Selly Park Girls' School

About Selly Park Girls' School

Selly Park Girls' School is a state secondary for girls aged 11 to 16 in Birmingham, and its intake tells a story of a school that is both popular and serving a community with significant need. The school has 804 pupils against a capacity of 840, meaning it is very close to full. The proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals stands at 54%, which is well above the national average and signals that the school draws from a catchment with higher-than-average economic disadvantage. Demand is extremely high: for the 2025/26 admissions cycle, the school received 615 applications for 171 places, an oversubscription ratio of 3.6 to one. Of those, 95 first-preference applicants were offered places, meaning the vast majority of successful families had ranked it as their top choice. This level of competition suggests that local parents see Selly Park as a strong option, despite the challenges that come with its demographic profile.

Academically, Selly Park delivers results that significantly outstrip the local average. Its Progress 8 score of 0.55 is well above average nationally and far exceeds the Birmingham local authority average of 0.09. In the West Midlands, this places the school in the top 10% of all schools by Progress 8, and nationally it ranks 442nd out of 3,141 schools. The Attainment 8 score is 51.5, and 71.8% of pupils achieved a grade 4 or above in both English and maths, with 60.9% reaching grade 5 or above. The school also has a strong focus on the EBacc: 76.9% of pupils entered the EBacc suite of subjects, and 46.8% achieved a grade 4 or above across all five components. In its most recent Ofsted inspection in 2022, the school was rated Good overall, with Outstanding marks for personal development and for behaviour and attitudes. The previous inspection in 2009 had rated it Outstanding overall, so the current Good rating still reflects a very high standard of provision.

The school offers a solid range of facilities including science labs, an ICT suite, a library, art studios, a gymnasium, and playing fields, plus a sixth form centre despite not having a sixth form of its own. Sports provision is broad, with football, hockey, rowing, rugby, and martial arts among the options, and extracurricular clubs include the Duke of Edinburgh's Award, coding, debate, Model United Nations, and gardening. Selly Park also has a comprehensive SEND offer, with provisions for specific learning difficulties like dyslexia, moderate learning difficulties, social and emotional mental health needs, speech and language needs, hearing impairment, physical disability, and autistic spectrum disorder. For families in Birmingham looking for a girls' school that achieves strong academic progress despite a high-FSM intake, and where demand far outstrips supply, Selly Park is clearly a first-choice destination. Its lack of a sixth form means pupils will need to plan for post-16 transfer, but the school's results suggest they will be well prepared.

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