SF School Facts UK

Secondary school in Wirral

Hilbre High School

Frankby Road, West Kirby, Wirral, Merseyside, CH48 6EQ

Sixth form
School website 01516255996

Ofsted

Inspected under the current framework, which gives no overall grade, on 24 March 2026.

Inspections since September 2024 do not give an overall grade, so there is no one-word judgement to report. The full report sets out what inspectors found.

Read the Ofsted report

GCSE results 2024/25

Attainment 8 score

39 England 47

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

Grade 5+ in English & maths

25% England 46.2%

Grade 4+ in English & maths

48% England 66.2%

EBacc average point score

3.1 England 4.2

Entered the EBacc

10% 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 middle, which is where this one sits, it is in the bottom quarter.

Progress 8 2023/24

-0.43confidence interval -0.63 to -0.23

Taking that range into account, pupils made less progress than similar pupils nationally. DfE bands this as below 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
D+
Average points per entry
22.3

England average 32.3

A level students
56

Pupils

Pupils on roll
1154
Places
1160
How full
Nearly full — 1154 of 1160 places taken
Girls / boys
498 / 656
Overall absence
10%

secondary schools average 8.6%

Persistently absent
27%

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

Free school meals, last 6 years
29%

England 25.7%

English as an additional language
3%

England 18.7%

With an EHC plan
8%

England 3.5%

On SEN support
15%

England 15%

What pupils do next

After GCSEs

In education, work or training
91%

England 91.4%

Stayed in education
83%

England 85.4%

Started an apprenticeship
6%

England 3.5%

Stayed at this school's sixth form
44%
No sustained destination
7%

England 5.8%

Pupils in the cohort
200

After sixth form

Went to university
34%

England 50%

In education, work or training
79%

England 84.3%

Started an apprenticeship
11%

England 6.5%

Students in the cohort
80

Going on to university 2021/22 leavers

Went to a top third university

12% 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
54%

England 65.3%

Students in the cohort
76

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 Wirral 028B, 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
48%

England 33.8%

Adults with no qualifications
10%

England 18.3%

Households owning their home
91%

England 62.7%

Households in social housing
3%

England 17%

Households with no car
9%

England 21.9%

Adults economically inactive
45%

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
OAK TREES MULTI ACADEMY TRUST
Headteacher
Headteacher: John Barlow
Local authority
Wirral
Ward
West Kirby and Thurstaston
Constituency
Wirral West
URN
138355

The unique reference number used in all official school data.

Nearest secondary schools

SchoolOfstedAttainment 8Distance
Calday Grange Grammar SchoolAcademy converter No grade 68.1 0.6 mi
West Kirby Grammar SchoolAcademy converter Good 2022 71.3 1 mi
Upton Hall School FCJAcademy converter Outstanding 2022 65.6 2.6 mi
Pensby High SchoolFoundation school Good 2023 44.8 3 mi
Woodchurch High SchoolAcademy converter No grade 37.9 3.5 mi
Ridgeway High SchoolFoundation school Good 2024 39.2 3.6 mi
Birkenhead SchoolOther independent school No grade 4.4 mi
Birkenhead High School AcademyAcademy sponsor led Good 2023 50.5 4.6 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
Bede AcademyAcademy sponsor led Good 2024 48.9
Carshalton High School for GirlsAcademy converter Good 2023 52.4
Orion Eden ParkFree schools No grade 45.5
Dormers Wells High SchoolAcademy converter No grade 49.1
St James' Catholic High SchoolVoluntary aided school Good 2022 51.4
The Thetford AcademyAcademy sponsor led No grade 42.4
Lampton AcademyAcademy converter Outstanding 2024 52.5
Longdean SchoolAcademy converter No grade 42.4

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.