Birchwood High School

Birchwood High School is a large 11–18 secondary comprehensive and the only school in its single-academy trust. Inspectors judged the school good in each key area, including sixth-form provision, in its first routine inspection since the COVID-19 pandemic. The school has a warm, inclusive community where diversity is celebrated, pupils feel valued and pupils achieve well, including in public examinations. Recent curriculum changes have raised ambition, with a broad key stage 3 curriculum, logical sequencing and strong subject teaching that helps pupils, including those with SEND, build secure understanding. Personal development is a notable strength: the PSHE programme, wellbeing support and extensive careers provision help pupils make informed choices. Safeguarding is effective, and governors generally understand the school and hold leaders to account. However, the new behaviour approach is not yet fully embedded, and some inconsistent implementation by staff leads to confusion and occasional disruption to learning. Support for reading is prioritised but information about struggling readers is not always shared effectively. Other areas for improvement include ensuring learning activities consistently deepen pupils’ understanding, including in the sixth form, and addressing the impact of long-term substitute teaching, where mitigation is not yet fully realised. Strategic oversight is sometimes not refined enough, with information held in isolation or not evaluated effectively, which can slow improvement or reduce its precision. The school and governors are asked to strengthen leaders’ expertise so that oversight is clear and improvement strategies can be monitored well.

Strengths

• Warm, inclusive community where diversity is celebrated and pupils feel valued
• Curriculum redesign provides full depth and breadth at key stage 3 and prepares pupils for later study
• Subject experts sequence learning logically and explain complex ideas clearly, including in the sixth form
• Teachers use SEND information well to adapt teaching and check for misconceptions
• Reading is prioritised with broad access to books and targeted support for struggling readers
• Well-designed PSHE supports healthy minds, healthy relationships and online safety
• Extensive careers programme helps pupils make informed choices about next steps
• Effective safeguarding arrangements and secure governor oversight
• Pupil leadership, sport and creative arts opportunities build pride and new interests
• Most staff are proud to work at the school and workload is managed well

Areas for Improvement

• New behaviour systems are not consistently understood or applied by all staff, causing confusion and disrupted learning
• Information about pupils who struggle with reading is not always shared effectively, limiting the impact of support
• Some learning activities revisit known content and do not deepen pupils’ understanding, including occasionally in the sixth form
• Periods of long-term substitute teaching cause some pupils to fall behind, and the impact of mitigation is not yet fully realised
• Strategic oversight can be fragmented, making some improvement strategies slow, unfocused or hard to monitor
• Leaders and governors need the expertise to bring information together into clear oversight that informs and measures improvement

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 Birchwood High School attended 89.8% of sessions (the national figure for secondary schools was 91.6%). 29.9% 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, 10.0% of pupils at Birchwood 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 Birchwood High School had 15.4 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for secondary schools was 16.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 15.7% 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, 11.9% of pupils at Birchwood High School were on SEN support (nationally 14.1%) and 3.9% 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 Birchwood High School received £7,816 and spent £7,952 for each of its 1,454 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £625,000 (£430 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 Bishop'S Stortford · Hertfordshire local authority: places and applications

What is Birchwood High School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Birchwood High School is Good, from an inspection in March 2025.

When was Birchwood High School last inspected by Ofsted?

Birchwood High School was last inspected in March 2025.

How many pupils does Birchwood High School have?

Birchwood High School has 1,417 pupils on roll.

What age range does Birchwood High School cover?

Birchwood High School for pupils aged 11 to 18.

What are Birchwood High School's GCSE results?

In 2026 its average Attainment 8 score was 45.5, and 44% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above in both English and maths GCSE.

Where is Birchwood High School?

Birchwood High School is at Parsonage Lane, Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire, CM23 5BD.