Clayesmore School, Blandford Forum

From the headteacher's welcome: "There is a quality that is easier to feel than it is to describe that strikes a family on their first visit to Clayesmore. The campus is impressive, the facilities are excellent, but it is the atmosphere that stays with you: ambitious, warm, and genuinely alive."

Coming up: an open day on Friday 27 November 2026 at 3.30pm. Check the school's website before you go, as dates can change.

The Department for Education's GCSE measures do not count IGCSEs, which many independent schools take instead of GCSEs, so the Attainment 8 and English and maths figures it publishes for Clayesmore School can understate its results. We do not rank or compare them; ask the school for its own GCSE and IGCSE results.

The nearest other independent schools to Clayesmore School are Hanford School (2.5 miles); and Bryanston School (4.6 miles, selective).

Of the 64 students who left the sixth form in 2023/24, 58% went on to university or other higher education and 22% into work.

In 2026, 143 pupils (34.5%) received SEN support and 6 (1.4%) had an education, health and care plan.

There is no railway, tram or Underground station within about three miles of Clayesmore School.

2 bus stops are within a five-minute walk; the closest is War Memorial (n-bound), 220 metres away.

In August 2026, police recorded 5 crimes within a mile of the school, most often violence and sexual offences, criminal damage and arson and other theft. That is well below the typical figure around schools in Dorset (25).