Queen Elizabeth High School, Bromyard Review 2026: A small 11–16 academy with a community feel

For families in and around Bromyard looking for an 11–16 secondary with a smaller-scale feel, Queen Elizabeth High School positions itself around personal attention, clear expectations, and a practical pathway to post-16 choices. The school is part of Three Counties Academy Trust, with leadership structured through an Executive Headteacher model.

The most recent Ofsted inspection (visit 10–11 January 2023, report published 10 February 2023) confirmed the school continues to be Good, and safeguarding is effective.

A defining feature here is scale. The school describes itself as a smaller community where pupils are known as individuals, and that message is reinforced by the way it talks about day-to-day expectations and belonging. Its mantra, Support. Believe. Achieve., appears across the school’s public materials and is framed as a shared language for ambition and participation.

Leadership sits with Mr Martin Farmer as Executive Headteacher. Official trust documentation states he joined Queen Elizabeth as substantive headteacher in September 2014, which makes this a relatively stable leadership period by state-sector standards.

The school’s historic roots are also unusually deep for a modern comprehensive. The Bromyard Grammar School Foundation material linked to the school traces the free grammar school foundation to 1566 under Queen Elizabeth I, and explains later mergers that shaped the current secondary provision. It is not a heritage school in the traditional sense, but the narrative matters locally and feeds into its community identity.

On the FindMySchool GCSE outcomes ranking, the school is ranked 3,181st in England and 1st in the Bromyard local area for GCSE outcomes. This places results below England average overall, within the bottom 40% band on this measure. (FindMySchool ranking based on official data.)

Looking at the underlying outcome indicators provided, the school’s Attainment 8 score is 39.6, and Progress 8 is -0.46. For parents, a negative Progress 8 score is the clearest single signpost that outcomes, on average, are below what would be expected from students’ starting points. The EBacc average point score is 3.33.

One practical implication is that improvement work tends to be most visible in consistency: clear explanations, strong feedback routines, and subject-by-subject teaching quality matter more here than chasing marginal structural changes. Those are also the themes that appear most prominently in external evaluation of teaching development.

Curriculum messaging is direct: the school describes its curriculum as planned to meet pupils’ needs and aspirations, with breadth maintained across key stages. At GCSE, it states that all pupils study English, English Literature, mathematics, science (combined or separate), and either history or geography, with options arranged on a two-week timetable.

One of the more distinctive features, relative to many small 11–16 schools, is the deliberate inclusion of vocational pathways alongside GCSE routes. The 2023 inspection report notes vocational options such as land-based studies or construction, and frames these as valued by pupils. For families weighing practical progression routes post-16, that breadth can matter as much as headline measures, particularly where local college offers are strongest in technical and mixed programmes.

The school also publishes subject-level intent statements, which is helpful for parents trying to understand what “good teaching” looks like here in concrete terms. English, for example, outlines specific KS3 texts and writing sequences, while ICT and science describe a skills-led progression model designed to build confidence and independence.

As an 11–16 school, the key transition is post-16. The school highlights structured careers education and a work experience entitlement. The 2023 inspection report states that pupils benefit from a well-structured careers programme that includes a work experience opportunity for every pupil, and the school’s enrichment materials describe two weeks of work experience for Year 10.

For higher prior-attaining pupils, the school’s High Attainers strand references visits that include Hereford Sixth Form College, Worcester University, and a Russell Group university visit. The value here is not the branding, it is early familiarity with post-16 and post-18 options, which can improve decision-making for students who have not previously had strong exposure to university and apprenticeship pathways.

Because there is no internal sixth form, families should plan early for the Year 11 to Year 12 transfer process: open events, course choices, transport, and the difference between sixth form colleges, FE colleges, and school sixth forms. The school’s own careers and enrichment structure suggests it expects and supports that planning rather than treating it as an afterthought.

Admissions are coordinated with Herefordshire local authority processes, even though the school is an academy. The school states that the online application deadline is 31 October in any given academic year for entry the following year, using the local authority common application route. It also states a published admission number of 80, with the note that additional places may sometimes be offered where demand exceeds that number.

For September 2026 Year 7 entry, Herefordshire Council confirms the application deadline was 31 October 2025, with national offer day 2 March 2026. It also publishes the late-application windows and explains that late applications are processed after national offer day.

Demand data in the provided dataset indicates 101 applications for 74 offers on the Year 7 entry route, with an “oversubscribed” status and an applications-to-offers ratio of 1.36. In plain terms, it is competitive but not in the same bracket as the most heavily oversubscribed urban comprehensives; the limiting factor is still whether a place is available at the point of allocation.

Pastoral messaging is consistent across sources: pupils are described as safe and well cared for, with calm movement around the site and lessons rarely disrupted by poor behaviour. Safeguarding processes are described as systematic, with regular training and strong links to external agencies where pupils need support.

The school’s wider development programme is also framed as structured rather than occasional. The 2023 report references a weekly programme supporting pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development, built around a “ready, respectful, resilient, and safe” ethos. For parents, this is most relevant where a child benefits from predictable routines and clear behavioural norms.

SEND support is described as practical and classroom-based, including adaptive resourcing and effective teaching assistant support helping pupils access the full curriculum. That is an important differentiator, because in smaller secondaries the risk is sometimes that support becomes narrow or peripheral; the evidence here points to integration into everyday learning.

Extracurricular provision is presented through two lenses: regular clubs and targeted enrichment. On the clubs side, the school publishes a seasonal programme including team sports and fitness options, plus Duke of Edinburgh for older year groups. Across autumn and spring terms, offerings listed include rugby, football, netball, and dance fitness, with athletics appearing in summer.

Duke of Edinburgh is a clear pillar. The school describes itself as a licensed centre offering Bronze and Silver, with weekly sessions, expedition training, and local countryside practice alongside further afield areas such as the Gower Peninsula for expeditions. For students who respond well to goal-based programmes, this can be one of the strongest non-exam development routes available in an 11–16 setting.

Subject-linked enrichment is another strength that appears in detail rather than headlines. Science, for example, lists trips including the Big Bang Science Fair and London museum visits, as well as practical activities such as dissections and water rocket projects, alongside revision and workshop sessions. This matters because it provides concrete experiences that can improve engagement, particularly for students who learn best through applied work.

The house system is used explicitly to create participation and shared responsibility. The school describes four houses, Pegasus, Griffin, Phoenix and Wyvern, and frames the model around sporting and cultural events designed to promote teamwork and community spirit.

The school day runs 08.35 to 15.15, with form time followed by five teaching periods, break, and lunch. The published weekly taught time is stated as 33 hours and 20 minutes including break and lunch.

For transport and travel, families should plan on a rural catchment pattern where journeys can be more variable than in towns and cities; timing and route options often depend on where pupils are coming from across the wider Bromyard area.

• Post-16 transition is unavoidable. With provision ending at Year 11, every student must move setting at 16. For some, this is positive and opens up a wider course choice; for others, it adds uncertainty that needs early planning.

• Outcomes data points to a progress challenge. A Progress 8 score of -0.46 suggests outcomes are below what would be expected from starting points, so families should explore how subjects handle feedback, revision, and intervention, particularly in Year 10 and Year 11.

• Teaching consistency is a key improvement lever. External evaluation highlights variation in how clearly new content is explained and how reliably feedback helps pupils correct misconceptions. This is especially important for students who need highly explicit instruction.

• Admissions can still be competitive. The school publishes a PAN of 80 and notes that demand can exceed that number. Dataset demand ratios also indicate oversubscription, so timing and realistic preferences matter.

Queen Elizabeth High School suits families who value a smaller secondary setting, clear expectations, and a structured approach to wellbeing and careers preparation. Pastoral culture and enrichment, including Duke of Edinburgh and curriculum-linked activities, are tangible strengths. Best suited to students who will benefit from being known personally and from routine-based support, and to families comfortable with a planned post-16 move at the end of Year 11. Entry remains the practical hurdle rather than the day-to-day experience, so applications need to be well-timed and realistic.