Express & Star

Where are the best secondary schools in Wolverhampton?

Can't decide which secondary school in Wolverhampton is best for your children? Here's our guide to the city's schools.

Published

The 2016 league tables revealed that 51.6 per cent per cent of Wolverhampton pupils managed the Government's benchmark of five or more GCSEs at A* to C, including English and maths, in 2015.

The results put the city 127th out of 152 local authorities - an improvement of 18 places on the previous year.

The league tables show a huge difference in results across the city, but of course exam scores aren't the only factors worth taking into account when selecting a school.

Secondary schools in Wolverhampton include academies, community schools, special schools and independent schools.

All 28 are listed in the map below with their latest Ofsted inspection.

NB: Independent schools are not visited by Ofsted, while the newest schools have not yet been inspected.

What is an academy or free school?

The difference between the various types of schools can be confusing, but fear not we're here to help - all the terms are explained below:

  • Community School: State-funded and run by the local authority (normally all-ability, eg Highfields School).

  • Community Special School: State-funded and run by the local authority for pupils with special education needs (eg Green Park School).

  • Academy: Funded directly by central government and free from local authority control (control own curriculum, salaries, admissions etc). Often run by trusts and/or part of a chain of academies (eg Northern House Academy Trust).

  • Sponsor Led Academy: Failing schools taken over by an academy trust as a sponsor with the aim of increasing standards (eg North East Wolverhampton Academy).

  • Free School: Same freedom as academies (autonomous and centrally-funded) but are designed to be set up by local groups of parents, teachers, community or religious groups in response to poor current provision or demand for more places (eg The British Sikh School).

  • Independent School: Private and normally fee-paying schools (eg The Royal Wolverhampton School).

  • Voluntary Aided School: Maintained by the local authority but the admissions process and governing body is run by a religious foundation (eg The King's Church of England School).

What about Wolverhampton school league tables?

The latest league tables of Wolverhampton schools (from 2015 results) were released in January and are listed below.

You can see which schools have the best results for A*-C in English and Maths, which get the highest total scores or where pupils with low previous attainment get the most points.

Some points must be remembered when viewing the results:

  • The full key for the table is listed below.

  • Full data for the city's six special schools is suppressed due to their low numbers of eligible pupils. These are: Green Park School, New Park School (Now Northern House School Wolverhampton), Penn Fields School, Penn Hall School, Tettenhall Wood School and Westcroft School.

  • The independent schools in the city - The Royal Wolverhampton School, Wolverhampton Grammar School and Tettenhall College - do not publish all the data that state-funded schools do

  • Data for The British Sikh School and West Midlands Construction University College is not available as both of these schools only opened in September 2015.

A: School name B: School age range C: Number of pupils in school D: Number of KS4 pupils E: Percentage of pupils achieving 5+ A*-C GCSEs or equivalent including English and maths F: Percentage of boys achieving A*-C in both English and maths GCSEs G: Percentage of girls achieving A*-C in both English and maths GCSEs H: Average number of key stage 4 GCSE and equivalents entries per pupil I: Average points score per GCSE entry per pupil (including equivalents) J: Total average point score per pupil K: Percentage of key stage 4 pupils achieving the English Baccalaureate L: Average points score per GCSE entry per pupil (including equivalents) for pupils with low prior attainment M: Average points score per GCSE entry per pupil (including equivalents) for pupils with middle prior attainment N Average points score per GCSE entry per pupil (including equivalents) for pupils with high prior attainment

GCSE - grade A*: 58

GCSE - grade A: 52

GCSE - grade B: 46

GCSE - grade C: 40

GCSE - grade D: 34

GCSE - grade E: 28

GCSE - grade R: 22

GCSE - grade G: 16

Details of the GCSE points system (for total average points and average points per entry) is listed below.

The English Baccalaureate (EBacc) is a measure of performance in core academic subjects. To gain the EBacc students must get an A*-C in these five subjects:

  • English, maths, history or geography, the sciences, a language.

To pass the English element of the EBacc students must:

  • Get an A*-C in English GCSE or

  • Take both English literature and English language GCSE, and get an A* to C in at least one of them.

To pass the science element of the EBacc students must:

  • Get an A* to C in core and additional science GCSE or

  • Take three single sciences at GCSE and get an A* to C in at least two of them or

  • Get A* to C in GCSE science double award.

To view the league tables full screen click here.

Sorry, we are not accepting comments on this article.