The Observatory School
Bidston Village Road, Bidston, Prenton, CH43 7QT
- Phase
- Special schools
- School type
- Community special school
- Ages
- 7 to 16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Acting Headteacher
- Mr Gregory Chiswell
- SEN provision
- SEMH - Social, Emotional and Mental Health
- Constituency
- Birkenhead
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 160
- Pupils on roll
- 174
- URN
- 127715
- Local authority
- Wirral
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01516527093
About this school
The Observatory School is a community special school in Prenton. It teaches children aged 7 to 16 and has 174 pupils on roll.
You can read Ofsted's latest judgement for the school below. Where the Department for Education has published them, its results and pupil characteristics appear below. Seeing a school for yourself shows what no page can, so arrange a visit before you apply.
Ofsted judgement
Ofsted did not give an overall grade. Between September 2024 and September 2025 inspections graded each area of a school's work without a single overall judgement, ahead of the move to report cards. How Ofsted report cards work
- Quality of education
- Good
- Behaviour and attitudes
- Good
- Personal development
- Good
- Leadership and management
- Good
- Safeguarding
- Effective
Exam results
Key stage 2 (end of primary school)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 2 | 9 | 8 | 9 |
| Met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Reached the higher standard in reading, writing and maths | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Expected standard in reading | 11% | 25% | 0% |
| Expected standard in maths | 11% | 0% | 0% |
| Expected standard in grammar, punctuation and spelling | 11% | 13% | 0% |
| Average scaled score in reading | 92.0 | 96.0 | 82.0 |
| Average scaled score in maths | 91.0 | 85.0 | 84.0 |
| Reading progress | -7.90 | - | - |
| Writing progress | - | - | - |
| Maths progress | -7.80 | - | - |
Progress measures ended nationally after the 2022/23 school year, when the key stage 1 assessments they were based on were stopped. Blank progress figures in later years are not missing school data.
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 20 | 21 | 18 |
| Attainment 8 score | 5.1 | 7.3 | 5.9 |
| Progress 8 score | -1.93 -2.60 to -1.25 | -1.36 -2.03 to -0.69 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 0% | 4.8% | 0% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 5% | 4.8% | 0% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 0.4 | 0.6 | 0.5 |
Progress 8 is paused nationally for the 2024/25 and 2025/26 school years. Those pupils sat no key stage 2 tests during the Covid pandemic, so there is no starting point to measure progress from. A blank figure here is not missing school data.
Trends over time
How The Observatory School has moved over recent years against the local and national picture. Every figure is shown in the table beneath its chart.
| Year | This school | Wirral average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 0% | 52% | 57.9% |
| 2023/24 | 0% | 50.3% | 58.8% |
| 2024/25 | 0% | 53.3% | 60.3% |
Department for Education KS2 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | Wirral average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 5.1 | 39.4 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 7.3 | 37.3 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 5.9 | 37.4 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 32% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 30.1% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 29.9% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 116 |
| 2023/24 | 142 |
| 2024/25 | 167 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 73.65%
- English as an additional language
- 1.2%
- Overall absence
- 29.86%
- Persistent absence
- 69.14%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Wirral Wrap0.7 miles
Special schools · Birkenhead
-
Clare Mount Specialist Sports College0.8 miles
Special schools · Leasowe
-
Orrets Meadow School1.0 miles
Academies · Wirral
-
Wirral Hospitals' School1.0 miles
Academies · Wirral
-
Hayfield School1.1 miles
Special schools · Wirral
Other schools in Prenton
- Bidston Village CofE (Controlled) Primary School Primary
- Co-op Academy Hillside Primary
- Oxton St Saviour's CofE Primary School Primary
- Prenton Primary School Primary
- St Joseph's Catholic Primary School, Birkenhead Primary
- St Paul's Catholic Primary School Primary
- St Peter's Catholic Primary School Primary
- Ridgeway High School Secondary
- St Anselm's College Secondary
- Birkenhead High School Academy All-through
- Birkenhead School Independent schools
Common questions
- What year groups does The Observatory School teach?
- The Observatory School teaches children aged 7 to 16. It is a special school in Prenton.
- Who is the acting headteacher of The Observatory School?
- The acting headteacher of The Observatory School is Mr Gregory Chiswell, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was The Observatory School last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected The Observatory School, and its latest judgement is set out in the inspection section on this page, with the framework and the date it was made.
- How big is The Observatory School?
- The Observatory School has 174 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 7 to 16.
- Is The Observatory School full?
- The Observatory School has capacity for 160 pupils and 174 on roll (109%), so it is at or above its published capacity. Places are allocated through the local authority's admissions process, so capacity alone does not tell you whether a place is available.
- Is The Observatory School a faith school?
- No. The Observatory School has no designated religious character.
- What SEN provision does The Observatory School have?
- The schools register lists The Observatory School's special educational needs provision as: SEMH - Social, Emotional and Mental Health. Contact the school to discuss how it would support a particular child.
- How have The Observatory School's results changed over recent years?
- Its share of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths was 0% in 2022/23 and 0% in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- What is The Observatory School's absence rate?
- The Observatory School's overall absence rate is 29.9% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are The Observatory School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, The Observatory School's key stage results are shown in the results section on this page, with the last three years so you can see the trend rather than a single year.
School details come from the Department for Education's Get Information About Schools register. Inspection outcomes come from Ofsted, and exam results from the Department for Education's school performance service. This page was last updated on 30 June 2026.