The Royal School, Wolverhampton

About The Royal School, Wolverhampton

The Royal School, Wolverhampton, stands out sharply against the local authority average for secondary schools. With a Progress 8 score of 0.35, it sits well above the Wolverhampton average of -0.06, meaning pupils here make significantly more academic progress than their peers across the borough. That score places the school 4th out of 21 secondary schools in the local authority, putting it in the top quarter nationally. Its Attainment 8 score of 47.1 further reinforces this picture of strong performance. The school is also oversubscribed by a considerable margin: for 30 places in the 2025/26 intake, it received 930 applications, with 205 of those as first preferences. Only 25 first-preference offers were made, giving a clear sense of how sought-after a place here is. The school’s most recent Ofsted inspection, an ungraded visit in March 2025, confirmed that standards are maintained, and its previous graded inspection in 2019 rated overall effectiveness as Good across the board.

At GCSE, the school’s Progress 8 banding is officially ‘Above average’, and the breakdown shows particularly strong progress in the EBacc subjects, where the score reaches 0.52. In English and maths, progress is positive but more modest, at 0.18 and 0.25 respectively. The basics measure — pupils achieving a grade 5 or above in both English and maths — stands at 47.2%, while the grade 4 or above threshold reaches 66.4%. The EBacc entry rate is relatively low at 13.6%, and only 8% of pupils achieved the full EBacc at grade 4 or above. In the sixth form, the picture is solid rather than spectacular: the value-added score is 0.11, banded as ‘Average’, and the average points per entry is 30.88, equivalent to a grade C. The best three A-levels average out at a C+ grade. The school has an official sixth form and also offers boarding, which is unusual for a state school in the area.

The school is a mixed, all-through state secondary for ages 4 to 19, with 1,510 pupils on roll — slightly above its stated capacity of 1,454. It has a high proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals at 30.7%, and 32% of parents who responded to the Parent View survey said their child has SEND. The school lists a wide range of SEND provisions, including support for autistic spectrum disorder, speech and language needs, and social, emotional and mental health difficulties. Facilities are extensive: a swimming pool, theatre, astro turf, sports hall, gymnasium, science labs, art studios, and a sixth form centre. Clubs include Model UN, DofE, Young Enterprise, and a range of music and coding options. Parent satisfaction is generally strong — 72% would recommend the school, and 84% agree or strongly agree that their child is happy. This is a school that suits families looking for strong academic progress in a diverse, well-equipped setting with genuine sixth form and boarding options.

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