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Birches Head Academy

Academy · ages 11–16 · no sixth form

Below average on 3 of the four headline measures — 14th of 14 for average grade in Stoke-on-Trent.

Stoke-on-Trent · Stoke-on-Trent · one of 15 state secondaries

How we read the data

Summary

Birches Head Academy sits 14th of 14 state secondaries in Stoke-on-Trent for average GCSE grade. 39.2% of its pupils passed both English and maths, against 54.1% across Stoke-on-Trent. 17.1% reached the stronger grade 5 in both. Subject by subject it is furthest clear of Stoke-on-Trent in geography, sat by 26% of the year, and physics, sat by 9% of the year,, and furthest behind in English Literature and maths. Ofsted: Inspected in June 2026 under the current report card, which grades 7 areas separately and gives no overall word.

It is an academy of 925 pupils, taking ages 11 to 16. 41.1% of its pupils are eligible for free school meals, a high share by national standards, and 15.6% are on SEN support with a further 2% holding an education, health and care plan. 25.6% were entered for the full EBacc, fewer than the 28.3% entered across Stoke-on-Trent, which is a choice about how broad a curriculum to push, and 8.5% took the separate sciences rather than combined. 33.6% of pupils missed a tenth of school or more, worse than the 22.8% across Stoke-on-Trent, and 68.7% of its leavers went on to further education.

Subject comparisons are measured at grade 4 or above against Stoke-on-Trent, and count as ahead or behind only where the gap is wider than the year-to-year swing that entry group would produce.

The school·Stoke-on-Trent

Inspection

Graded by area

Last inspected June 2026

Achievement
Needs attention
Attendance and behaviour
Needs attention
Curriculum and teaching
Needs attention
Inclusion
Needs attention
Leadership and management
Needs attention
Personal development
Needs attention
Safeguarding
Met
  • June 2026 Report card inspection Graded by area
  • October 2023 Full inspection Inadequate

Ofsted’s current report card grades each area separately and gives no overall word.

Read the Ofsted report

Attendance

34% of pupils missed a tenth of school or more, against 23% across Stoke-on-Trent and 21% nationally. The comparators are the median secondary school, not an average.

GCSE · Key stage 4·2024/25

Attainment

39%

Passed English & maths grade 4+, an old grade C

well below average

Stoke-on-Trent 54% · England 65%

17%

Strong pass in both grade 5+, a strong pass

well below average

Stoke-on-Trent 33% · England 45%

31.3

Average grade across 8 Attainment 8, out of 90

below average

Stoke-on-Trent 39.8 · England 46.1

26%

Entered for the EBacc the academic core of subjects

in line with average

Stoke-on-Trent 28% · England 41%

After Year 11

69% stayed in education, 6% started an apprenticeship (2022/23 leavers)

GCSE results by subject

2024/25 · share reaching grade 4 or above · a standard pass, the old grade C

this school Stoke-on-Trent England

Every bar is on the same 0–100% scale, so subjects can be read against each other as well as against the county and England. A dash means the figure does not exist rather than being zero. The county and England lines cover state-funded schools only, the same schools you can browse here, because independent schools sit outside the Department for Education's subject release and outside this site.

Compare these subjects against another school, side by side.

Maths is the subject most of this year group sat. Maths tutors on Tutorperch.

Parent guides

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What these mean

Attainment 8
The average pupil's total score across eight GCSE-equivalent subjects, with English and maths counting double. It is scored out of 90. A score of 50 is roughly equivalent to achieving a grade 5 across eight subjects.
Grades 4 and 5
GCSEs are graded from 9 down to 1. Grade 4 is a standard pass and broadly corresponds to the old grade C; grade 5 is what the government calls a strong pass. Grade 7 is broadly equivalent to an old grade A.
The EBacc
A combination of subjects rather than a qualification in its own right: English, Maths, the Sciences, a Language, and History or Geography. The figure shows the share of pupils entered for all the EBacc subject areas, so it gives an indication of how widely a school enters pupils for this particular combination of subjects.
Progress 8
A measure of how much progress pupils make between the end of primary school and the end of GCSE, rather than simply what grades they achieve. It takes pupils' prior attainment into account, making it useful for comparing schools with different intakes. Progress 8 is not published for 2024/25 because the pupils concerned did not have Key Stage 2 tests that can be used as the normal starting point.
Percentage points
The gap between two percentages. A subject going from 30% to 36% has risen six percentage points, though it has risen by a fifth. We write "pp" to keep the two apart.
Why some subjects say nothing
A year group is small. Where a gap is no bigger than the swing a different intake would produce, we say the subjects are level rather than dressing chance as a finding. Two kinds of subject carry no share at all: a vocational award has no 9-to-1 grade to report, and some qualifications are not published on the 9-to-1 scale for a given year group, most often community languages sat outside the school's own timetable.
Persistent absence
The share of pupils who miss at least 10% of their possible sessions during the school year. This includes both authorised and unauthorised absence, so illness and other authorised reasons are included. Persistent absence has remained substantially higher than its pre-pandemic level.
Spare places
The amount of available capacity a school has compared with the number of pupils on roll. This is different from oversubscription: spare places measure whether a school has capacity, whereas oversubscription describes demand for places exceeding the number available. A school with no spare places may be popular, but a small school can also be full without receiving a large number of applications.

School details

Birches Head Road
Hanley
Stoke-on-Trent
Staffordshire
ST2 8DD

01782 233595 bircheshead.org.uk
Headteacher
Mr Paul Masher
Trust
Frank Field Education Trust
Pupils
925 of 1,050 places
Spare places
9%
Free school meals
41%
SEND
16% on SEN support, 2% with an EHC plan
Separate sciences
9% of the year
Progress 8
Not published · last -0.95 in 2023/24

Other schools in Stoke-on-Trent

14 schools. Distances are straight-line from this school.

Tutorperch School report by Tutorperch
Covers state-funded schools in England; independent schools are not included. The four figures at the top compare against the Department for Education's national release, which counts special schools and alternative provision as well, so it sits slightly below the average of the schools listed on this site. Subject comparisons are pooled from those schools directly.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Key stage 4 performance, school characteristics, absence and destinations: Department for Education, 2024/25. Inspection outcomes: Ofsted. Persistent absence comparators are the median secondary school.