Bloxwich Academy, Walsall

Ofsted's report card from its 10 February 2026 inspection grades Bloxwich Academy on 7 areas: 1 strong standard, 2 expected standard and 4 needs attention. Report cards replaced single-word judgements in November 2025, on a five-point scale from exceptional to urgent improvement.

Early years - Strong standard. "Leaders ensure that children have a highly positive start to their time at the school."

Inclusion - Expected standard. "Leaders have prioritised the creation of an inclusive culture to ensure that pupils are supported to thrive."

Personal development and wellbeing - Expected standard. "Leaders have in place an appropriate programme of personal development."

Achievement - Needs attention. "Although there were some improvements last year, over time pupils in the secondary phase have not attained well or made the progress they should from their starting points."

Attendance and behaviour - Needs attention. "Over time, pupils have not attended the school as regularly as they should."

Curriculum and teaching - Needs attention. "The curriculum in each subject identifies the key knowledge pupils should learn in a logical order."

Leadership and governance - Needs attention. "The secondary phase of the school has experienced a period of considerable instability, which has impacted standards extensively."

Safeguarding standards were met.

Ofsted's next steps for the school: "Leaders should continue to identify and close legacy gaps in the knowledge of pupils in the secondary phase, including some foundational knowledge, so that pupils benefit more from improvements to the curriculum and teaching and achieve all that they should"; "Leaders should ensure that they embed attendance strategies to support pupils to attend more regularly, especially for pupils in the secondary phase and particularly for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities"; "Leaders should ensure that staff in the secondary phases take into account pupils' starting points, when designing learning tasks, and consistently check pupils' understanding of the key knowledge that they need to learn, so that this information can be used to adapt future learning tasks"; "Leaders, including trustees, should continue to check the progress and impact of agreed strategies to improve the secondary provision so that recent improvements are sustained and built upon".

In 2026, pupils at Bloxwich Academy averaged an Attainment 8 score of 32.9, the average grade across their best eight GCSEs. The average state school scored 43.9 in Walsall and 47 across England.

21% passed English and maths at grade 5 or above, against 39% in Walsall and 47% in England.

That is in line with 2025, when the score was 32.9.

Its most recent Progress 8 score, for 2024, was -0.45: pupils made below average progress compared with pupils nationally who started secondary school at the same level. Progress 8 was not published for 2026.

Disadvantaged pupils averaged an Attainment 8 of 29.2, against 39.1 for other pupils at the school - a gap of 9.9 points.

Pupils sat GCSEs in 24 subjects; after English and maths, the most popular were Combined Science, Statistics and Geography.

For September 2026 entry, 139 families put Bloxwich Academy as their first choice and 321 named it as one of their preferences, for 180 places offered. It had fewer first-choice applications than places. 4 families who put it first were not offered a place there.

The nearest other state secondary schools to Bloxwich Academy are Willenhall E-ACT Academy (0.9 miles, Requires improvement, Attainment 8 32.7); Walsall Academy (1.2 miles, Requires improvement, Attainment 8 43.5); Coppice Performing Arts School (1.6 miles, Good, Attainment 8 46.7); and Pool Hayes Academy (1.6 miles, Good, Attainment 8 36.8).

Bloxwich Academy's 2026 results were higher than 1 of these 4 schools.

Bloxwich Academy is one of 9 schools run by Matrix Academy Trust, an academy trust.

Across the trust's secondary schools, pupils averaged an Attainment 8 score of 44 in 2024/25.

49 parents answered Ofsted's Parent View survey about Bloxwich Academy (as of April 2026): 43% would recommend the school, 43% say their child is happy there and 25% of those with a view say bullying is dealt with well.

The strongest agreement was that their child feels safe (55%); the weakest, that the school deals with bullying well (among parents with a view) (25%).

Of the 194 pupils who finished Year 11 in 2023/24, 80% stayed in education or training for at least two terms, including 63% to a further education college, 1% to an apprenticeship and 2% into work.

Of the 53 students who left the sixth form in 2023/24, 51% went on to university or other higher education, 6% to apprenticeships and 13% into work.

62.8% of pupils are eligible for free school meals, well above the average state school (25%), and 10.3% speak English as an additional language, against 18.8% on average, according to the 2026 school census.

The largest ethnic groups are White British (73%), Black (11%) and Mixed (6%).

In 2026, 213 pupils (15.4%) received SEN support and 39 (2.8%) had an education, health and care plan, against 16.2% and 4.6% at the average state school. The most common need among them is social, emotional and mental health needs.

Bloxwich Academy had 111 teachers in 2026, one for every 13 pupils: more teachers per pupil than a typical secondary school, at about one for every 17.

The nearest railway station is Bloxwich Rail Station, about 980 metres away (roughly a 12-minute walk).

7 bus stops are within a five-minute walk; the closest is Willenhall Lane (before), 70 metres away.

Measured by the 2025 English Indices of Deprivation, the neighbourhood Bloxwich Academy stands in is among the 10% most deprived neighbourhoods in England. This describes where the school is, not where its pupils live.

In 2024/25, Bloxwich Academy issued 1721 suspensions, 118.8 for every 100 pupils (the average state school: 6.3), and 5 permanent exclusions.

The primary schools closest to Bloxwich Academy are Busill Jones Primary School (0.4 miles), Elmore Green Primary School (0.6 miles), Woodlands Academy of Learning (0.7 miles) and Leamore Primary School (0.8 miles). Admission does not depend on which primary a child attends unless the school's policy names feeder schools.