Birchwood Community High School

Warrington · WA3 7PT

General information Secondary School · 11-16 years Who goes here 875 pupils, 41.9% FSM

Educational attainment Ofsted and results

Parent score Rate this school No reviews yet - be the first SEN Resourced provision · 20.5% on SEN support Behaviour 9.9% absence rate Staff 10% turnover Financials £8,854 per pupil Environment Buildings and facilities

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Birchwood Community High School

General Information

Address: Brock Road, Birchwood, Warrington, WA3 7PT – View on map
Phone: 01925853500
Website: Visit school website
Headteacher: Emma Mills
Age range: 11-16 years
Demand for places (Year 7, September 2026): 168 families put it first for 180 places – 9 for every 10 places. Every one of them was offered a place. 3 of the 180 places went to families living outside the council area. Children putting it first, for every 10 places: 2023 8 · 2024 9 · 2025 9 · 2026 9
Sixth form: No
Intake: Mixed
Religious character: Does not apply
Nursery provision: No

Who goes here

875 pupils out of 1050 places

Pupils eligible for free school meals: 367
% eligible for free school meals: 41.9%
Pupil mix: 3 in 10 (less mixed than the Warrington average)
English as an additional language: 12% (England 22%)

Staff

Teachers leaving each year

Teacher turnover: 10% a year (Warrington 12.6%, typical in England 15.5%) Low turnover
Where they went: about 52% moved to another school, 48% left state schools altogether (retirement, other careers, independent schools, abroad)
Data years: 2022/23 to 2024/25 (average of 3 years, DfE school workforce census)

Teachers who moved school or left state schools in the year after each November, as a share of all the school's teachers. Some turnover is healthy – retirements, promotions, moving house. "Low turnover" means it's among the quarter of similar schools in England where teachers are most likely to stay.

Behaviour

Awaiting Data

About this Behaviour status

We've asked this school for real behaviour figures under Freedom of Information and haven't had a response yet.

Across Warrington: suspensions by reason

Suspensions for sexual misconduct: 11 (0.8 per 1,000 pupils; England 1.7)
Permanent exclusions for sexual misconduct: 0
Suspensions for bullying: 14 (1.0 per 1,000 pupils; England 1.9)
Suspensions for abuse against sexual orientation or gender identity: 4 (0.3 per 1,000 pupils; England 0.8)
Data year: 2024/25 (DfE suspensions and exclusions statistics)

These are figures for all state secondary schools in Warrington, not this school's own – the government doesn't publish them school by school. A suspension can have up to three reasons. Most sexual harassment between pupils never leads to a suspension, so these figures show only part of the picture.

Attendance

Overall absence: 9.9%
Persistently absent pupils: 29.1%
Data year: 2024/25

About persistent absence

A pupil is counted as "persistently absent" if they miss 10% or more of their possible school sessions - roughly one day in every two weeks. Schools and Ofsted both pay close attention to this figure specifically, since it can highlight a pattern the overall absence rate alone might hide.

SEN

Resourced provision 16 places · 16 pupils at the last count

Places are usually for children with an EHC Plan and are arranged through the council, not the normal school application.

Pupils on SEN Support: 20.5%
Pupils with an EHC Plan: 6.3%
Data year: 2025/26

Most common needs - SEN Support

Social, emotional and mental health: 69 pupils
Speech, language and communications needs: 32 pupils
Specific learning difficulty: 27 pupils
Moderate learning difficulty: 26 pupils
Autistic spectrum disorder: 8 pupils

Most common needs - EHC Plan

Social, emotional and mental health: 16 pupils
Speech, language and communications needs: 15 pupils
Autistic spectrum disorder: 13 pupils
Specific learning difficulty: 6 pupils
Moderate learning difficulty: 3 pupils

These figures show the makeup of the school.

About these SEND figures

These figures give a sense of the makeup of the school - they aren't a judgement on the quality of support provided.

Parent score - no reviews yet –

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Behaviour

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Openness

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Teaching Quality

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School Ethos

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Ability to Deal with Problems

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Headteacher Approval

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SafeguardingSafeguarding (parent rating)How parents rate the school on keeping children safe - how safe their child feels, and how well concerns are listened to and acted on. It's parents' experience, not an inspection result; Ofsted checks safeguarding separately.

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Would recommend –

Educational Attainment

No overall grade given 2024 report

About this Ofsted rating

Ofsted stopped giving single overall grades for a period between September 2024 and November 2025 - this school's most recent inspection falls in that window, so there's no single rating to show, even though it was inspected. The full report (linked below) still has the detail.

Attainment 8 score: 47.9
Compared with the area: 1.3 points below the Warrington average (49.2)
Compared with schools with similar pupils: Above (+3.5 points against an expected 44.4)
Grade 4+ in English and maths: 70% (Warrington 70%, England 65%) Improving
Data year: 2024/25

View the School Context Comparator – how this school's results compare with schools teaching similar pupils.

GCSE results over time

This schoolWarrington averageEngland↗ Improving Up 4.1 points since 2022/23. In 2024/25 this school was 1.3 points below the Warrington average (49.2).

About the Attainment 8 score

Attainment 8 measures a pupil's average result across 8 GCSE-equivalent qualifications (English and maths count double). It shows how pupils performed, not how much progress they made getting there - a school with a higher score doesn't necessarily add more value, since pupils often arrive with different starting points. Progress 8 is the measure designed to account for that, but it currently can't be calculated for any school for the two most recent academic years, due to a nationwide gap in the data caused by COVID-19 disruption to Key Stage 2 testing.

7th of 13 secondary schools in Warrington for Attainment 8

#5St Gregory's Catholic High School51.0
#6Great Sankey High School50.5
#7Birchwood Community High School47.9
#8Penketh High School46.5
#9Sir Thomas Boteler Church of England High School46.1

Click to see the full ranking

Attainment 8 ranking

Illustrative MVP scores - not based on verified data yet.

Rank School Score

#1Lymm High School59.7
#2King's Leadership Academy Warrington56.0
#3Bridgewater High School51.8
#4Culcheth High School51.1
#5St Gregory's Catholic High School51.0
#6Great Sankey High School50.5
#7Birchwood Community High School47.9
#8Penketh High School46.5
#9Sir Thomas Boteler Church of England High School46.1
#10Beamont Collegiate Academy45.8
#11Cardinal Newman Catholic High School41.9
#12Padgate Academy39.4
#13Aldridge UTC Warrington23.0

Leaver Destinations

In education, employment, or training a year later: 91.0%
Went into further education: 82.0%
Data year: 2024/25

About leaver destinations

This shows where a school's Year 11 leavers were recorded the following year - in a "sustained" destination means in education, an apprenticeship, or employment for at least 6 months, not just enrolled briefly. It's a different picture from exam results alone, and can highlight schools that support pupils well beyond just their GCSE grades.

GCSE Subjects Offered

Maths (General)
English Language
English Literature
Statistics
Science Double Award
Geography
History
Spanish
French Language
Art & Design
Biology
Physics (General)
Food Technology
Chemistry (General)
Computer Science
Chinese
Polish
Speech & Drama
Music Studies (General)
Religious Studies

About this subject list

This isn't the school's own description of its curriculum - it's real DfE exam entry data, showing which GCSE subjects this school's pupils were actually entered for in 2024/25. A subject not appearing here may still be taught but had no pupils entered that year, so treat this as a helpful guide rather than a complete guarantee - it's worth confirming directly with the school for the year your child would actually study.

View full Ofsted inspection report

Financials

Spending per pupil: £8,854 (2024-25)

About this spending figure

A higher or lower position here isn't a sign of a better or worse school - schools have different needs and circumstances - but it can help reassure you that a school has sufficient funding behind your child's education.

2nd of 12 secondary schools in Warrington for spending per pupil

#1Beamont Collegiate Academy£9,517
#2Birchwood Community High School£8,854
#3Padgate Academy£8,673
#4Cardinal Newman Catholic High School£8,072

Click to see the full ranking

Spending Per Pupil ranking

Based on official DfE financial return data (Consistent Financial Reporting / Academies Accounts Return) - not a ranking of school quality.

Rank School Score

#1Beamont Collegiate Academy£9,517
#2Birchwood Community High School£8,854
#3Padgate Academy£8,673
#4Cardinal Newman Catholic High School£8,072
#5Sir Thomas Boteler Church of England High School£7,945
#6Penketh High School£7,735
#7Lymm High School£7,687
#8Culcheth High School£7,335
#9King's Leadership Academy Warrington£7,281
#10St Gregory's Catholic High School£7,174
#11Bridgewater High School£6,827
#12Aldridge UTC Warrington£1,361

View on the Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool (GOV.UK)

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General Information

Who goes here

Staff

Teachers leaving each year

Behaviour

Across Warrington: suspensions by reason

Attendance

SEN

Most common needs - SEN Support

Most common needs - EHC Plan

Educational Attainment

Attainment 8 ranking

Leaver Destinations ?

GCSE Subjects Offered ?

Financials

Spending Per Pupil ranking

Leaver Destinations

GCSE Subjects Offered