Alsop High School Review 2026: Large Liverpool secondary, improvement journey in motion

Alsop High School is a large mixed 11 to 18 academy serving Walton and wider Liverpool, with capacity for around 1,800 students. It sits within Omega Multi-Academy Trust (joined November 2020) and has seen major site investment over the past decade, including updated dining, dance and performance spaces, and newer teaching areas.

Leadership is a key recent change. Mr James Kerfoot became Executive Principal on 1 June 2024, following a period of leadership turbulence referenced in the most recent inspection.

The headline external judgement remains Requires Improvement from the May 2023 inspection. That places the school firmly in “improve quickly and consistently” territory, with particular focus needed on attendance, consistent classroom delivery, and students missing learning through internal truancy.

Scale shapes the experience here. A large roll can bring breadth of subject choice, peer groups, and activities, but it also raises the bar for routines that keep learning calm and predictable. The published structure of the day leans into that need for order, with early arrival, line ups, uniform checks, and a tutor-time register before lessons begin.

There are also clear signs of a school trying to reset expectations. A May 2024 communication to families frames behaviour and learning culture as an active workstream, with explicit attention to lesson attendance and staffing stability. It is not the language of a school coasting, it reads as a school rebuilding basics.

The May 2023 inspection described a school impacted by repeated senior leadership changes, while also pointing to stronger stability through the trust and governance arrangements. That context matters because it helps explain why parents may hear two different stories at once, improved direction at leadership level, and uneven classroom experience while practice catches up.

Community identity appears often in official messaging, including the mission statement, Achieving Excellence Together. For families, the practical question is how that translates into daily habits, consistent routines, and teaching that helps students remember and build knowledge over time, not just complete tasks.

Performance data in this review uses FindMySchool rankings and the accompanying outcomes dataset for consistency across schools.

At GCSE level, Alsop is ranked 3,813th in England and 48th in Liverpool for GCSE outcomes (FindMySchool ranking based on official data). This places it below England average overall, and it aligns with a school where improving everyday attendance, behaviour routines, and consistent teaching quality will likely have the biggest impact on outcomes.

The underlying GCSE measures reinforce that challenge. The Attainment 8 score is 26.6, and Progress 8 is -1.72, indicating that, on average, students made substantially less progress than similar students nationally. Ebacc measures are also low with an Ebacc APS of 2.27 and 2.4% achieving grades 5 or above across the Ebacc.

In the sixth form, outcomes also sit in the lower tier. Alsop is ranked 2,406th in England and 38th in Liverpool for A-level outcomes (FindMySchool ranking based on official data). The grade distribution shows 20.31% at A* to B, compared with an England benchmark of 47.2% ’s reference averages.

The practical implication for families is straightforward. If your child is academically self-motivated and attends well, the school’s breadth, facilities, and curricular ambition may still work for them. If they need very consistent classroom routines and high levels of daily learning discipline around them, you will want to probe carefully on behaviour consistency, attendance strategy, and how the school is reducing lesson avoidance.

Curriculum intent appears stronger than execution in the most recent inspection evidence. The May 2023 report describes ambitious, well-sequenced plans in many subjects, with careful attention to what students should learn and in what order. Where it fell short was consistency, some teaching methods were not applied reliably, misconceptions were not identified early enough, and students did not retain knowledge as securely as they should.

Reading is a clear strategic priority. The inspection evidence points to targeted identification of gaps and structured support, including the use of “reading graduations” to mark progress. For families, this is one of the more concrete indicators of a whole-school approach that is likely to benefit weaker readers and disadvantaged students, provided lesson attendance is strong enough for them to access it.

For students with SEND, the same theme appears, intent is visible, but early identification and consistent classroom adaptation were described as underdeveloped. Parents of children with additional needs should ask practical questions about teacher access to pupil profiles, what adaptations are expected in lessons, and how the school checks that adaptations are actually happening day to day.

At sixth form level, published entry requirements set a baseline expectation of five GCSE passes, with higher thresholds for Sciences, Maths, and Spanish. This is useful because it signals that post-16 study is intended to be a purposeful step up, not simply a default continuation.

Destinations data available for Alsop’s most recent published leavers cohort shows a mixed picture, with 40% progressing to university, 6% to further education, 8% to apprenticeships, and 24% into employment (2023/24 cohort; cohort size 106). This points to a school where “next steps” are varied, and where strong careers guidance matters because students are heading into multiple pathways, not a single dominant route.

The May 2023 inspection evidence supports that need, describing a comprehensive careers education programme designed to help students make informed decisions. In a school working on overall outcomes, high-quality guidance can be a stabilising factor, especially for students choosing technical routes or needing support to secure post-16 places outside the school.

A major live issue for post-16 planning is the ongoing proposal to stop admitting external students into Year 12 from September 2026, following a consultation that ran from 24 November 2025 to 5 January 2026. The school indicated it expected an outcome by the end of January 2026. Families considering Year 12 entry should treat this as time-sensitive and verify the current position before building a plan around Alsop’s sixth form.

Year 7 entry is via local authority coordinated admissions. The school’s published admission number (PAN) is 270 for Year 7 entry in September 2026.

For September 2026 entry, the admissions policy sets out a clear timeline. The closing date for applications is 31 October 2025, with offers made on 2 March 2026. If you are applying late, the policy explains that late applications are processed after on-time applications except for limited exceptional circumstances (for example, a change of address).

Oversubscription criteria follow the familiar pattern for academies operating within coordinated arrangements. Looked-after and previously looked-after children are prioritised; siblings are next; there is a medical/social need category requiring evidence; and then distance is used, measured in miles as a straight-line calculation using local authority systems.

If distance is a deciding factor for your family, use the FindMySchool Map Search to check your precise home-to-school distance and compare it with historic patterns across Liverpool schools. Even where a school measures in straight lines, small differences can matter near the cut-off.

Open events are clearly geared to the Year 6 decision window. For 2026 entry, the school published an Open Evening on Thursday 25 September 2025 (4:00pm to 6:30pm) aimed at families considering September 2026. In most schools, that late-September timing is the repeating pattern year to year, so families looking further ahead should expect open events around that period, then confirm exact dates on the school calendar.

Safeguarding strength is a non-negotiable baseline for any school, and the May 2023 inspection report confirms that arrangements were effective at that time, including staff training, reporting systems, and work with external agencies.

Pastoral culture is closely linked to attendance and behaviour. The same inspection evidence suggests most students felt happy and safe and that reported bullying was addressed, while also identifying a minority whose regular absence and lesson truancy undermined learning and sometimes disrupted others.

For parents, the right questions are operational. How quickly is lesson absence picked up? What happens when a student misses a lesson without authorisation? How does the school work with families where attendance is falling? A large school can do this well, but it requires consistent follow-through across many staff, every day.

The structure of the school day also signals an emphasis on predictable routines. Uniform checks, tutor time, and a built-in after-school “Period 6” slot for booster sessions and clubs suggest the school is trying to combine strong expectations with structured support for exam groups.

A school’s extracurricular programme is only meaningful if students participate consistently, which brings the conversation back to attendance and day-to-day engagement. That said, Alsop publishes enough detail to show that clubs are not just generic labels.

The 2022/23 enrichment timetable includes named options such as Puzzle Club (Year 7) and sports provision including mixed badminton, which also aligns with the inspection evidence that students participated in clubs including keyboard, badminton, and puzzle club. That overlap suggests these activities are embedded rather than one-off.

Facilities investment adds credibility to extracurricular breadth. The school describes an £150k Multi Use Games Area supporting football, rugby, and hockey, plus refurbished spaces including a dance studio and activity suite. For students, that matters because it increases access, you can run sport, fitness, and dance in parallel rather than competing for a single indoor space.

Sport and fitness have also been a visible priority. The school reports a CrossFit affiliated functional fitness suite opened following partnership work connected to British Weightlifting. For teenagers, a functional fitness route can be an alternative “on-ramp” into sport for students who do not see themselves as traditional team-sport participants.

Trips and broader experiences appear in published news, for example a Year 7 visit to Chester Zoo at the end of the school year. These events are not academic outcomes, but they are often where students build attachment to school, which is a real protective factor for attendance and engagement.

The school day is clearly set out. Gates open at 8:00am, structured start routines run from 8:27am, and the formal teaching day ends at 3:00pm, with 3:00pm to 4:00pm allocated to booster sessions for exam groups and clubs.

As a Liverpool school serving Walton and surrounding neighbourhoods, day-to-day travel tends to be bus, car drop-off, or walking for those close enough. In a large secondary, it is worth checking how your child will get home after Period 6, and whether that affects their willingness to attend extra sessions.

• Inspection trajectory and consistency. The May 2023 judgement was Requires Improvement across all graded areas, with delivery inconsistency highlighted as a key barrier to stronger outcomes. Families should ask what has changed since then, and how the school is checking classroom consistency at scale.

• Attendance and lesson avoidance. The inspection evidence points to a minority regularly absent or missing lessons internally. If your child is vulnerable to disengagement, you will want a clear picture of how quickly absence is identified and how intervention works.

• SEND implementation. The inspection evidence flagged weaknesses in early identification and consistent classroom adaptation. Parents of students with additional needs should probe carefully on daily practice, not just policy.

• Sixth form uncertainty for external entry. A consultation proposed stopping Year 12 admissions from September 2026, with an outcome expected by the end of January 2026. If post-16 at Alsop is central to your plan, verify the current position before committing.

Alsop High School is a large Liverpool secondary with clear evidence of investment, structured routines, and a leadership reset that began in June 2024. The current external judgement and performance indicators show that outcomes and consistency still need significant improvement, particularly around attendance and reliable classroom delivery.

Who it suits: families who want a broad, local comprehensive with developing culture and facilities, and who are prepared to engage actively with attendance, routines, and support if their child needs it. For academically driven students who attend well and respond to structure, the school’s scale and curriculum ambition can still be a workable match. For students who need highly consistent behaviour norms around them every lesson, careful due diligence is essential.