Birchwood High School

Academy converter·Secondary school Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire·CM23 5BD
Composite score
57.6
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#1,507
National rank
#164
In East of England
#50
In Hertfordshire
Top 48%
Nationally

Performance (KS4 GCSE)

Attainment 8 score
46.1
National avg ≈ 46
Progress 8 score
—
% achieving 9–5 in English & Maths
42%
% achieving 9–4 in English & Maths
64%
% EBacc grade 5+
18%
EBacc average points score
4.02

Ofsted judgements

Legacy framework · Read full report ↗

Quality of education
Good
Behaviour and attitudes
Good
Personal development
Good
Leadership and management
Good
Safeguarding effective?
Yes
Sixth form provision
Good

Getting a place

Offered a place after putting it first
100%
96 first choices, 174 places
First choices per place
0.55
fewer first choices than places
Applications naming the school
606
any preference, for 174 places
Applications from another council area
52%
First preferences per place, last five years▼ 0.03
00.511.5
1 per place
0.7520220.7420230.8120240.5820250.552026

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

Every child who put Birchwood High 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
11–18
Pupils on roll
1,454
Gender
Mixed
Admissions
Non-Selective

Pupil background

% FSM ever-6
20.1%
Typical secondary: 27.5%
% EAL
12.6%
Typical secondary: 12.0%

Special educational needs

% SEN support
9.6%
Typical secondary: 13.7%
% with an EHC plan
3.3%
Typical secondary: 2.9%

Attendance

Overall absence
9.3%
Typical secondary: 8.9%
Persistently absent
30.7%
Typical secondary: 25.7%

Staffing & funding

Pupils per teacher
16.8
Typical secondary: 16.7
Spend per pupil
£7,952
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
93%
230 pupils tracked
Stayed in education
85%
Apprenticeship
4%
Employment
3%

DfE, KS4 destination measures.

Nearby secondary schools

Location

Birchwood High School at a glance

Located in Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire, Birchwood High School is a secondary school, classified by the DfE as a converter academy. The school educates roughly 1,454 pupils aged 11 to 18. The school's average Attainment 8 score in the latest GCSE results was 46.1 — broadly in line with the national average (national average: 46). Its Attainment 8 score has fallen by 2.0 points compared with the previous year. On our composite score, which combines the DfE attainment measures above, this places it around the middle of secondary schools nationally.

42% of pupils achieved a grade 5 or above in both English and maths, in line with the national average of about 45%. 64% achieved a standard pass (grade 4+) in English and maths. Getting a place is straightforward: for the September 2026 intake every family who made Birchwood High School their first choice was offered one of its 174 Year 7 places. After Year 11, 93% of its leavers went on to education, an apprenticeship or work that they stayed in for at least two terms. Overall pupil absence was 9.3%. There are about 16.8 pupils per teacher. Birchwood High School does not currently have a recent graded Ofsted judgement on record (often the case for newer or recently converted schools), so it is worth asking when its next inspection is expected. 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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