Secondary
Birchwood High School
Parsonage Lane, Bishop's Stortford, CM23 5BD
Key facts
- Phase
- Secondary
- Type
- Academy converter
- Ages
- 11 to 18
- Intake
- Mixed
- Pupils
- 1417 of 1500 places
- Pupils per teacher
- 16.9
- Local authority
- Hertfordshire
- Sixth form
- Yes
- Trust
- BIRCHWOOD HIGH SCHOOL
Staffing23/24
- Teachers (FTE)
- 84.3
- All staff (FTE)
- 105.5
- Pupils per adult
- 13.5
- Pupils
- 1,425
Staff are counted as full-time equivalents in the November school workforce census, so the pupil figure here is that census’s own and will differ a little from the roll above, which is counted in January.
Ofsted
Last inspected January 2025
- Behaviour and attitudesGood
- Leadership and governanceGood
- Personal developmentGood
- Quality of educationGood
- Sixth formGood
Inspected under the previous framework, which used its own four-point scale. Ofsted now publishes a report card grading several areas separately, so these grades are not directly comparable with a recent inspection’s.
SafeguardingMet
Read the full Ofsted report (opens in a new tab)Earlier inspections1
June 2019
Previous framework
Good
- Leadership and governanceGood
GCSE results
42%
23 points below the Bishop's Stortford average (65% across 5 schools)
46.1
11.7 below the Bishop's Stortford average (57.8 across 5 schools)
5th of 5 by our score, among the secondary schools in Bishop's Stortford we can score - see them all. Local and same-phase on purpose: a national table mostly measures who attends.
All published measures2024/2025
| Measure | Result |
|---|---|
| Attainment 8 | 46.1 |
| EBacc average point score | 4.02 |
| Entered the EBacc | 36% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 64% |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 42% |
| A level average points per entry | 32.07 |
| A level students | 79 |
From the Department for Education. Measures are published per year and suppressed where a cohort is too small, so some schools show fewer. There are no results for 2019/20 or 2020/21, when exams and assessments were cancelled.
Results over time4 years
Each measure on its own scale, over every year we hold.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 21/22 | 48% |
| 22/23 | 38% |
| 23/24 | 49% |
| 24/25 | 42% |
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 21/22 | 33.9 |
| 22/23 | 32.2 |
| 23/24 | 32.1 |
| 24/25 | 32.1 |
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 21/22 | -0.37 |
| 22/23 | -0.45 |
| 23/24 | -0.08 |
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 21/22 | 48.2 |
| 22/23 | 45.1 |
| 23/24 | 48.1 |
| 24/25 | 46.1 |
Parsonage Lane, Bishop's Stortford, CM23 5BD
Admissions
How to apply (opens in a new tab)
You apply through your council, not the school - even for academies and free schools. Applications close on 31 October, the year before starting.
Hertfordshire admissions (opens in a new tab)
The council publishes the oversubscription criteria and last year’s offer distances, which is the closest thing to knowing your chances.
If you are refused a place (opens in a new tab)
You can appeal, and you can join a waiting list at the same time. Accept whatever offer you get first - declining it can leave you with no place at all.
This school’s own admissions (opens in a new tab)
Schools that set their own criteria - faith schools, grammars, academies - publish them on their own site.
Contact
- Principal
- Sam Griffin
- Address
- Parsonage Lane, Bishop's Stortford, CM23 5BD
- Telephone
- 01279655936