West Derby School

Academy converter·Secondary school Liverpool·L13 7HQ
Composite score
52.5
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#2,230
National rank
#279
In North West
#15
In Liverpool
Top 70%
Nationally

Performance (KS4 GCSE)

Attainment 8 score
42.0
National avg ≈ 46
Progress 8 score
—
% achieving 9–5 in English & Maths
42%
% achieving 9–4 in English & Maths
65%
% EBacc grade 5+
11%
EBacc average points score
3.75

Ofsted judgements

Legacy framework · Read full report ↗

Overall effectiveness
Good
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
67%
200 first choices, 174 places
First choices per place
1.15
more first choices than places
Applications naming the school
515
any preference, for 174 places
Applications from another council area
4%
First preferences per place, last five years▲ 0.34
00.511.5
1 per place
1.2120220.7420230.8820240.8120251.152026

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

Liverpool does not publish how far from the school the last child offered a Year 7 place lived, so there is no cut-off distance to show for West Derby School. Ask the school or the council how places were allocated this year.

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

School profile

Age range
11–18
Pupils on roll
996
Gender
Boys
Religious character
None
Admissions
Non-Selective

Pupil background

% FSM ever-6
41.7%
Typical secondary: 27.5%
% EAL
12.8%
Typical secondary: 12.0%

Special educational needs

% SEN support
20.3%
Typical secondary: 13.7%
% with an EHC plan
2.9%
Typical secondary: 2.9%

Attendance

Overall absence
10.4%
Typical secondary: 8.9%
Persistently absent
27.6%
Typical secondary: 25.7%

Staffing & funding

Pupils per teacher
16.9
Typical secondary: 16.7
Spend per pupil
£9,179
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
89%
171 pupils tracked
Stayed in education
85%
Apprenticeship
2%
Employment
2%

DfE, KS4 destination measures.

Nearby secondary schools

Location

West Derby School at a glance

Located in Liverpool, West Derby School is a boys' secondary school, classified by the DfE as a converter academy. The school educates roughly 996 pupils aged 11 to 18. Ofsted judged the school to be 'Good' at its most recent inspection. In the most recent GCSE results, pupils achieved an average Attainment 8 score of 42.0, below the national average of 46. That marks an improvement of 4.1 points in its Attainment 8 score on the previous year. On our composite score, which combines the DfE attainment measures above, this places it in the lower half 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%. 65% achieved a standard pass (grade 4+) in English and maths. Competition for places is real here - 67% of first-choice applicants were offered a Year 7 place for September 2026 (200 first choices for 174 places). After Year 11, 89% of its leavers went on to education, an apprenticeship or work that they stayed in for at least two terms. Overall pupil absence was 10.4%. There are about 16.9 pupils per teacher. The school serves a community with above-average levels of disadvantage: about 42% 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. When comparing schools, it is still worth visiting in person to see whether the atmosphere and approach suit your child. 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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