City Academy
23 Langley Walk, Birmingham, B15 2EF
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Free schools
- Ages
- 11 to 16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- None
- Trust
- CORE EDUCATION TRUST
- Headteacher
- Mrs Rebecca Bakewell
- Sponsor
- Core Education Trust
- Constituency
- Birmingham Ladywood
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 750
- Pupils on roll
- 554
- URN
- 148187
- Local authority
- Birmingham
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01217297100
About this school
City Academy is a secondary academy in Birmingham. It teaches children aged 11 to 16 and has 554 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
- Expected standard
- Personal development and wellbeing
- Expected standard
- Leadership and governance
- Expected standard
- Safeguarding
- Met
Exam results
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 162 | 162 | 150 |
| Attainment 8 score | 28.6 | 34.7 | 36.4 |
| Progress 8 score | -1.16 -1.41 to -0.91 | -0.47 -0.72 to -0.22 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 17% | 27.2% | 23.3% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 31% | 43.8% | 40.7% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 14% | 25.9% | 30% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 2.6 | 3.1 | 3.2 |
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 City 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 | Birmingham average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 28.6 | 40.1 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 34.7 | 40.3 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 36.4 | 40.6 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 12.4% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 12.4% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 10.7% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 737 |
| 2023/24 | 665 |
| 2024/25 | 615 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How City Academy compares
City Academy ranked 78th of 85 secondary schools in Birmingham for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 29% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 6% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 36.4 | 10.7% | 64.7% | 554 | — |
| Ark St Alban's Academy | 46.9 | 4.8% | 72.6% | 797 | 0.8 miles |
| Jewellery Quarter Academy | 35.2 | 8.8% | 65% | 556 | 0.9 miles |
| Birmingham Ormiston Academy | 54.1 | 9.1% | 17.3% | 1,016 | 1.1 miles |
| Aston University Engineering Academy | 44.1 | 7% | 50.2% | 1,010 | 1.4 miles |
| St Paul's School for Girls | 61 | 4.8% | 29.5% | 1,033 | 1.4 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.
Inspection history
-
Graded inspection report10 February 2026
- 7 March 2023
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 64.72%
- English as an additional language
- 49.9%
- Overall absence
- 10.67%
- Persistent absence
- 34.23%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Ark St Alban's Academy0.8 miles
Secondary · Birmingham
-
Jewellery Quarter Academy0.9 miles
Secondary · Birmingham
-
Birmingham Ormiston Academy1.1 miles
Secondary · Birmingham
-
Aston University Engineering Academy1.4 miles
Secondary · Birmingham
-
St Paul's School for Girls1.4 miles
Secondary · Birmingham
Other schools in Birmingham
City Academy ranks 77th of the 87 ranked secondary schools in Birmingham.
- Archbishop Ilsley Catholic School Secondary
- Arena Academy Secondary
- Ark Boulton Academy Secondary
- Ark St Alban's Academy Secondary
- Aston Manor Academy Secondary
- Aston University Engineering Academy Secondary
- Bartley Green School Secondary
- Birmingham Ormiston Academy Secondary
- Bishop Challoner Catholic College Secondary
- BOA Digital Technologies Academy Secondary
- Bordesley Green Girls' School & Sixth Form Secondary
- Broadway Academy Secondary
Common questions
- What year groups does City Academy teach?
- City Academy teaches children aged 11 to 16. It is a secondary school in Birmingham.
- Who is the headteacher of City Academy?
- The headteacher of City Academy is Mrs Rebecca Bakewell, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was City Academy last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected City 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 City Academy?
- City Academy has 554 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 16.
- Is City Academy full?
- City Academy has capacity for 750 pupils and 554 on roll (74%), 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 City Academy a faith school?
- No. City Academy has no designated religious character.
- Who runs City Academy?
- City Academy is part of CORE EDUCATION TRUST. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- How have City Academy's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 28.6 in 2022/23 and 36.4 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does City Academy rank locally?
- City Academy ranked 78th of 85 secondary schools in Birmingham for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 29% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 6% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is City Academy's absence rate?
- City Academy's overall absence rate is 10.7% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are City Academy's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, City 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 10 July 2026.