Birchwood Community High School
Brock Road, Birchwood, Warrington, WA3 7PT
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Academy converter
- Ages
- 11 to 16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Trust
- ONE COMMUNITY TRUST
- Headteacher
- Emma Mills
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- SEN provision
- Not Applicable
- Constituency
- Warrington North
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 1,050
- Pupils on roll
- 875
- URN
- 139840
- Local authority
- Warrington
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01925853500
About this school
Birchwood Community High School is a secondary academy in Warrington. It teaches children aged 11 to 16 and has 875 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 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 138 | 161 | 154 |
| Attainment 8 score | 43.8 | 42.9 | 47.9 |
| Progress 8 score | -0.38 -0.63 to -0.13 | -0.37 -0.60 to -0.14 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 38% | 36.6% | 42.9% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 61% | 54% | 70.1% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 10% | 8.1% | 50.6% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 3.5 | 3.5 | 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 Birchwood Community 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 | Warrington average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 43.8 | 43.4 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 42.9 | 43 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 47.9 | 41.8 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 10.2% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 10.5% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 9.9% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 922 |
| 2023/24 | 913 |
| 2024/25 | 889 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Birchwood Community High School compares
Birchwood Community High School ranked 7th of 13 secondary schools in Warrington for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 69% 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 | 47.9 | 9.9% | 37.6% | 875 | — |
| King's Leadership Academy Warrington | 56 | 4.1% | 15% | 804 | 1.1 miles |
| Padgate Academy | 39.4 | 8% | 50.6% | 661 | 1.3 miles |
| Cardinal Newman Catholic High School | 41.9 | 9.4% | 30.5% | 808 | 2.3 miles |
| Beamont Collegiate Academy | 45.8 | 9.4% | 44% | 890 | 2.5 miles |
| Culcheth High School | 51.1 | 9.1% | 18.8% | 1,164 | 2.7 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)
- 37.57%
- English as an additional language
- 13.6%
- Overall absence
- 9.92%
- Persistent absence
- 29.09%
Location
Nearby schools
-
King's Leadership Academy Warrington1.1 miles
Secondary · Warrington
-
Padgate Academy1.3 miles
Secondary · Warrington
-
Cardinal Newman Catholic High School2.3 miles
Secondary · Warrington
-
Beamont Collegiate Academy2.5 miles
Secondary · Warrington
-
Culcheth High School2.7 miles
Secondary · Warrington
Other schools in Warrington
Birchwood Community High School ranks 7th of the 14 ranked secondary schools in Warrington.
- Beamont Collegiate Academy Secondary
- Bridgewater High School Secondary
- Cardinal Newman Catholic High School Secondary
- Culcheth High School Secondary
- Golborne High School Secondary
- Great Sankey High School Secondary
- King's Leadership Academy Warrington Secondary
- Lowton Church of England High School Secondary
- Padgate Academy Secondary
- Penketh High School Secondary
- Sir Thomas Boteler Church of England High School Secondary
- St Gregory's Catholic High School Secondary
Common questions
- What year groups does Birchwood Community High School teach?
- Birchwood Community High School teaches children aged 11 to 16. It is a secondary school in Warrington.
- Who is the headteacher of Birchwood Community High School?
- The headteacher of Birchwood Community High School is Emma Mills, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was Birchwood Community High School last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Birchwood Community 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 Birchwood Community High School?
- Birchwood Community High School has 875 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 16.
- Is Birchwood Community High School full?
- Birchwood Community High School has capacity for 1,050 pupils and 875 on roll (83%), so it has space against 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 Birchwood Community High School a faith school?
- No. Birchwood Community High School has no designated religious character.
- Is Birchwood Community High School a selective school?
- No. Birchwood Community High School is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- Who runs Birchwood Community High School?
- Birchwood Community High School is part of ONE COMMUNITY TRUST. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- What SEN provision does Birchwood Community High School have?
- The schools register lists Birchwood Community High School's special educational needs provision as: Not Applicable. Contact the school to discuss how it would support a particular child.
- How have Birchwood Community High School's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 43.8 in 2022/23 and 47.9 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Birchwood Community High School rank locally?
- Birchwood Community High School ranked 7th of 13 secondary schools in Warrington for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 69% 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 Birchwood Community High School's absence rate?
- Birchwood Community High School's overall absence rate is 9.9% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Birchwood Community High School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Birchwood Community 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 1 July 2026.