Poole Grammar School

Poole Grammar School is a selective boys' grammar school for pupils aged 11 to 18 and is part of a single academy trust. In this graded inspection, the school was judged good for quality of education, leadership and management, and sixth-form provision, and outstanding for behaviour and attitudes and personal development. Pupils achieve excellent academic outcomes at key stage 4 and 5, display exemplary behaviour, and benefit from a broad and ambitious curriculum alongside a rich programme of personal development and extracurricular opportunities.

Strengths

• Pupils achieve excellent academic outcomes at key stage 4 and 5.
• Behaviour and attitudes are outstanding, with pupils learning in a disruption-free environment.
• Personal development is outstanding, with extensive leadership, character and enrichment opportunities.
• Pupils with SEND are welcomed and supported effectively, including through the Bryson Base.
• The school promotes a strong culture of reading for pleasure.
• The Life Skills programme is highly aspirational and well judged.
• The careers programme ensures pupils and sixth-form students are well informed about future options.
• Safeguarding arrangements are effective.
• Staff feel valued, and leaders and trustees consider staff well-being when making changes.

Areas for Improvement

• The quality of education is good but not yet consistently strong across all areas.
• Teaching quality is variable in some areas of the curriculum.
• Activity choice is sometimes not well considered to support pupils' learning.
• Checking for understanding sometimes lacks precision.
• In some instances, pupils do not build their knowledge as successfully as they could.
• The impact of additional literacy support for identified pupils is variable.
• Improvements to the quality of education are underway but are not yet fully realised.

Admissions: local authority offers data from the Department for Education. A school is oversubscribed when at least 5% of the families who put it first were not offered a place, and undersubscribed when everyone who put it first got in but 10% or more of its places were unfilled in the Department's school capacity survey (the latest survey is used for entry years it does not cover). Places: Department for Education, School capacity, from local authorities' annual survey as at 1 May. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024–25); the survey was not run in 2020. Places include sixth form places. Forecasts are the local authority's own for the school's planning area, an area it uses to plan places that is not the school's catchment area. The forecast starts from a head count in 2025; the dashed line is the Department's estimate of places in that area, including those the authority has firm plans for. Planned places are cumulative, and only those with firm plans are counted.

In 2024–25 pupils at Poole Grammar School attended 94.8% of sessions (the national figure for secondary schools was 91.6%). 10.4% of pupils were persistently absent, missing at least one session in ten (nationally 23.4%).

Sessions missed

Pupils persistently absent

Source: Department for Education, Pupil absence in schools in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Persistent absence means missing 10% or more of sessions; severe absence means 50% or more. No figures were published for 2019/20.

In 2024–25, 3.1% of pupils at Poole Grammar School were suspended at least once (nationally 7.3%). No pupils were permanently excluded.

Pupils suspended at least once

Source: Department for Education, Suspensions and permanent exclusions in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). A pupil can be suspended more than once, so suspensions per 100 pupils can be higher than the share of pupils suspended. Very small numbers are hidden by the DfE. Exclusion figures dropped in 2020 and 2021 because of school closures.

In 2025–26 Poole Grammar School had 18.6 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for secondary schools was 16.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 11.8% were no longer at the school a year later (nationally 14.1%).

Pupils per teacher

Teachers who left the school within a year

Source: Department for Education, School workforce in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Pupils per teacher counts full-time-equivalent pupils and teachers. Turnover is the share of a year's teachers (full-time equivalent) who were not at the school the following year, whether they moved to another school or left state-funded teaching. Turnover and sickness figures run one year behind the ratios. Sick leave is the share of teachers who took at least one day in the year, so it swings widely at small schools, where a few teachers can make it 0% or 100%. The national figures are for all state schools of the same type.

In 2025–26, 12.3% of pupils at Poole Grammar School were on SEN support (nationally 14.1%) and 1.0% had an education, health and care (EHC) plan (nationally 3.5%).

Pupils by main type of need

Source: Department for Education, Special educational needs in England (the 2025–26 school census). SEN support is extra help in school without an EHC plan. National figures are for all state-funded secondary schools. Counts are as published, with small numbers not hidden.

In 2024–25 Poole Grammar School received £7,450 and spent £7,271 for each of its 1,199 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £273,000 (£228 per pupil).

Income per pupil

Spending per pupil

Source: Department for Education, Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool. Each year is the one the financial year ends in (2024 is 2023–24). Academy figures include a share of the trust's central services, shared out by pupil numbers, and are rounded to the nearest £1,000. Premises costs were defined differently from 2024, so compare them across that gap with care.

• Primary Schools
• Secondary Schools

All schools in Poole · Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole local authority: places and applications

What is Poole Grammar School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Poole Grammar School is Good, from an inspection in June 2025.

When was Poole Grammar School last inspected by Ofsted?

Poole Grammar School was last inspected in June 2025.

How many pupils does Poole Grammar School have?

Poole Grammar School has 1,224 pupils on roll.

What age range does Poole Grammar School cover?

Poole Grammar School for pupils aged 11 to 18.

What are Poole Grammar School's GCSE results?

In 2026 its average Attainment 8 score was 70.2, and 93% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above in both English and maths GCSE.

Where is Poole Grammar School?

Poole Grammar School is at Gravel Hill, Poole, Dorset, BH17 9JU.