Birkenhead High School Academy
86 Devonshire Place, Prenton, CH43 1TY
- Phase
- All-through
- School type
- Academy sponsor led
- Ages
- 3 to 19
- Gender
- Girls
- Trust
- GDST ACADEMY TRUST
- Principal
- Mrs Elizabeth de Boorder
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Religious ethos
- None
- Nursery provision
- Has Nursery Classes
- Sponsor
- Girls' Day School Trust (GDST)
- Constituency
- Birkenhead
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 1,293
- Pupils on roll
- 1,226
- URN
- 135877
- Local authority
- Wirral
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01516525777
About this school
Birkenhead High School Academy is a girls' all-through academy in Prenton. It teaches children aged 3 to 19 and has 1,226 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
Overall judgement at the last full inspection
This inspection took place under the previous framework, which gave a single overall grade. Ofsted now publishes report cards instead, so newer inspections of other schools will look different. How Ofsted report cards work
- Quality of education
- Good
- Behaviour and attitudes
- Good
- Personal development
- Good
- Leadership and management
- Good
- Early years
- Good
- Sixth form
- 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 | 56 | 57 | 56 |
| Met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths | 66% | 72% | 61% |
| Reached the higher standard in reading, writing and maths | 7% | 7% | 0% |
| Expected standard in reading | 77% | 89% | 70% |
| Expected standard in maths | 71% | 79% | 73% |
| Expected standard in grammar, punctuation and spelling | 71% | 77% | 75% |
| Average scaled score in reading | 106.0 | 108.0 | 105.0 |
| Average scaled score in maths | 103.0 | 104.0 | 103.0 |
| Reading progress | +1.90 | - | - |
| Writing progress | +0.90 | - | - |
| Maths progress | -0.40 | - | - |
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 | 133 | 129 | 137 |
| Attainment 8 score | 51.3 | 47.7 | 50.5 |
| Progress 8 score | +0.63 +0.39 to +0.87 | +0.43 +0.19 to +0.68 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 50% | 38% | 45.3% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 75% | 72.1% | 70.8% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 37% | 54.3% | 44.5% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 4.4 | 4.2 | 4.4 |
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 Birkenhead High School Academy 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 | 66% | 52% | 57.9% |
| 2023/24 | 72% | 50.3% | 58.8% |
| 2024/25 | 61% | 53.3% | 60.3% |
Department for Education KS2 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | Wirral average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 51.3 | 39.4 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 47.7 | 37.3 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 50.5 | 37.4 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 6.9% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 7.4% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 6.9% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 1,210 |
| 2023/24 | 1,202 |
| 2024/25 | 1,212 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Birkenhead High School Academy compares
Birkenhead High School Academy ranked 7th of 19 secondary schools in Wirral for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 77% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 27% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 50.5 | 6.9% | 19% | 1,226 | — |
| LIPA School | — | 11.1% | 35.4% | 499 | 3.2 miles |
| Liverpool College | 55.1 | 5.3% | 18.1% | 1,685 | 5.2 miles |
| St Anselm's College | 57.2 | 5.3% | 14% | 1,002 | 0.2 miles |
| Birkenhead School | 44.6 | — | 0% | 892 | 0.3 miles |
| Birkenhead Park School | 39.9 | 6.9% | 66.1% | 731 | 0.4 miles |
Results reflect each school's cohort as much as its teaching, and free school meals share is context, not a judgement. Small gaps between neighbouring schools are rarely meaningful on their own.
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 18.95%
- English as an additional language
- 6.3%
- Overall absence
- 6.86%
- Persistent absence
- 16.6%
Location
Nearby schools
-
LIPA School3.2 miles
All-through · Liverpool
-
Liverpool College5.2 miles
All-through · Liverpool
-
St Anselm's College0.2 miles
Secondary · Prenton
-
Birkenhead School0.3 miles
Independent schools · Prenton
-
Birkenhead Park School0.4 miles
Secondary · Birkenhead
Other schools in Prenton
Birkenhead High School Academy ranks 2nd of the 7 ranked primary 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
- The Observatory School Special schools
- Birkenhead School Independent schools
Common questions
- What year groups does Birkenhead High School Academy teach?
- Birkenhead High School Academy teaches children aged 3 to 19. It is an all-through school in Prenton.
- Who is the principal of Birkenhead High School Academy?
- The principal of Birkenhead High School Academy is Mrs Elizabeth de Boorder, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was Birkenhead High School Academy last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Birkenhead High School Academy, 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 Birkenhead High School Academy?
- Birkenhead High School Academy has 1,226 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 3 to 19.
- Is Birkenhead High School Academy full?
- Birkenhead High School Academy has capacity for 1,293 pupils and 1,226 on roll (95%), so it is close to full. Places are allocated through the local authority's admissions process, so capacity alone does not tell you whether a place is available.
- Is Birkenhead High School Academy a faith school?
- No. Birkenhead High School Academy has no designated religious character.
- Is Birkenhead High School Academy a selective school?
- No. Birkenhead High School Academy is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- Does Birkenhead High School Academy have a nursery?
- Yes. The schools register records Birkenhead High School Academy as having nursery classes.
- Who runs Birkenhead High School Academy?
- Birkenhead High School Academy is part of GDST ACADEMY TRUST. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- How have Birkenhead High School Academy's results changed over recent years?
- Its share of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths was 66% in 2022/23 and 61% in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Birkenhead High School Academy rank locally?
- Birkenhead High School Academy ranked 7th of 19 secondary schools in Wirral for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 77% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 27% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Birkenhead High School Academy's absence rate?
- Birkenhead High School Academy's overall absence rate is 6.9% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Birkenhead High School Academy's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Birkenhead High School Academy'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 1 July 2026.