SF School Facts UK

Secondary school in Birmingham, Sandwell

Q3 Academy Great Barr

Wilderness Lane, Great Barr, Birmingham, West Midlands, B43 7SD

Ofsted Good · 2022 Sixth form Christian Full
School website 01213586186

Ofsted

Goodas at 22 September 2022

Remained Good at its last ungraded inspection, on 22 September 2022.

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

44.2 England 47

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

Grade 5+ in English & maths

45% England 46.2%

Grade 4+ in English & maths

69% England 66.2%

EBacc average point score

3.8 England 4.2

Entered the EBacc

30% England 40.8%

On Attainment 8 this school is around the middle 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

-0.29confidence interval -0.49 to -0.10

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
C+
Average points per entry
32.2

England average 32.3

A level students
48

Pupils

Pupils on roll
1153
Places
1150
How full
Full — 1153 pupils against 1150 places
Girls / boys
561 / 592
Overall absence
8%

secondary schools average 8.6%

Persistently absent
22%

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

Free school meals, last 6 years
27%

England 25.7%

English as an additional language
19%

England 18.7%

With an EHC plan
2%

England 3.5%

On SEN support
10%

England 15%

What pupils do next

After GCSEs

In education, work or training
91%

England 91.4%

Stayed in education
88%

England 85.4%

Started an apprenticeship
2%

England 3.5%

Stayed at this school's sixth form
26%
No sustained destination
4%

England 5.8%

Pupils in the cohort
206

After sixth form

Went to university
76%

England 50%

In education, work or training
94%

England 84.3%

Started an apprenticeship
9%

England 6.5%

Students in the cohort
68

Going on to university 2021/22 leavers

Went to a top third university

35% 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
75%

England 65.3%

Students in the cohort
40

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 Sandwell 006A, 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
34%

England 33.8%

Adults with no qualifications
20%

England 18.3%

Households owning their home
77%

England 62.7%

Households in social housing
7%

England 17%

Households with no car
17%

England 21.9%

Adults economically inactive
39%

England 39.9%

School details

Type
Academy sponsor led
Phase
Secondary
Ages
Ages 11–19
Gender
Mixed
Admissions
Non-selective
Religious character
Christian
Sixth form
Yes
Nursery
No
Boarding
Day school
Trust
THE MERCIAN TRUST
Headteacher
Head of School: Chris Bury
Local authority
Sandwell
Ward
Great Barr with Yew Tree
Constituency
West Bromwich
URN
135449

The unique reference number used in all official school data.

Nearest secondary schools

SchoolOfstedAttainment 8Distance
Barr Beacon SchoolAcademy converter Good 2022 51 1.4 mi
Hamstead Hall AcademyAcademy converter Good 2024 42.1 1.6 mi
Joseph Leckie AcademyAcademy converter No grade 42.4 1.7 mi
Arena AcademyAcademy sponsor led No grade 44.5 1.8 mi
Fortis AcademyAcademy converter Good 2023 37.9 1.8 mi
Queen Mary's Grammar SchoolAcademy converter Outstanding 2023 74.2 1.9 mi
Abu Bakr Boys SchoolOther independent school No grade 2.1 mi
Blue Coat Church of England AcademyAcademy sponsor led Good 2023 37.4 2.3 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
St Paul's Catholic SchoolVoluntary aided school No grade 44.9
Matravers SchoolFoundation school Good 2022 47
Valley Park SchoolAcademy converter No grade 37.6
Windsor High School and Sixth FormAcademy converter No grade 46.5
Outwood Academy RiponAcademy converter Good 2024 46.6
Hawkley Hall High SchoolAcademy converter No grade 40.4
Glossopdale School and Sixth FormAcademy sponsor led Good 2023 43.4
Carr Hill High SchoolAcademy sponsor led Requires improvement 2024 43.5

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.