Childwall Sports & Science Academy, Liverpool

Ofsted's report card from its 23 June 2026 inspection grades Childwall Sports & Science Academy on 7 areas: 5 expected standard and 2 needs attention. Report cards replaced single-word judgements in November 2025, on a five-point scale from exceptional to urgent improvement.

Attendance and behaviour - Expected standard. "Leaders check patterns in pupils' attendance often and carefully to ensure that pupils, who are struggling to attend, get the help that they need quickly."

Inclusion - Expected standard. "Leaders are rightly proud of their inclusive approach."

Leadership and governance - Expected standard. "Leaders and those responsible for governance understand and fulfil their statutory responsibilities, including for safeguarding."

Personal development and wellbeing - Expected standard. "Leaders ensure that the personal development programme is carefully designed."

Post-16 provision - Expected standard. "Leaders ensure that all students, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities or other barriers to learning, get the help that they need to be successful."

Achievement - Needs attention. "Pupils' attainment at the end of Year 11 is below average in many subjects."

Curriculum and teaching - Needs attention. "Leaders ensure that the curriculum is well designed."

Safeguarding standards were met.

Ofsted's next steps for the school: "Through improving the consistency and effectiveness of teaching across the school, including how teachers identify pupils' misconceptions and address them fully, leaders should continue to raise pupils' achievement further and ensure that this is reflected in more positive examination outcomes, particularly at the end of Year 11"; "Leaders should sharpen their checks on the effectiveness of the strategy to improve outcomes for disadvantaged pupils, so that this strategy is having the full impact that leaders intend"; "Building on the success of their strategies to improve pupils' attendance, leaders should ensure that rates of attendance continue to rise further"; "Leaders should ensure that they meet the government's expectations for the minimum hours that pupils should attend school each week".

In 2026, pupils at Childwall Sports & Science Academy averaged an Attainment 8 score of 35.2, the average grade across their best eight GCSEs. The average state school scored 42.8 in Liverpool and 47 across England.

22% passed English and maths at grade 5 or above, against 38% in Liverpool and 47% in England.

That is down from 36.2 in 2025.

Its most recent Progress 8 score, for 2024, was -0.92: pupils made well 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 31.3, against 39.5 for other pupils at the school - a gap of 8.2 points.

Pupils sat GCSEs in 24 subjects; after English and maths, the most popular were Combined Science, Business Studies and History.

For September 2026 entry, 167 families put Childwall Sports & Science Academy as their first choice and 744 named it as one of their preferences, for 172 places offered. It had fewer first-choice applications than places. 56 families who put it first were not offered a place there.

The nearest other state secondary schools to Childwall Sports & Science Academy are King David High School (0.2 miles, Good, Attainment 8 55.4); The Blue Coat School (0.8 miles, Good, selective, Attainment 8 78.6); Dixons Broadgreen Academy (0.9 miles, Attainment 8 37); and Calderstones School (1.1 miles, Good, Attainment 8 45.9).

Each of them had higher 2026 results than Childwall Sports & Science Academy.

Childwall Sports & Science Academy is one of 4 schools run by Lydiate Learning Trust, an academy trust.

Of the 177 pupils who finished Year 11 in 2023/24, 83% stayed in education or training for at least two terms, including 46% to a further education college, 2% to an apprenticeship and 2% into work.

Of the 64 students who left the sixth form in 2023/24, 38% went on to university or other higher education, 6% to apprenticeships and 25% into work. 5% went to one of the most selective third of universities.

45.8% of pupils are eligible for free school meals, well above the average state school (25%), according to the 2026 school census.

In 2026, 235 pupils (22.4%) received SEN support and 39 (3.7%) 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.

The nearest railway station is Broad Green Rail Station, about 900 metres away (roughly a 11-minute walk).

13 bus stops are within a five-minute walk; the closest is Charnley Drive (adjacent), 150 metres away.

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

In August 2026, police recorded 171 crimes within a mile of the school, most often violence and sexual offences, public order offences and vehicle crime. That is well below the typical figure around schools in Liverpool (342).

In 2024/25, Childwall Sports & Science Academy issued 83 suspensions, 7.9 for every 100 pupils (the average state school: 6.3), and 3 permanent exclusions.

The primary schools closest to Childwall Sports & Science Academy are Christ The King Catholic Primary School (under 0.1 miles), King David Primary School (0.2 miles), Rudston Primary School (0.4 miles) and Mosspits Lane Primary School (0.5 miles). Admission does not depend on which primary a child attends unless the school's policy names feeder schools.