Parley First School

Academy converter·First school Ferndown, Dorset·BH22 8QE

School type

First school

Ages 4–9

Key Stage 2 performance

Parley First School is a first school for pupils aged 4–9. Pupils move on to a separate junior or middle school before Year 6, so the school does not enter pupils for the Key Stage 2 SATs and has no KS2 results to publish.

This applies to every first school in England — it does not mean data is missing. Ofsted judgements and school information are shown below.

Getting a place

Offered a place after putting it first

85%

66 first choices, 58 places

First choices per place

1.14

more first choices than places

Applications naming the school

135

any preference, for 58 places

Applications from another council area

First preferences per place, last five years▼ 0.02

00.511.5

1 per place

0.9520221.0720231.3220241.1520251.142026

Red dashed line = one first choice per place. How to read this

We do not have a checked cut-off distance for Parley First School yet. Dorset does publish allocation figures and we are working through them council by council — we only show a distance once we have found it in the council’s own document.

Application figures: DfE, school level applications and offers (2026 intake).

Ofsted judgements

Legacy framework · Read full report ↗

Overall effectiveness

Good

Quality of education

Good

Behaviour and attitudes

Good

Personal development

Good

Leadership and management

Good

Safeguarding effective?

Yes

Early years provision

Good

School profile

Age range: 4–9
Pupils on roll: 308
Gender: Mixed
Religious character: None

Pupil background

% FSM ever-6

12.0%

Typical primary: 21.5%

% EAL

0.6%

Typical primary: 9.6%

Special educational needs

% SEN support

10.1%

Typical primary: 14.3%

% with an EHC plan

6.8%

Typical primary: 3.0%

Attendance

Overall absence

5.4%

Typical primary: 5.3%

Persistently absent

11.9%

Typical primary: 13.3%

Staffing & funding

Pupils per teacher

17.5

Typical primary: 20.7

Spend per pupil

£6,906

Typical primary: £6,960

“Typical” = the median primary school in England. What this means

Nearby primary schools

Ferndown Middle School Ferndown · 0.7 mi 30.4 West Moors Middle School Ferndown · 2.1 mi 50.5 St Michael's Church of England Middle School, Colehill Wimborne · 3.4 mi 53.9 Allenbourn Middle School Wimborne · 4.2 mi 53.5 St Ives Primary & Nursery School Ringwood · 4.3 mi 73.7 Lockyer's Middle School Wimborne · 5.5 mi 65.7 Emmanuel Church of England Middle School Verwood · 5.5 mi 53.9 Upton Junior School Poole · 7.4 mi 32.9

Location

Official sources

Latest Ofsted report reports.ofsted.gov.uk DfE Compare School Performance compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk GIAS school details get-information-schools.service.gov.uk

School overview

Parley First School is a primary school serving Ferndown, Dorset, classified by the DfE as a converter academy. It has 308 pupils aged 4 to 9 on roll. At its most recent graded inspection, Ofsted rated Parley First School 'Good'.

Competition for places is real here - 85% of first-choice applicants were offered a Reception place for September 2026 (66 first choices for 58 places). Overall pupil absence was 5.4%. There are about 17.5 pupils per teacher. Its intake is relatively advantaged, with around 12% of pupils eligible for free school meals in the last six years versus about 24% nationally. When comparing schools, it is still worth visiting in person to see whether the atmosphere and approach suit your child. This overview is generated automatically from the latest published DfE performance tables and Ofsted data; figures are rounded, and you can check the originals via the official links above.