SF School Facts UK

Secondary school in Lichfield, Staffordshire

The Friary School

Eastern Avenue, Lichfield, Staffordshire, WS13 7EW

Ofsted Good · 2024 Sixth form Full
School website 01543267400

Ofsted

Goodas at 20 March 2024

Remained Good at its last ungraded inspection, on 20 March 2024.

Ofsted stopped awarding single-word overall grades in September 2024. This grade is 2 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

57.8 England 47

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

Grade 5+ in English & maths

66% England 46.2%

Grade 4+ in English & maths

81% England 66.2%

EBacc average point score

5.1 England 4.2

Entered the EBacc

62% England 40.8%

On Attainment 8 this school is in the top 10% of state-funded secondaries in England.

Compared with the fifth of schools whose intake is second least disadvantaged, which is where this one sits, it is in the top 10%.

Progress 8 2023/24

0.86confidence interval 0.67 to 1.06

Taking that range into account, pupils made more progress than similar pupils nationally. DfE bands this as well above 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
B-
Average points per entry
37.3

England average 32.3

A level students
80

Pupils

Pupils on roll
1255
Places
1250
How full
Full — 1255 pupils against 1250 places
Girls / boys
656 / 599
Overall absence
6%

secondary schools average 8.6%

Persistently absent
16%

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

Free school meals, last 6 years
20%

England 25.7%

English as an additional language
8%

England 18.7%

With an EHC plan
1%

England 3.5%

On SEN support
11%

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
5%

England 3.5%

Stayed at this school's sixth form
44%
No sustained destination
6%

England 5.8%

Pupils in the cohort
195

After sixth form

Went to university
60%

England 50%

In education, work or training
87%

England 84.3%

Started an apprenticeship
2%

England 6.5%

Students in the cohort
86

Going on to university 2021/22 leavers

Went to a top third university

25% 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
72%

England 65.3%

Students in the cohort
111

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 Lichfield 004A, 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
20%

England 33.8%

Adults with no qualifications
29%

England 18.3%

Households owning their home
28%

England 62.7%

Households in social housing
64%

England 17%

Households with no car
32%

England 21.9%

Adults economically inactive
42%

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
PRIMITAS LEARNING PARTNERSHIP
Headteacher
Headteacher: Mark Drury
Local authority
Staffordshire
Ward
Chadsmead
Constituency
Lichfield
URN
146907

The unique reference number used in all official school data.

Nearest secondary schools

SchoolOfstedAttainment 8Distance
Lichfield Cathedral SchoolOther independent school No grade 0.9 mi
Nether Stowe SchoolAcademy converter No grade 38.7 1 mi
King Edward VI SchoolCommunity school Good 2022 52.2 1.6 mi
Chase Terrace AcademyAcademy converter No grade 44.3 3.7 mi
Erasmus Darwin AcademyAcademy converter Good 2023 47.8 4.1 mi
Brownhills Ormiston AcademyAcademy converter No grade 37.1 4.5 mi
Rugeley John TaylorFree schools No grade 4.9 mi
Norton Canes High SchoolCommunity school Requires improvement 2024 34.8 5.1 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
South Molton Community CollegeFoundation school No grade 45.9
Ferndown Upper SchoolCommunity school No grade 45.7
Durham Johnston Comprehensive SchoolCommunity school No grade 55.2
Townsend Church of England SchoolVoluntary aided school Good 2024 46.7
Beverley High SchoolCommunity school Outstanding 2021 50.1
Kingdown SchoolAcademy converter Good 2022 42.8
Appleby Grammar SchoolAcademy converter No grade 40.7
RawlinsAcademy converter No grade 45

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.