Hilbre High School
Frankby Road, West Kirby, Wirral, CH48 6EQ
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Academy converter
- Ages
- 11 to 18
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- None
- Trust
- OAK TREES MULTI ACADEMY TRUST
- Headteacher
- Headteacher John Barlow
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Sponsor
- Oak Trees Multi Academy Trust
- SEN provision
- SpLD - Specific Learning Difficulty, VI - Visual Impairment, HI - Hearing Impairment, SLCN - Speech, language and Communication, ASD - Autistic Spectrum Disorder, SEMH - Social, Emotional and Mental Health, MSI - Multi-Sensory Impairment, PD - Physical Disability, MLD - Moderate Learning Difficulty, SLD - Severe Learning Difficulty
- Constituency
- Wirral West
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 1,160
- Pupils on roll
- 1,154
- URN
- 138355
- Local authority
- Wirral
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01516255996
About this school
Hilbre High School is a secondary academy in Wirral. It teaches children aged 11 to 18 and has 1,154 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 no longer gives schools a single overall grade. Each area of the school's work is graded on a five-point scale, and safeguarding is judged separately.
- Inclusion
- Expected standard
- Curriculum and teaching
- Needs attention
- Achievement
- Needs attention
- Attendance and behaviour
- Needs attention
- Personal development and wellbeing
- Needs attention
- Leadership and governance
- Needs attention
- Post-16 provision
- Needs attention
- Safeguarding
- Met
Exam results
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 200 | 197 | 192 |
| Attainment 8 score | 39.4 | 35.4 | 39.0 |
| Progress 8 score | +0.01 -0.19 to +0.21 | -0.43 -0.63 to -0.23 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 29% | 24.4% | 24.5% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 58% | 45.2% | 48.4% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 10% | 7.6% | 10.4% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 3.2 | 2.8 | 3.1 |
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 Hilbre High 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 | 39.4 | 39.4 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 35.4 | 37.3 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 39 | 37.4 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 10.7% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 10.3% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 9.8% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 1,189 |
| 2023/24 | 1,201 |
| 2024/25 | 1,174 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Hilbre High School compares
Hilbre High School ranked 12th of 19 secondary schools in Wirral for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 35% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 8% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 39 | 9.8% | 29.5% | 1,154 | — |
| Calday Grange Grammar School | 68.1 | 4.6% | 8.7% | 1,493 | 0.6 miles |
| West Kirby Grammar School | 71.3 | 5.6% | 8.2% | 1,181 | 1.0 miles |
| Upton Hall School FCJ | 65.6 | 4.9% | 10.2% | 1,004 | 2.6 miles |
| Pensby High School | 44.8 | 7.7% | 23.6% | 915 | 3.0 miles |
| Woodchurch High School | 37.9 | 11.6% | 39.5% | 1,399 | 3.5 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.
Inspection history
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 29.48%
- English as an additional language
- 3%
- Overall absence
- 9.84%
- Persistent absence
- 27.38%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Calday Grange Grammar School0.6 miles
Secondary · Wirral
-
West Kirby Grammar School1.0 miles
Secondary · Wirral
-
Upton Hall School FCJ2.6 miles
Secondary · Wirral
-
Pensby High School3.0 miles
Secondary · Wirral
-
Woodchurch High School3.5 miles
Secondary · Wirral
Other schools in Wirral
Hilbre High School ranks 7th of the 10 ranked secondary schools in Wirral.
- Calday Grange Grammar School Secondary
- Co-op Academy Bebington Secondary
- Pensby High School Secondary
- South Wirral High School Secondary
- St John Plessington Catholic College Secondary
- Upton Hall School FCJ Secondary
- West Kirby Grammar School Secondary
- Wirral Grammar School for Boys Secondary
- Wirral Grammar School for Girls Secondary
- Woodchurch High School Secondary
- Castleway Nursery School Nursery
- Ganneys Meadow Nursery School and Family Centre Nursery
Common questions
- What year groups does Hilbre High School teach?
- Hilbre High School teaches children aged 11 to 18. It is a secondary school in Wirral.
- Who is the headteacher of Hilbre High School?
- The headteacher of Hilbre High School is Headteacher John Barlow, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was Hilbre High School last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Hilbre High 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 Hilbre High School?
- Hilbre High School has 1,154 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 18.
- Is Hilbre High School full?
- Hilbre High School has capacity for 1,160 pupils and 1,154 on roll (99%), 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 Hilbre High School a faith school?
- No. Hilbre High School has no designated religious character.
- Is Hilbre High School a selective school?
- No. Hilbre High School is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- Who runs Hilbre High School?
- Hilbre High School is part of OAK TREES MULTI ACADEMY TRUST. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- What SEN provision does Hilbre High School have?
- The schools register lists Hilbre High School's special educational needs provision as: SpLD - Specific Learning Difficulty; VI - Visual Impairment; HI - Hearing Impairment; SLCN - Speech, language and Communication; ASD - Autistic Spectrum Disorder; SEMH - Social, Emotional and Mental Health; MSI - Multi-Sensory Impairment; PD - Physical Disability; MLD - Moderate Learning Difficulty; SLD - Severe Learning Difficulty. Contact the school to discuss how it would support a particular child.
- How have Hilbre High School's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 39.4 in 2022/23 and 39 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Hilbre High School rank locally?
- Hilbre High School ranked 12th of 19 secondary schools in Wirral for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 35% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 8% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Hilbre High School's absence rate?
- Hilbre High School's overall absence rate is 9.8% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Hilbre High School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Hilbre High 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 15 July 2026.