Al-Burhan Grammar School Review 2026: A small, academically selective girls’ secondary with strong GCSE outcomes

A compact, academically selective day school for girls in Birmingham, Al-Burhan Grammar School combines a demanding curriculum with a clearly defined Islamic ethos. The current site has a distinctive layout, four interconnected buildings arranged around a central courtyard, and a day structured around six teaching periods plus time for lunch and Dhuhr prayer.

Academic outcomes, as captured in FindMySchool’s England rankings for GCSE performance, place the school well above England average (top 10%), with a Birmingham local rank that suggests it competes strongly within the city’s busy secondary market.

This is an independent school, with published tuition fees that remain relatively low by sector standards. Families should still plan for meaningful extras, including uniform, books, trips, and public examination entry fees.

The school’s identity is unusually coherent for a small secondary. Its stated aims blend high academic expectations with character education and a strong emphasis on personal responsibility, self-reflection, and service. The published values list is explicit and practical, truthfulness, trustworthiness, kindness and compassion, fairness and justice, humbleness, and a responsible and proactive attitude.

The strapline Faith, Knowledge, Practice appears across official materials and functions as a shorthand for how the school frames daily life: faith informing conduct, knowledge pursued seriously, and practice understood as living out learning through habits and decisions.

The physical environment reinforces that clarity. The site is described as a former NHS day-care centre adapted for school use, with specialist spaces called out by name, including an ICT Room, a Science Laboratory, an art room, a library, a dining hall, and a prayer hall, plus a central courtyard that provides breathing space within a relatively tight footprint.

Leadership is closely associated with the school’s founding story and continuing governance model. Dr Mohammad Nasrullah is named as headteacher in school materials and in official documentation.

FindMySchool’s GCSE performance ranking places the school 358th in England and 11th in Birmingham for GCSE outcomes (FindMySchool ranking based on official data). This positioning indicates results that sit comfortably within the top 10% of schools in England.

On the available GCSE measures, the published Attainment 8 score is 69.4. The EBacc average point score is 6.23, and 51.9% of students achieved grade 5 or above across the EBacc.

A sensible way to interpret these figures as a parent is to treat them as a signal of academic intensity and consistency rather than a promise that every student will thrive in the same way. A selective admissions model typically means the school expects strong prior attainment and good learning habits from the start, and then builds pace quickly through Key Stage 3 to position students for Key Stage 4. That academic “through-line” matters for families deciding whether they want a small, focused environment where expectations are explicit and sustained.

Parents comparing options locally can use the FindMySchool Local Hub page and Comparison Tool to see how these GCSE measures sit alongside other Birmingham secondaries, including differences in cohort size and curriculum approach that can materially affect outcomes.

The curriculum intent, as described across official material, emphasises breadth early and deliberate sequencing into GCSE. The latest inspection narrative describes a carefully designed curriculum that covers and exceeds the content and challenge of the national curriculum, with staff keeping a close eye on students’ progress and using recap and repetition to secure conceptual knowledge over time.

Reading is treated as an academic tool rather than a bolt-on. Texts are chosen for literary merit and increasing challenge, with additional tuition available where students need to catch up. The implication for families is straightforward: students who enjoy reading, or can be coached into it, are likely to gain disproportionate benefit because so much of the wider curriculum is built on vocabulary, comprehension, and confident extended writing.

The “character” strand is also formalised. The school describes tarbiyya as part of its wider personal development approach, supported by initiatives such as Hadith of the Week and Themes of the Month, and by the way form time is used across the week. In practice, this gives daily reinforcement to conduct standards and helps keep expectations consistent across year groups.

Where Students Go Next

As a school with an 11 to 16 age range, the main transition point is post-16, usually into sixth forms or colleges for A-levels and other Level 3 pathways. The school’s published careers education approach is embedded within personal, social and health education, with students exploring careers as a planned part of the curriculum each year, and visiting speakers used to broaden awareness of different professions.

The wider message from the most recent inspection is that careers guidance is designed to help students make informed choices and plan ambitiously, which is particularly important in a school where many students will be aiming for academically demanding post-16 routes.

Because specific destination statistics are not published in the provided dataset for this school, parents should treat post-16 planning as a discussion to have early. The best questions are practical ones, which local sixth forms and colleges are most common, how the school supports GCSE option choices for those pathways, and what guidance looks like for competitive routes such as medicine-related ambitions that often shape subject choice and work experience planning.

Entry is direct to the school rather than local authority coordinated. For September entry into Year 7, the school runs two entrance tests each year, one at the beginning of December and one at the beginning of March, with Year 6 students typically sitting the test for Year 7 entry.

The admissions process is structured and document-led. Families submit an application form with supporting documents and a non-refundable administration fee of £50. After documents are received, the school confirms the test date, and results are communicated within four weeks.

Test content is clearly set out. The entrance assessment includes one English paper and one mathematics paper, each one hour, and for older applicants (Years 8 or 9) an additional science test can apply. Tests usually take place on a Saturday, starting at 10:00, with the option to schedule during school hours if Saturday is a difficulty.

Visits are handled as appointments during normal school days rather than fixed open days. For parents, that can be an advantage, it often allows a more realistic view of routines, pace, and relationships than a set-piece marketing event.

Families considering this option should use FindMySchool’s Saved Schools feature to keep track of admissions steps and evidence from visits, particularly if comparing against multiple independent and state options with very different deadlines and testing models.

Pastoral structures are designed to be visible and simple. A house system provides cross-year support, with houses named Makkah, Medina, Damascus, and Jerusalem, and students can hold responsibilities such as house captains and school council roles. The implication is that leadership is not reserved for a small elite; instead, the structure creates repeated opportunities for students to practise responsibility and teamwork.

The most recent inspection description highlights a calm, orderly environment and strong conduct, with students attentive and respectful in class and reporting that they feel happy and safe.

Safeguarding is an area where parents often want explicit reassurance rather than general statements. The latest Ofsted inspection reported that safeguarding arrangements are effective.

In a small school, extracurricular strength tends to look different from the sprawling co-curricular programmes of large independents. Here, the interesting point is how responsibility is built into the offer. Clubs support personal development, and at least some provision is student-led. Debating club is specifically referenced as being run by Year 11 students, which serves two purposes: it gives older students genuine responsibility, and it creates a low-friction way for younger students to develop confidence in speaking, argument structure, and respectful challenge.

The Learning outside the Classroom framework also points to a deliberate rhythm of enrichment through assemblies, off-timetable days, workshops, and themed initiatives that link personal development to wider civic and social understanding. Hadith of the Week and Themes of the Month are examples of how the school uses recurring structures to reinforce character education rather than relying on one-off talks.

Trips and competitions appear as part of the wider learning model, and the school’s small scale can make participation feel more inclusive for students who might be overlooked in larger settings. The trade-off is that breadth depends heavily on staffing capacity and cohort interest year to year, so families should ask what the current club list looks like and how often it changes.

The published timetable shows morning registration from 08:40 to 09:00, with teaching running through six periods and the day ending at 15:30. Lunch includes time allocated for Dhuhr prayer (12:45 to 13:45).

Transport is unusually straightforward by Birmingham standards. The school notes that Spring Road railway station is directly nearby with a direct link to Birmingham Moor Street, and several bus routes stop within a short walk.

Wraparound care is not promoted as a feature in the published materials, which is typical for a small secondary. Families who require early drop-off or late collection beyond the stated day should clarify what is currently available and whether it is consistent across the week.

Fees & Financial Aid

The school publishes tuition fees as £4,500 plus £900 VAT per academic year, with £4,800 plus £960 VAT for students joining in Years 9 to 11.

One-off charges are clearly stated: an admission fee of £300 and a deposit of £400 are payable before a student starts. The school also sets out payment timelines, including an annual payment date of 1 July and termly due dates of 1 July, 1 December, and 1 March.

Financial support is framed in two ways. First, the fees policy notes that families facing financial difficulty are expected to discuss circumstances with the school so that an appropriate plan can be put in place. Second, scholarships are described as available for students who achieve excellent scores on the entrance tests in English and mathematics, with the school contacting parents if this applies.

Families should budget for additional costs which the school lists explicitly, including uniform, books (particularly GCSE materials), trips, and public examination entry fees.

• Selective entry and pace. Entrance tests in English and mathematics are a meaningful filter, and the curriculum is designed to build quickly from Key Stage 3 into Key Stage 4. This suits students who enjoy academic challenge and structured expectations.

• A small-school experience. The environment can feel focused and personal, but extracurricular breadth can vary year to year and often depends on cohort interest and staff capacity. Ask what is running now, not what has run historically.

• Costs beyond tuition. Fees are clearly presented, but families should plan for extras that are explicitly listed, including books, trips, and GCSE exam entry fees, as well as the upfront admission fee and deposit.

• Faith and ethos fit. The school’s aims and values are closely tied to an Islamic ethos and character education approach. Families should be confident that this alignment matches what they want day to day, not just in principle.

This is a focused, academically ambitious girls’ secondary that combines strong GCSE performance indicators with a clearly articulated ethos and a structured approach to character education. Best suited to families seeking a small independent setting where academic standards, conduct expectations, and faith-informed values are tightly aligned. Admission is the key gate, and the best next step for interested families is a working-day visit plus a careful look at current extracurricular opportunities and post-16 guidance.