Saltley Academy

About Saltley Academy

Saltley Academy is a large secondary school in Birmingham that is currently oversubscribed by a significant margin. With 1,380 pupils on roll against a capacity of 1,350, the school is running at full stretch. For the 2025/26 intake, there were 265 places available and 1,321 total applications, giving an oversubscription ratio of nearly 5 to 1. Only 173 of the 183 first-preference applicants secured a place, which tells you this is a school in high demand locally. The pupil body is notably diverse in terms of disadvantage: 53.9% of students are eligible for free school meals, which is well above the national average and reflects the inner-city context of the school's catchment in Birmingham. The school is non-denominational, with no religious character, and is led by headteacher Paul Marano. It caters for boys and girls aged 11 to 16, with no sixth form or nursery provision on site.

Academically, Saltley Academy is a school that performs around the national average, with some variation by subject. Its Progress 8 score for the 2023/24 academic year was -0.07, which is classified as 'Average' and sits slightly below the Birmingham local authority average of 0.09. The Attainment 8 score was 42.4, and 55.8% of pupils achieved a grade 4 or above in both English and maths, dropping to 37.5% for grade 5 or above. The EBacc average point score was 3.9, with 64.6% of pupils entering the EBacc suite of qualifications. In terms of ranking, the school sits 54th out of 83 secondary schools in Birmingham on Progress 8, placing it in the bottom half of the local authority. Nationally, it ranks 1,704th out of 3,141 schools, which puts it just above the median. Ofsted rated the school Good in its most recent graded inspection in 2018, and a subsequent ungraded inspection in 2023 confirmed it remains Good. This is a notable improvement from its previous Inadequate rating in 2014.

The school offers a broad range of facilities including a swimming pool, tennis courts, a theatre, art studios, science labs, and a gymnasium, alongside a chapel and a library. Sports on offer include hockey, swimming, cricket, rugby, and martial arts, while extracurricular clubs cover drama, choir, coding, the Duke of Edinburgh's Award, and Young Enterprise. For families with children who have special educational needs, Saltley Academy has a dedicated SEN unit and supports a wide range of needs including dyslexia, autism, speech and language difficulties, and physical disabilities. Given its oversubscription and high proportion of FSM-eligible pupils, this is a school that serves a genuinely local, inner-city community. It will suit families who want a large, inclusive secondary with strong facilities and a clear upward trajectory in its Ofsted rating, but who are realistic about its academic performance being around the national average rather than outstanding.

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