Birkdale High School

Birkdale High School is a welcoming, inclusive school where pupils feel they belong and are well cared for. The inspection found that leaders have created a calm, purposeful environment with consistently high-quality teaching, a highly ambitious curriculum, and strong systems for inclusion. Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities are particularly well supported, and most pupils behave respectfully, attend regularly, and benefit from a wide range of personal development opportunities. Safeguarding standards are met.

Strengths

• Highly ambitious curriculum implemented consistently across all subjects and year groups.
• Teachers know their subjects well and receive bespoke professional development.
• Teaching is consistently strong, with rigorous checking of pupil understanding.
• Inclusion is at the heart of leaders' decisions and is lived out daily.
• Support for pupils with SEND is fully personalised and responsive.
• Disadvantaged pupils and vulnerable pupils are well supported to access school life.
• Leaders are relentless in improving pupils' lives and make decisions in their best interests.
• Trustees and governors meet statutory duties and provide effective challenge.
• Personal development and wellbeing programme is well-crafted and goes beyond statutory requirements.
• Pupils benefit from a wide range of clubs, societies and leadership opportunities.
• Careers programme is highly effective from Year 8, supporting appropriate destinations.
• Pupils achieve very well in English, mathematics and science at key stage 4.
• Behaviour is calm and respectful, and bullying or discrimination are not tolerated.
• Pupils value positive relationships with staff and peers.

Areas for Improvement

• A minority of pupils are persistently or severely absent from school.
• The impact of some attendance improvement work is not yet consistently evident.
• Staff do not yet take collective responsibility for securing consistently high attendance.
• Disadvantaged pupils' achievement remains in line with national averages rather than exceeding them.
• Recent support for disadvantaged pupils has not yet had the intended impact on attainment.
• Leaders' analysis of data needs to drive sustained improvements in outcomes for all pupils, including disadvantaged pupils.

Admissions: local authority offers data from the Department for Education. A school is oversubscribed when at least 5% of the families who put it first were not offered a place, and undersubscribed when everyone who put it first got in but 10% or more of its places were unfilled in the Department's school capacity survey (the latest survey is used for entry years it does not cover). Places: Department for Education, School capacity, from local authorities' annual survey as at 1 May. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024–25); the survey was not run in 2020. Places include sixth form places. Forecasts are the local authority's own for the school's planning area, an area it uses to plan places that is not the school's catchment area. The forecast starts from a head count in 2025; the dashed line is the Department's estimate of places in that area, including those the authority has firm plans for. Planned places are cumulative, and only those with firm plans are counted.

In 2024–25 pupils at Birkdale High School attended 92.3% of sessions (the national figure for secondary schools was 91.6%). 21.7% of pupils were persistently absent, missing at least one session in ten (nationally 23.4%).

Sessions missed

Pupils persistently absent

Source: Department for Education, Pupil absence in schools in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Persistent absence means missing 10% or more of sessions; severe absence means 50% or more. No figures were published for 2019/20.

In 2024–25, 5.3% of pupils at Birkdale High School were suspended at least once (nationally 7.3%). 2 pupils were permanently excluded.

Pupils suspended at least once

Source: Department for Education, Suspensions and permanent exclusions in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). A pupil can be suspended more than once, so suspensions per 100 pupils can be higher than the share of pupils suspended. Very small numbers are hidden by the DfE. Exclusion figures dropped in 2020 and 2021 because of school closures.

In 2025–26 Birkdale High School had 16.6 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for secondary schools was 16.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 8.0% were no longer at the school a year later (nationally 14.1%).

Pupils per teacher

Teachers who left the school within a year

Source: Department for Education, School workforce in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Pupils per teacher counts full-time-equivalent pupils and teachers. Turnover is the share of a year's teachers (full-time equivalent) who were not at the school the following year, whether they moved to another school or left state-funded teaching. Turnover and sickness figures run one year behind the ratios. Sick leave is the share of teachers who took at least one day in the year, so it swings widely at small schools, where a few teachers can make it 0% or 100%. The national figures are for all state schools of the same type.

In 2025–26, 18.1% of pupils at Birkdale High School were on SEN support (nationally 14.1%) and 2.7% had an education, health and care (EHC) plan (nationally 3.5%).

Pupils by main type of need

Source: Department for Education, Special educational needs in England (the 2025–26 school census). SEN support is extra help in school without an EHC plan. National figures are for all state-funded secondary schools. Counts are as published, with small numbers not hidden.

In 2024–25 Birkdale High School received £7,791 and spent £7,875 for each of its 926 pupils. It ended the year with a deficit of £26,000 (-£28 per pupil).

Across all 8 schools of Southport Learning Trust, income was £7,959 and spending £8,218 per pupil.

Income per pupil

Spending per pupil

Source: Department for Education, Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool. Each year is the one the financial year ends in (2024 is 2023–24). Academy figures include a share of the trust's central services, shared out by pupil numbers, and are rounded to the nearest £1,000. Premises costs were defined differently from 2024, so compare them across that gap with care.

• Primary Schools
• Secondary Schools

All schools in Southport · Sefton local authority: places and applications

Birkdale High School is part of Southport Learning Trust, which runs 9 schools. The nearest others:

• Greenbank High School Southport
• Merefield School Southport
• Kew Woods Primary School Southport
• Meols Cop High School Southport
• Stanley High School Southport
• Range High School Liverpool
• Maghull High School Liverpool
• Bedford Primary School Liverpool

What is Birkdale High School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Birkdale High School is Expected standard, from an inspection in June 2026.

When was Birkdale High School last inspected by Ofsted?

Birkdale High School was last inspected in June 2026.

How many pupils does Birkdale High School have?

Birkdale High School has 936 pupils on roll.

What age range does Birkdale High School cover?

Birkdale High School for pupils aged 11 to 16.

What are Birkdale High School's GCSE results?

In 2026 its average Attainment 8 score was 51.7, and 60% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above in both English and maths GCSE.

Where is Birkdale High School?

Birkdale High School is at Windy Harbour Road, Birkdale, Southport, Merseyside, PR8 3DT.