Birchwood High School
Secondary · Bishop's Stortford · CM23 5BD
Data updated
SchoolFacts estimate: Ofsted awarded no overall grade at this inspection
We show the lowest of the four areas Ofsted did judge, listed below. Why some schools have no overall grade →
Inspected 21 January 2025
Read the Ofsted report ↗At a glance
1,417 pupils · 94% of 1,500 capacity (January 2026 census)
- School type
- Academy converter
- Age range
- 11–18
- Gender
- Mixed
- Admissions
- Non-selective
- Free school meals
- 18.2% of pupils (January 2026)
- English as additional language
- 12.6% of pupils (2024/2025)
- SEN support
- 9.6% of pupils (2024/2025)
- EHC plan
- 3.3% of pupils (2024/2025)
- Sixth form
- Yes
- URN
- 137637
In figures
For September 2026 entry, 96 families named it first for 174 Year 7 places, 0.55 first choices per place. We hold 12 Year 7 admissions rounds for it, 2015 to 2026; none was decided by a published distance. At its inspection on 21 January 2025 Ofsted awarded no overall grade; the lowest of the four areas it judged was Good. In the 2025/26 autumn and spring terms its pupils missed 10% of sessions, against 6.6% across England.
Admissions demand: Year 7 entry, September 2026
0.55 first-choice applications per place174 places offered · 96 first-choice applications · usually has places
First-choice applications per place, by entry year
Source: DfE applications and offers on national offer day · how demand is measured
Catchment area
Catchment area: not named in the council's figures. The council did not publish a cutoff distance for 2026 entry.
Admissions cutoff distance: Year 7
The council did not publish a cutoff distance for 2026 entry.
Source: the admissions authority's published figures · how cutoffs work
Compare admissions across the area: Bishop's Stortford school admissions · Hertfordshire school admissions
GCSE results (2024/2025)
243 pupils at the end of key stage 4 in 2024/2025
Progress 8 is suspended nationally for 2024/25 and 2025/26. These cohorts sat no key stage 2 tests (COVID), so there is no baseline to measure progress from.
A-level results (2024/2025)
Source: DfE performance tables 2024/2025 · what “suppressed” means
Schools with a similar intake
Attainment 8, 2024/2025
On attainment 8, this school is behind the schools that teach a comparable intake.
They are matched on intake, not location, so most are not local: see nearby schools for those you could apply to.
| School | Ofsted | Attainment 8 |
|---|---|---|
| Chosen Hill School | 48.6 | |
| The Boswells School | 48.4 | |
| North Chadderton School | 43.8 | |
| Bridgewater High School | 51.8 | |
| Swavesey Village College | 54.6 | |
| Silverdale School | 56.7 | |
| Downend School | 51 | |
| Sheldon School | 45.2 | |
| The Bishops' Blue Coat Church of England High School | 53.8 | |
| Orion Coopers | 48.5 | |
| Chew Valley School | 49.8 | |
| Churchdown School | 51.5 |
It is not a ranking. Source: DfE performance tables 2024/2025 · how the matching works
Pupils by ethnicity (January 2026)
White British 74% (Hertfordshire 60%, England 59%) · Any other White background 10% (Hertfordshire 9%, England 7%) · Mixed White and Black Caribbean 2% (Hertfordshire 2%, England 2%) · Any other Mixed background 2% (Hertfordshire 3%, England 3%) · Black African 2% (Hertfordshire 4%, England 5%) · Mixed White and Asian 2% (Hertfordshire 3%, England 2%) · Asian Chinese 1% (Hertfordshire 2%, England 1%) · Asian Indian 1% (Hertfordshire 4%, England 4%) · Mixed White and Black African 1% (Hertfordshire 1%, England 1%) · Any other Asian background 1% (Hertfordshire 3%, England 3%) · Any other ethnic group 1% (Hertfordshire 2%, England 3%) · Not recorded 1% (Hertfordshire 1%, England 2%) · other groups together 2%
Source: DfE schools, pupils and their characteristics, January 2026 census · how to read these figures
Attendance (2025/26 autumn and spring terms)
Suspensions and permanent exclusions (2024/25)
31.57 suspensions per 100 pupils and 2 permanent exclusions · England, secondary schools: 21.24 suspensions and 0.23 permanent exclusions per 100 pupils · Hertfordshire: 13.41 suspensions and 0.12 permanent exclusions per 100 pupils
Suspensions and exclusions, last three years Premium
Premium shows the same figures for each of the last three years.
Unlock with SchoolFacts Premium →Source: DfE pupil absence data, autumn and spring terms, and DfE suspensions and permanent exclusions, school-level file · how absence is measured · how to read exclusions
Staffing
Full-time-equivalent, 2025/26.
Teacher retention (2024/25)
84% of teachers stayed at the school the following year · 9% moved to another state school · 7% left the state-funded sector
Vacancies (November 2025)
0% of teaching posts vacant, 1.09% filled temporarily · England, secondary academies: 0.45% vacant, 0.33% temporary
Teacher sickness absence (reported in the November 2024 census)
77.6% of teachers took sickness absence, 10.9 days each on average · England, all state-funded schools: 61.8%, 8.1 days
Teacher pay (November 2025)
Mean salary of full-time qualified teachers £56,607; 7.1% on the leadership pay range · England, secondary schools: £53,766, 11.3%
Vacancies, sickness and pay, last three years Premium
Premium shows the same figures for each of the last three years.
Unlock with SchoolFacts Premium →Source: DfE School Workforce Census · how these figures are counted
Spending per pupil (2024-25)
Where the money went (2024-25)
Share of spending, with the median for secondary schools in brackets: Staff 76% (77%) · premises 5% (5%) · occupation (energy, rates, cleaning) 8% (6%) · supplies and services 11% (11%) · educational supplies 7% (6%) · bought-in professional services 2% (1%) · catering 5% (3%)
Reserves (2024-25)
Revenue reserve £625,000; in-year balance -£198,000
Spending and reserves, last three years Premium
Premium shows the same figures for each of the last three years.
Unlock with SchoolFacts Premium →Higher spending is not a measure of quality. Source: academy finance return, 2024-25, DfE · how spending is compared
Where pupils go after GCSEs
Where students go after sixth form
Destinations measured the year after leaving, DfE destination measures in the 2024/2025 performance tables.
Inspection history since 2015
- 21 January 2025: Good
- 27 June 2019: Good
- 23 May 2018: Taking effective action to tackle the areas requiring improvement
- 9 May 2017: Requires improvement
- 15 January 2016: Taking effective action to tackle the areas requiring improvement
Source: Ofsted management information · ungraded visits and the two inspection systems
The area around the school
- Child poverty (IDACI)
- 10/10among the least deprived tenth of England
- Overall deprivation (IMD)
- 10/10among the least deprived tenth of England
| Census 2021 | This area | England |
|---|---|---|
| Adults with a degree or higher | 42.5% | 33.9% |
| Adults with no qualifications | 12.5% | 18.1% |
| In managerial or professional work | 47.5% | 33.2% |
| Households deprived in two or more ways | 9.3% | 18.1% |
| Residents in very good health | 53.2% | 48.5% |
| Homes owned by the occupier | 90% | 62.3% |
| Social housing | 2.5% | 17.1% |
| Privately rented | 7.6% | 20.5% |
| Detached houses | 42.3% | 22.9% |
| Flats | 8% | 22.2% |
| Homes with four or more bedrooms | 54.1% | 21.1% |
| Households with no car or van | 9.8% | 23.5% |
These figures describe the area, not the pupils. Source: Census 2021 (ONS) and English Indices of Deprivation 2025 (MHCLG) for small area E01023440 · how to read area figures
What homes cost nearby
- Median sale price
- £445,000236 sales within 1 km, January 2024 to September 2026
- Typical range
- £344,000–£596,000the middle half of sales
- England median
- £300,000all sales over the same period
Homes around this school are dearer than three quarters of school neighbourhoods in England, comparing the median within 1 km across every state school.
Source: HM Land Registry sales within 1 km since January 2024 · how sales are counted. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. This data is licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Postcodes located with OS Code-Point Open: contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026; contains Royal Mail data © Royal Mail copyright and database right 2026; contains National Statistics data © Crown copyright and database right 2026.
Roads around the school
- Child pedestrian casualties
- 2an urban school averages 2.0
- Collisions at school-run times
- 5an urban school averages 5.7
- All reported collisions
- 14an urban school averages 30.5
- Of those, serious or fatal
- 3an urban school averages 6.1
A high count usually reflects traffic, not an unsafe school. Source: DfT road casualty statistics (STATS19), collisions within 500 m, 2021–2025 · what is counted
Nearby schools
- Summercroft Primary School
- All Saints Church of England Primary School and Nursery, Bishop's Stortford
- Hockerill Anglo-European College
- The Hertfordshire & Essex High School and Science College
- Thorn Grove Primary School
- Birchanger Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School
- Windhill21
- St Michael's Church of England Primary School