Bournville School

About Bournville School

Bournville School is a mixed state secondary in Birmingham that currently serves 691 pupils against a total capacity of 1,163, meaning it is operating at just under 60 per cent of its possible roll. The proportion of students eligible for free school meals stands at 63.2 per cent, which is significantly above the national average and reflects the school's role in a community with considerable socioeconomic need. Despite the spare capacity, demand for places is intense: for the 2025/26 intake, the school received 843 applications for just 72 places, an oversubscription ratio of nearly 12 to one, though only 30 of those applications were first-preference offers. This suggests that while many families are naming Bournville, a large number are doing so as a lower-ranked choice, and the school is heavily oversubscribed overall. The headteacher is Marie Rooney, and the school has no religious character.

Academically, Bournville's most recent Ofsted inspection in March 2024 rated its overall effectiveness as Requires Improvement, a repeat of the same grade from November 2021. The breakdown shows some areas performing better than others: leadership and management, personal development, and early years provision were all judged Good, while behaviour and attitudes, and quality of education, were rated Requires Improvement. Exam results for the 2023/24 cohort place the school well below average nationally, with a Progress 8 score of -0.78, meaning pupils achieved nearly eight-tenths of a grade less per subject than similar students nationally. The Attainment 8 score was 31.7, and just 22.7 per cent of pupils achieved a grade 5 or above in English and maths. The school ranks 79th out of 83 secondary schools in Birmingham on Progress 8, putting it in the bottom 10 per cent of the local authority, where the average Progress 8 score is 0.09.

Bournville offers a broad range of facilities including a swimming pool, gymnasium, sports hall, tennis courts, astro turf, and art studios, plus a chapel on site. Sports on offer include basketball, rugby, hockey, rowing, and dance, and there are clubs covering art, eco issues, drama, chess, debate, and science. The school has a wide-ranging SEND offer, with provisions for autistic spectrum disorder, speech and language needs, social and emotional mental health, physical disability, and visual impairment, among others. Given the high level of oversubscription and the school's current Ofsted rating, it is likely that families applying here are doing so out of necessity or local preference rather than academic selectivity. The nearest Outstanding-rated school is Kings Norton Girls' School, 1.3 kilometres away, which may be a more realistic alternative for families prioritising strong outcomes. Bournville will suit families who value a diverse, inclusive intake and a wide extracurricular offer, but who are prepared to support their child through a school that is still working to improve its academic standards.

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