SF School Facts UK

Secondary school in Worcester, Worcestershire

Christopher Whitehead Language College

Bromwich Road, St John's, Worcester, Worcestershire, WR2 4AF

Ofsted Good · 2023 Sixth form Full
School website 01905423906

Ofsted

Goodas at 25 May 2023

Remained Good at its last ungraded inspection, on 25 May 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

43.8 England 47

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

Grade 5+ in English & maths

42% England 46.2%

Grade 4+ in English & maths

63% England 66.2%

EBacc average point score

4.1 England 4.2

Entered the EBacc

63% England 40.8%

On Attainment 8 this school is in the lower half of state-funded secondaries in England.

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

Progress 8 2023/24

-0.18confidence interval -0.36 to 0.00

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
33.9

England average 32.3

A level students
91

Pupils

Pupils on roll
1580
Places
1525
How full
Full — 1580 pupils against 1525 places
Girls / boys
820 / 760
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
23%

England 25.7%

English as an additional language
10%

England 18.7%

With an EHC plan
4%

England 3.5%

On SEN support
8%

England 15%

What pupils do next

After GCSEs

In education, work or training
90%

England 91.4%

Stayed in education
85%

England 85.4%

Started an apprenticeship
2%

England 3.5%

Stayed at this school's sixth form
35%
No sustained destination
7%

England 5.8%

Pupils in the cohort
247

After sixth form

Went to university
37%

England 50%

In education, work or training
86%

England 84.3%

Started an apprenticeship
6%

England 6.5%

Students in the cohort
108

Going on to university 2021/22 leavers

Went to a top third university

19% 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
68%

England 65.3%

Students in the cohort
94

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 Worcester 012C, 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
33%

England 33.8%

Adults with no qualifications
17%

England 18.3%

Households owning their home
72%

England 62.7%

Households in social housing
11%

England 17%

Households with no car
16%

England 21.9%

Adults economically inactive
39%

England 39.9%

School details

Type
Academy converter
Phase
Secondary
Ages
Ages 11–18
Gender
Mixed
Admissions
Non-selective
Religious character
None
Sixth form
Yes
Nursery
No
Boarding
Day school
Trust
CHRISTOPHER WHITEHEAD LANGUAGE COLLEGE
Headteacher
Headteacher: Catherine Clark
Local authority
Worcestershire
Ward
St John's
Constituency
Worcester
URN
136890

The unique reference number used in all official school data.

Nearest secondary schools

SchoolOfstedAttainment 8Distance
The King's SchoolOther independent school No grade 0.5 mi
Blessed Edward Oldcorne Catholic CollegeVoluntary aided school Good 2022 53.1 1 mi
Royal Grammar School WorcesterOther independent school No grade 1.1 mi
Kimichi WorcesterOther independent school No grade 1.2 mi
Bishop Perowne CofE CollegeAcademy converter Good 2024 40.3 1.5 mi
Nunnery Wood High SchoolAcademy converter Good 2022 49.7 1.8 mi
Tudor Grange Academy WorcesterAcademy sponsor led No grade 45.9 2.2 mi
The River SchoolOther independent school No grade 2.9 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
Woodbridge High SchoolCommunity school Outstanding 2023 52.2
Gillingham SchoolVoluntary controlled school Good 2023 42.7
The Academy, SelseyAcademy sponsor led No grade 38
Horsforth SchoolAcademy converter Good 2023 57.3
Neston High SchoolAcademy converter Good 2022 43.4
Mark Rutherford SchoolAcademy converter No grade 41.5
The Catholic High School, ChesterAcademy converter No grade 46.7
Hampton CollegeAcademy converter Good 2023 44.5

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.