Hillside Community First School
Primary · Academy converter · Ages 4–9 · Verwood, Dorset
Last distance offered · Reception 2025
8.798 miles
Published by Dorset Council · offers on 16 April 2025
Nearby schools' earlier years 🔒
Hillside Community First School is a primary school in Verwood, Dorset for ages 4–9 (academy converter). Its latest Ofsted outcome is School remains Good, from the inspection on 11 May 2023. Dorset has published a last distance offered for this school for Reception 2025 entry.
Hillside Community First School catchment area: last distance offered
Parents often call this the catchment area: it's how far from the school the last child offered a place lived. It changes every year.
| Entry | Last distance offered |
|---|---|
| Reception 2025 | 8.798 mi |
What the pass includes · How to read it: one past year, not a catchment
What the figures show
- For Reception 2025 the last child offered a place lived 8.798 miles away, the longest of the 14 Dorset primary schools with a published Reception 2025 last distance.
- Reception 2026 had 40 first-choice applications for 43 offers; every first-choice family was offered a place, and 3 offers went to families who ranked it second or lower.
- It had 221 pupils on roll in January 2026 and 21.3 pupils per teacher, against a middle figure of 23.4 across the 8 nearest primary schools in Dorset.
- Of its pupils, 15.8% are eligible for free school meals; the middle figure across the 8 nearest primary schools in Dorset is 12.5%.
Worked out by Catchmently from the published figures on this page and those for other Dorset schools. Distances are as published; how they were measured differs between admission authorities.
Key facts
- Address
- Hillside Road, Verwood, BH31 7HE
- Type
- Academy converter
- Phase
- Primary
- Ages
- 4–9
- Council
- Dorset
- Pupils on roll
- 221 January 2026 school census
- Free school meals
- 15.8% of pupils eligible
- Pupils per teacher
- 21.3
Official record: Get Information about Schools · as at 15 September 2026
Ofsted
School remains Good Inspected 11 May 2023
Strengths
- “Staff at Hillside Community First School help pupils to become respectful, tolerant and responsible.”
- “Pupils build trusted relationships with each other and with adults.”
- “Pupils talk proudly of their school.”
To improve
- “However, leaders do not provide enough opportunities for all pupils to reason and problem-solve regularly.”
- “Consequently, pupils do not apply their mathematical knowledge to more complex ideas and procedures.”
- “As a result, some pupils do not have a secure understanding of the knowledge that leaders intend.”
Safeguarding: Effective
Quoted from the Ofsted report published 28 June 2023 (read the report). Crown copyright, Open Government Licence v3.0.
Applications and offers
- 2026 Reception entry: 40 first-preference applications, 43 offers in total, 40 offers to first-preference applicants.
Department for Education, school-level applications and offers, figures on national offer day. Earlier years are in the pass.
Nearby primary schools
Straight-line distance, in Dorset.
- Trinity Church of England First School 0.4 mi Not judged Last distance published
- Verwood Church of England First School 0.9 mi Good Last distance published
- Three Legged Cross First and Nursery School 2.0 mi Good Last distance published
- St James' Church of England First School and Nursery, Alderholt 2.8 mi School remains Good
- Cranborne Church of England First School 3.3 mi Good Last distance published
- St Ives Primary & Nursery School 3.8 mi Outstanding Last distance published
- St Mary's CofE First School & Nursery 3.8 mi Not judged Last distance published
- Wimborne St Giles Church of England First School and Nursery 4.0 mi School remains Good Last distance published