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Secondary · ST2 · Stoke-on-Trent

Birches Head Academy

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

FRANK FIELD EDUCATION TRUST is the academy trust. Admissions rules still sit with the school and your local council.

Inadequate

At a glance

Key published figures for this school.

OfstedInadequate
Attendance94.3%
AttainmentProgress 8: -0.95
AdmissionsAbout average
Pupils826

Ofsted inspection

Latest outcome

Inadequate

Latest visit (Jul 2026): renewed Ofsted format (no single overall grade) — inclusion, curriculum and teaching, achievement, attendance and behaviour, personal development and wellbeing and leadership and governance needs attention. See the full Ofsted report.

Inspection history

  1. Previous gradedRequires improvement

This page shows previous graded and latest ungraded outcomes when Ofsted publishes them in the national file. Full history stays on the Ofsted report.

View on Ofsted

School figures

Coloured bars compare this school with the average for other schools in ST2. Where we have them, council (Stoke-on-Trent) and England figures appear under FSM, SEN and attendance. FSM, SEN and EAL are context, not quality scores. For attendance, higher is usually better.

Pupils on roll
826
Free school meals
29.5%
10.2% below district average (39.7%)

Also: Stoke-on-Trent 37.2% · England 25.8%

SEN
15.3%
17.6% below district average (32.9%)

Also: Stoke-on-Trent 17.9% · England 16.5%

EAL
26.7%
14.6% above district average (12.1%)
Attendance
94.3%
0.6% above district average (93.7%)

Also: Stoke-on-Trent 91.2% · England 91.9%

Persistent absence
17.5%
Progress 8
-0.95 (2023/24)
Attainment 8
31.3
Grade 5+ English & maths
17.1%
Grade 4+ English & maths
39.2%
Entered for EBacc
25.6%
EBacc average point score
2.62

Each metric uses its own colour so you can tell the rows apart. The lighter bar is the ST2 average; the darker bar is this school.

Trends over time

Attendance

Autumn and spring term attendance from DfE pupil absence data (where published for this URN).

  • 2020/2194.3%
  • 2021/2287.8%
  • 2022/2387.8%
  • 2023/2486%
  • 2024/2588.7%

Admissions

Demand signal
About average
Published capacity (GIAS)
1050
Pupils on roll
826

Indicative signal from published roll versus GIAS capacity. Not applications versus offers, and not a guarantee of a place.

Published admission number (PAN) and applications versus offers are not in our national datasets yet. Use your council booklet.

Check your council admissions booklet via the Stoke-on-Trent page.

SEN support

SEN %
15.3%
On-site provision
None listed in GIAS

A higher SEN percentage can mean experience with support needs, or more demand on staff. Ask the SENCO what is available day to day.

Sources and freshness

  • School year for most DfE figures: 2024/25.
  • Pipeline last checked: Sept 2026.
  • Council and England attendance / FSM tables: 2024/25.
  • School figures from DfE / GIAS / Ofsted where published. District averages use other schools in this postcode district. Council and England figures use DfE local authority and national tables for the matching phase.
  • School photos are not shown yet. Schools will be able to add one later.
  • Methodology · Data updates