

1. Accept the place you were offered by the date in your offer letter. Accepting it does not affect a waiting list or an appeal, and a place that isn't accepted can be withdrawn.
2. Get on the waiting lists you want. Every school must keep one until at least 31 December of the year your child starts. It is ranked by the school's admission rules, not by when you joined, so a family moving closer can go above you. Some councils add you automatically for schools you ranked higher than the one offered; your offer letter says which.
3. Decide whether to appeal. You can appeal for every school that refused your child. You get at least 20 school days from the offer to lodge it, and on-time appeals must be heard within 40 school days of that deadline. The figures below show how often appeals succeed here.
4. Look at schools that took lower preferences. These are the likeliest to have room now.

Schools that took children who ranked them lower

For September 2026 entry these 10 schools offered more places than they had first-choice applications, so some went to families who put them second or lower. They are the likeliest to have room after offer day; ask Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole or the school.

• Avonbourne Boys' Academy Bournemouth
• Avonbourne Girls Academy Bournemouth
• Oak Academy Bournemouth
• Poole High School Poole
• St Aldhelm's Academy Poole
• St Peter's Catholic Comprehensive School Bournemouth
• The Bishop of Winchester Academy Bournemouth
• The Cornerstone Academy Poole
• The Grange School Christchurch
• Twynham School Christchurch

Every secondary school: demand for 2026 entry

Sorted by first-choice applications per place, the most contested first.

Places offered is the number of offers made on national offer day, and first choices offered the share of families who put the school first and got it (Department for Education, September 2026 entry).

Appeals in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole

Secondary school appeals across all of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole, from the Department for Education. Appeals are not published school by school. Across England in 2025/26, 19.5% of 27,084 secondary appeals heard were upheld. How appeal odds differ between councils.

More for Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole

• Every school in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole, with catchment areas and Ofsted
• Starting school in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole
• Map of schools near your home, with your chance of a place where we have the data