SF School Facts UK

Secondary school in Walsall

Blue Coat Church of England Academy

Birmingham Street, Walsall, West Midlands, WS1 2ND

Ofsted Good · 2023 Sixth form Church of England Full
School website 01922720558

Ofsted

Goodas at 25 January 2023

Remained Good at its last ungraded inspection, on 25 January 2023.

Ofsted stopped awarding single-word overall grades in September 2024. This grade is 3 years old and will not be updated — the school keeps it until its next inspection, which will not produce a replacement grade.

Read the Ofsted report

GCSE results 2024/25

Attainment 8 score

37.4 England 47

The average grade across eight GCSEs, doubling English and maths. 50 is roughly a grade 5 average.

Grade 5+ in English & maths

18% England 46.2%

Grade 4+ in English & maths

41% England 66.2%

EBacc average point score

3.1 England 4.2

Entered the EBacc

16% England 40.8%

On Attainment 8 this school is in the bottom quarter of state-funded secondaries in England.

Compared with the fifth of schools whose intake is most disadvantaged, which is where this one sits, it is in the lower half.

Progress 8 2023/24

0.02confidence interval -0.23 to 0.27

Taking that range into account, progress was not statistically different from the national average. DfE bands this as average.

Progress 8 measures how far pupils moved between the end of primary and their GCSEs, which makes it far fairer than raw attainment. It is shown for 2023/24 because it could not be calculated for 2024/25: that year group would have sat their key stage 2 tests in summer 2020, when the tests were cancelled, so there is no starting point to measure from. Every school in England is affected, not just this one.

A levels 2024/25

Average grade per entry
C-
Average points per entry
25.1

England average 32.3

A level students
42

Pupils

Pupils on roll
972
Places
900
How full
Full — 972 pupils against 900 places
Girls / boys
489 / 483
Overall absence
9%

secondary schools average 8.6%

Persistently absent
28%

secondary schools average 23.9% — pupils missing 10% or more of sessions

Free school meals, last 6 years
56%

England 25.7%

English as an additional language
64%

England 18.7%

With an EHC plan
3%

England 3.5%

On SEN support
17%

England 15%

What pupils do next

After GCSEs

In education, work or training
90%

England 91.4%

Stayed in education
88%

England 85.4%

Started an apprenticeship
1%

England 3.5%

Stayed at this school's sixth form
52%
No sustained destination
7%

England 5.8%

Pupils in the cohort
145

After sixth form

Went to university
49%

England 50%

In education, work or training
61%

England 84.3%

Started an apprenticeship
0%

England 6.5%

Students in the cohort
51

Going on to university 2021/22 leavers

Went to a top third university

13% England 20.9%

The third of higher education providers whose entrants hold the highest average entry qualifications. It is the closest thing in the public data to "did they get into a competitive university", and it separates schools far more sharply than the headline progression rate does.

Went on to a degree
76%

England 65.3%

Students in the cohort
53

These follow an earlier group of leavers than the figures above, and count anyone reaching higher education within two years rather than the term after leaving, so they are not directly comparable with them.

A destination counts only if it lasted at least six months, which is why these figures lag the exam results by a year, and why the university figures track leavers from 2021/22. Small cohorts move these percentages a long way — check the cohort size before reading much into a gap.

The neighbourhood around the school

Census 2021 figures for Walsall 030B, the statistical neighbourhood the school sits in — roughly 1,500 residents. It describes the area, not the pupils, who may travel in from further away.

Adults with a degree
25%

England 33.8%

Adults with no qualifications
29%

England 18.3%

Households owning their home
28%

England 62.7%

Households in social housing
51%

England 17%

Households with no car
47%

England 21.9%

Adults economically inactive
50%

England 39.9%

School details

Type
Academy sponsor led
Phase
Secondary
Ages
Ages 11–18
Gender
Mixed
Admissions
Non-selective
Religious character
Church of England
Sixth form
Yes
Nursery
No
Boarding
Day school
Trust
BLUE COAT CHURCH OF ENGLAND ACADEMY (WALSALL) TRUST
Headteacher
Principal: David Smith
Local authority
Walsall
Ward
St Matthew's
Constituency
Walsall and Bloxwich
URN
138606

The unique reference number used in all official school data.

Nearest secondary schools

SchoolOfstedAttainment 8Distance
Walsall Studio SchoolStudio schools No grade 26.9 0.3 mi
Queen Mary's Grammar SchoolAcademy converter Outstanding 2023 74.2 0.4 mi
Hydesville Tower SchoolOther independent school No grade 0.5 mi
Queen Mary's High SchoolAcademy converter No grade 73.5 0.6 mi
Abu Bakr Al-Ihsaan AcademyOther independent school No grade 0.8 mi
Abu Bakr Boys SchoolOther independent school No grade 0.9 mi
Emmanuel SchoolOther independent school No grade 0.9 mi
Joseph Leckie AcademyAcademy converter No grade 42.4 1.1 mi

Schools with a similar intake

State-funded secondary schools nationally whose share of disadvantaged pupils is closest to this school's. This is the fairest like-for-like comparison the published data supports.

SchoolOfstedAttainment 8
E-ACT Crest AcademyAcademy sponsor led No grade 39.9
Harris Academy ChobhamAcademy sponsor led No grade 49.5
The Portsmouth AcademyAcademy sponsor led Good 2022 33.5
The Grange SchoolAcademy sponsor led No grade 36.3
Eden Boys' Leadership Academy, ManchesterFree schools No grade 53.1
Boldon SchoolCommunity school No grade 37.1
The Bemrose SchoolFoundation school Good 2024 33.8
Harris Lowe Academy WillesdenAcademy sponsor led No grade 41.6

Where these figures come from

  • School details, address and pupil numbers — Get Information About Schools, the DfE register, as at 14 August 2026.
  • Exam results — DfE performance tables, 2024/25, and 2023/24 for Progress 8.
  • Free school meals, EAL and SEN — school census, 2024/25.
  • Ofsted — Ofsted management information, latest inspections as at 30 June 2026.
  • Neighbourhood figures — ONS Census 2021, lower layer super output area.

All published under the Open Government Licence v3.0. If something here looks wrong, the school's own website is the authority on admissions and open days.