Birkdale High School

Overview

Birkdale High School is described as a place where pupils are “very well cared for” and feel they belong. The report highlights a “robust and highly ambitious curriculum” and “consistently high-quality teaching” that enables most pupils to achieve well, particularly in core subjects. Leaders are praised for their “relentless” focus on improvement and creating a calm, respectful environment.

Strengths

• Leaders have implemented a “robust and highly ambitious curriculum” with “astute changes” such as introducing vocational courses to meet diverse needs.
• Teachers “know their subjects very well” and “rigorously check what pupils know,” providing timely support to ensure all pupils can access learning.
• Inclusion is “truly at the heart of leaders’ decisions,” with “fully personalised” support ensuring pupils with special educational needs and disabilities “thrive.”
• The personal development programme is “highly personalised” and prepares pupils for life in modern Britain, covering topics like consent and positive masculinity.
• Staff value the leadership, which prioritises wellbeing and provides a “plethora of opportunities” for professional development.

Areas to improve

• Leaders should ensure staff take “collective responsibility for securing consistently high levels of pupil attendance,” specifically reducing persistent and severe absence.
• Leaders must ensure data analysis drives “sustained improvements in outcomes for all pupils, including disadvantaged pupils,” so they can exceed national averages.

Safeguarding

The safeguarding standards are met, with an “open culture in which safeguarding is everyone's responsibility” ensuring pupils are made safer and feel safe.