Kings Heath Secondary School Review 2026: A community secondary with a strong wellbeing focus and high expectations

A big recent change shapes the story here. From September 2024 the school became co-educational, moving from a boys-only intake to welcoming boys and girls across Years 7 to 11, while remaining a local authority maintained community school in south Birmingham.

Leadership has also shifted. Mrs Marie Orton has been headteacher since 01 September 2023, arriving as the school prepared for co-education and site and curriculum adjustments.

The latest Ofsted inspection in March 2023 judged the school to be Good across all areas, and confirmed safeguarding arrangements are effective.

For parents, the key headline is fit. This is a mainstream 11–16 school with no sixth form, a structured school day, and a distinctive emphasis on trauma-informed practice and emotion coaching that is clearly articulated in its published wellbeing approach.

Expectations are explicit and day-to-day routines are clearly organised. The published school-day model includes morning registration from 8:30am, five teaching periods, and an end-of-day structure that links behaviour and readiness to learn with the finishing time, followed by a timetabled enrichment slot. For many families, that clarity is reassuring because it reduces ambiguity and supports consistent standards across year groups.

A defining feature is the way wellbeing is framed. The school presents itself as trauma-informed and attachment-aware, with whole-staff training that spans the impact of trauma and Adverse Childhood Experiences, strategies to support resilience, and a specific focus on emotion coaching as a shared approach to supporting self-regulation. The practical implication is that pastoral support is not positioned as an add-on; it is described as a whole-school method of working, including non-teaching staff and governors.

Co-education from September 2024 matters for atmosphere as well as admissions. Any school making a gender intake change has to manage culture carefully: uniform expectations, social dynamics, facilities, and how pastoral teams respond to a broader set of adolescent needs. The headteacher’s welcome message makes clear that the school has been planning for this shift, linking it to site work and curriculum readiness.

Formal external evidence also supports a calm learning climate, describing students as considerate and disruption as rare, alongside a strong sense of safety and quick follow-up on bullying. That is useful context for families with children who need predictable classrooms, particularly at transition into Year 7.

Kings Heath Secondary School’s published outcomes place it broadly in line with the middle of the pack in England. Ranked 2,496th in England and 63rd in Birmingham for GCSE outcomes (FindMySchool ranking based on official data), performance sits in line with the middle 35% of schools in England (25th to 60th percentile).

The underlying measures show a mixed picture:

• Attainment 8 is 42.7.

• Progress 8 is -0.19, which indicates students make slightly less progress than pupils with similar starting points nationally.

• The average EBacc APS is 3.92, compared with an England average of 4.08.

• 10.8% dis achieved grades 5 or above across the EBacc subjects.

For parents, the practical takeaway is that this is not a results-driven outlier either way. The data points instead suggest a school where classroom consistency, attendance, and the quality of subject teaching will be the decisive variables for individual outcomes. This is where the school’s emphasis on structured routines and wellbeing approaches can make a concrete difference, particularly for students who need strong scaffolding to translate potential into grades.

Curriculum intent is described as broad and ambitious, with subject leaders setting out well-sequenced knowledge and teachers using strong subject expertise to deliver it. Classroom practice is described as deliberately checking understanding, surfacing misconceptions early, and correcting them before moving on. In practical terms, that approach tends to suit students who benefit from clear explanations and regular retrieval, rather than purely independent discovery learning.

There are two improvement themes that parents should understand because they are specific and actionable. First, leaders were directed to ensure learning activities are consistently adapted for students with SEND, because when adaptation is inconsistent it can hold students back. Second, there were subject areas at key stage 3 where the full national curriculum entitlement was not consistently delivered at that time, with leaders expected to tighten quality assurance. Both are the kinds of issues that can improve with strong middle leadership and clear expectations, and the school’s wider emphasis on staff development is relevant here.

For families considering SEND support, the most productive next step is to explore how “pupil profiles” and classroom adaptations work in practice for your child, and how the SEN team communicates strategies to subject teachers. The evidence base makes clear that the approach can work well, but consistency matters.

There is no sixth form, so the key destination transition is post-16. The school sets out a careers programme as a core strand of personal development, with trained careers advisers guiding next steps and a stated aim of ensuring students move on to suitable education or training routes.

In Birmingham, this typically means a choice between school sixth forms, sixth form colleges, and further education colleges, with routes spanning A-levels, applied general qualifications, and technical pathways. Families with students who are still developing confidence academically should pay attention to the range of post-16 settings available locally, because the best fit is often about teaching style and support as much as course choice. A sensible approach is to treat Year 9 options and Year 10 effort as the long runway for post-16 choice, particularly because strong attendance and steady progress tend to open more doors at 16.

Year 7 admissions follow Birmingham’s coordinated local authority process. The school’s published admissions overview states an intake of 120 students into Year 7 each September.

Where applications exceed places, the published oversubscription criteria are:

1. Looked after children (in public care)

2. Siblings (a brother already at the school who will still be on roll when the younger child enters)

3. Distance, measured as a straight-line measurement between home and school

That means proximity matters materially for most families, and it is sensible to use the FindMySchool Map Search to understand how your home address compares with recent local patterns, while remembering that priority by proximity does not remove year-to-year variation in demand.

Demand is a meaningful factor here. The latest available applications-to-offers dataset records 1,115 applications for 173 offers, a ratio of 6.45 applications per place. For parents, the implication is simple: list realistic alternatives on the local authority form, even if this school is your first preference.

For September 2026 entry (Year 7), Birmingham’s published timeline includes:

• Applications open on 01 September 2025

• Statutory closing date 31 October 2025

• National offer day 02 March 2026

• Appeals deadline listed as 13 April 2026, with appeal hearings later in the summer term

These dates are easy to miss, so families should plan backwards from October half term in Year 6, especially if you are also visiting schools or considering faith schools with supplementary forms.

Open events are referenced as taking place at the start of the academic year, which typically means early autumn. Exact dates vary by year, so it is best to check the school’s current calendar and admissions page for the latest schedule.

Pastoral messaging is unusually specific. The school describes itself as part of the Trauma Informed Attachment Aware Schools programme, with training that covers trauma, Adverse Childhood Experiences, resilience-building strategies, and a shared model of emotion coaching. The practical benefit for students is a common language for naming emotions and responding to dysregulation, which can reduce escalation and support reintegration into learning after setbacks.

The Ofsted evidence base also points to staff listening carefully to students’ perspectives and taking feelings into account, which is consistent with an attachment-aware model. Families of students who have struggled with school anxiety, friendship turbulence, or behaviour that masks unmet needs may see this as an advantage, provided it is paired with firm academic expectations.

Parents should still ask the operational questions that matter: how concerns are triaged, what the referral routes are for more intensive support, and how behaviour policies balance relational practice with consequences. The published school-day model suggests that accountability is built into routines, including how the end of day is structured.

Extracurricular provision is framed as part of weekly routine, not a bolt-on. The published timetable includes a dedicated enrichment slot from 3:05pm to 3:35pm on standard days, which creates a predictable space for clubs and interventions.

Sports options include after-school football by year group, an all-years cricket club, a running and fitness club, a hockey club, and all-year badminton. For students who thrive on physical routine, that range is useful because it covers both team sport and individual fitness options.

Broader enrichment is also referenced through activities such as drumming and photography, alongside educational visits including to a local Royal Air Force base, food production sites, and European cities. The implication is that enrichment is intended to widen horizons, not just keep students busy after the bell.

Student voice and leadership are positioned as a structured strand of school life, with a stated aim of empowering students to work in partnership with staff and develop leadership skills that have practical impact on learning and wellbeing. This may appeal to families with children who gain confidence through responsibility, particularly during the Year 8 to Year 10 window when motivation can dip.

The published daily routine starts with registration at 8:30am and includes five teaching periods, split lunch, and an end-of-day structure that can vary depending on whether expectations have been met, with enrichment continuing to 3:35pm. Fridays include a longer morning session for PSHE.

For travel, Kings Heath is expected to regain a local rail station as part of the Camp Hill line project, with Transport for West Midlands stating that highway works are complete and the station is expected to open in Spring 2026. That is likely to matter for some commuting families over the next few years, alongside existing bus routes and nearby stations.

• Co-education is still new. The move to a mixed intake began in September 2024, so parents should ask how the transition has affected pastoral systems, facilities, and culture across year groups.

• SEND adaptation consistency. External evidence highlighted that classroom work is not always adapted consistently for students with SEND, which can affect progress; families should explore how strategies are communicated and monitored across subjects.

• Curriculum breadth in key stage 3. At the time of the latest inspection, leaders were directed to ensure all aspects of the key stage 3 curriculum entitlement are delivered in every relevant subject; ask what has changed since then.

• Competition for places. Demand is high in the recorded application cycle, so a realistic admissions strategy matters, including a strong set of alternative preferences on the local authority form.

Kings Heath Secondary School is a structured, community-focused 11–16 school that combines clear routines with an unusually explicit, whole-school approach to trauma-informed practice and emotion coaching. Results sit broadly in line with the middle of schools in England, so outcomes are likely to depend heavily on individual engagement, attendance, and the fit between the student and the school’s expectations and routines. Best suited to families who want a mainstream local secondary with clear day-to-day structure, a strong wellbeing framework, and a steadily improving post-transition identity; the main challenge is securing admission in a competitive local market.