Welcome to Ferndown Upper School

At Ferndown Upper we are very proud of our students, their achievements and of the school community to which we all belong. I believe that young people can only achieve their very best if they feel happy, safe and secure at school. In November 2010 Ofsted recognised this as being a great strength of the school:

"In this caring and supportive environment, students feel extremely safe, enjoy their learning and achieve well. Students who have received additional support are overwhelmingly positive about their school experience. Comments such as, 'School is like heaven compared with my last school' and 'the school has helped me to change 100%' were common."
Ofsted, Nov. 2010

Ofsted declared this aspect of Ferndown Upper School to be 'outstanding'.

Our school is a place where everyone can achieve. Besides providing a top quality academic education, we value all kinds of achievement and celebrate this with our students. We have very high aspirations for everyone in our school community, meaning that we expect a lot from our staff and our students, and provide a wide range of learning opportunities. We believe that participation and encouragement are the keys to success, and this is evident from the number of students who progress from Ferndown to excellent jobs and who achieve qualifications that take them on to top Universities.

Ferndown students can participate in a wealth of trips, clubs, music and dance activities, community work and sports events. We aim to be, in the words of our Vision Statement:

An outstanding school that places learning at its heart and inspires everyone to fulfil their potential.

We have worked hard to create a learning environment in which all students feel safe and secure, and we maintain this ethos through a House system, which provides a framework for our pastoral care and rewards system. As well as all of this, the school is a highly successful Visual Arts College, known nationally for its excellence in the field of the Arts. Visual Arts enhances creativity in all subject areas and provides young people with a chance for their imagination to produce top quality work. We invest in our young people; after all they are tomorrow's leaders.

I do hope you will choose Ferndown Upper School for your child's education. Please telephone or write if you would like further information or to arrange a visit. We welcome applications from new students. Please contact the school office for application forms and more information. We will be happy to show you around our school - we know you will be impressed!

Alex Wills, BSc, NPQH Headteacher