Birkenhead Park School

Academy sponsor led·Secondary school Birkenhead, Wirral·CH43 4UY
Composite score
49.9
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#2,522
National rank
#328
In North West
#10
In Wirral
Top 79%
Nationally

Performance (KS4 GCSE)

Attainment 8 score
39.9
National avg ≈ 46
Progress 8 score
—
% achieving 9–5 in English & Maths
30%
% achieving 9–4 in English & Maths
49%
% EBacc grade 5+
5%
EBacc average points score
3.35

Ofsted judgements

Legacy framework · Read full report ↗

Overall effectiveness
Requires improvement
Quality of education
Requires improvement
Behaviour and attitudes
Good
Personal development
Good
Leadership and management
Good
Safeguarding effective?
Yes

Getting a place

Offered a place after putting it first
100%
132 first choices, 152 places
First choices per place
0.87
fewer first choices than places
Applications naming the school
284
any preference, for 152 places
First preferences per place, last five years▲ 0.05
00.511.5
1 per place
0.7120220.6520230.8620240.8220250.872026

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

Every child who put Birkenhead Park School first was offered a place in 2026, so no distance cut-off applied: living further away did not cost a place that year.

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

School profile

Age range
11–16
Pupils on roll
767
Gender
Mixed
Religious character
None
Admissions
Non-Selective

Pupil background

% FSM ever-6
66.1%
Typical secondary: 27.5%
% EAL
16.9%
Typical secondary: 12.0%

Special educational needs

% SEN support
25.9%
Typical secondary: 13.7%
% with an EHC plan
3.4%
Typical secondary: 2.9%

Attendance

Overall absence
10.2%
Typical secondary: 8.9%
Persistently absent
28.9%
Typical secondary: 25.7%

Staffing & funding

Pupils per teacher
16.4
Typical secondary: 16.7
Spend per pupil
£9,129
Typical secondary: £7,815

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

What pupils do next

The share of this school's Year 11 leavers in education, training or employment for at least two terms afterwards.

In education, training or work
76%
133 pupils tracked
Stayed in education
71%
Apprenticeship
2%
Employment
3%

DfE, KS4 destination measures.

Nearby secondary schools

Location

School overview

Birkenhead Park School is a secondary school serving Birkenhead, Wirral, classified by the DfE as a sponsor-led academy. It has 767 pupils aged 11 to 16 on roll. At its most recent graded inspection, Ofsted rated Birkenhead Park School 'Requires improvement'. The school's average Attainment 8 score in the latest GCSE results was 39.9 — below the national average (national average: 46). Its Attainment 8 score has risen by 6.1 points year on year. On our composite score, which combines the DfE attainment measures above, this places it in the lower half of secondary schools nationally.

30% of pupils achieved a grade 5 or above in both English and maths, well below the national average of about 45%. 49% achieved a standard pass (grade 4+) in English and maths. Getting a place is straightforward: for the September 2026 intake every family who made Birkenhead Park School their first choice was offered one of its 152 Year 7 places. After Year 11, 76% of its leavers went on to education, an apprenticeship or work that they stayed in for at least two terms. Overall pupil absence was 10.2%. There are about 16.4 pupils per teacher. The school serves a community with above-average levels of disadvantage: about 66% of pupils have been eligible for free school meals in the last six years, compared with roughly 24% nationally — useful context when reading the results above. If you are considering Birkenhead Park School, it may be worth asking how leaders have responded to Ofsted's findings and what has changed since the inspection. 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.

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