King's Leadership Academy Hawthornes, Bootle
King's Leadership Academy Hawthornes is a secondary school for pupils aged 11 to 16 in Bootle, part of The Great Schools Trust. It was rated Good at its last graded Ofsted inspection, in September 2023. Its 2026 GCSE results were the 17th-highest of the 18 schools in Sefton with published results, and 3,071st of 3,298 across England. It was 91% full in 2025.
- GCSE results
- Below England average
- Ofsted
- Good (2023)
- Demand
- Every first choice offered
- Attendance
- Below England average
- Progress (2024)
- Well below average
Year 7 offers for September 2027: Monday 1 March 2027
Applications closed on 31 October. Late applications are still accepted but considered after on-time ones.
Data last updated 1 Nov 2026
King's Leadership Academy Hawthornes in detail
Results
In 2026, pupils at King's Leadership Academy Hawthornes averaged an Attainment 8 score of 35.7, the average grade across their best eight GCSEs. The average state school scored 43.4 in Sefton and 47 across England.
17% passed English and maths at grade 5 or above, against 39% in Sefton and 47% in England.
That is up from 32.2 in 2025.
Its most recent Progress 8 score, for 2024, was -0.57: 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 33.4, against 39.1 for other pupils at the school - a gap of 5.7 points.
Pupils sat GCSEs in 20 subjects; after English and maths, the most popular were History, Combined Science and Spanish.
Getting a place at King's Leadership Academy Hawthornes
For September 2026 entry, 130 families put King's Leadership Academy Hawthornes as their first choice and 232 named it as one of their preferences, for 167 places offered. It had fewer first-choice applications than places. Every family who put it first was offered a place there for 2026 entry.
Admissions history and your chances at King's Leadership Academy Hawthornes
Compared with nearby schools
The nearest other state secondary schools to King's Leadership Academy Hawthornes are The Salesian Academy of St John Bosco (0.9 miles, Attainment 8 34.2); Hillside High School (1.1 miles, Good, Attainment 8 39.1); Litherland High School (1.2 miles, Good, Attainment 8 37.2); and Archbishop Beck Catholic College (1.3 miles, Good, Attainment 8 39.9).
King's Leadership Academy Hawthornes's 2026 results were higher than 1 of these 4 schools.
The Salesian Academy of St John BoscoHillside High SchoolLitherland High SchoolArchbishop Beck Catholic College
The trust
King's Leadership Academy Hawthornes is one of 8 schools run by The Great Schools Trust, an academy trust.
Across the trust's secondary schools, pupils averaged an Attainment 8 score of 43.3 in 2024/25.
Where pupils go next
Of the 104 pupils who finished Year 11 in 2023/24, 80% stayed in education or training for at least two terms, including 71% to a further education college and 2% into work.
Who goes there
61.6% of pupils are eligible for free school meals, well above the average state school (25%), according to the 2026 school census.
Getting there
The nearest railway station is Orrell Park Rail Station, about 0.8 miles away in a straight line.
18 bus stops are within a five-minute walk; the closest is Kirby Road (adjacent), 50 metres away.
The area around the school
Measured by the 2025 English Indices of Deprivation, the neighbourhood King's Leadership Academy Hawthornes stands in is among the 10% most deprived neighbourhoods in England. This describes where the school is, not where its pupils live.
In August 2026, police recorded 531 crimes within a mile of the school, most often violence and sexual offences, anti-social behaviour and public order offences. That is well above the typical figure around schools in Sefton (165), as is usual near a town centre.
Suspensions and exclusions
In 2024/25, King's Leadership Academy Hawthornes issued 334 suspensions, 50 for every 100 pupils (the average state school: 6.3), and no permanent exclusions.
Primary schools nearby
The primary schools closest to King's Leadership Academy Hawthornes are Springwell Park Community Primary School (0.2 miles), St Robert Bellarmine Catholic Primary School (0.3 miles), Linacre Primary School (0.4 miles) and St Elizabeth's Catholic Primary School (0.4 miles). Admission does not depend on which primary a child attends unless the school's policy names feeder schools.
Springwell Park Community Primary SchoolSt Robert Bellarmine Catholic Primary SchoolLinacre Primary SchoolSt Elizabeth's Catholic Primary School
Sources: DfE school performance data (averages: state mainstream schools); DfE school-level applications and offers; council admissions booklets; DfE appeals statistics; DfE multi-academy trust performance data; DfE destination measures; DfE school census and special educational needs statistics; NaPTAN (Department for Transport); English Indices of Deprivation 2025 (MHCLG); data.police.uk street-level crime; DfE exclusions statistics
Location
Every family who put it first was offered a place for 2026 entry, so distance did not limit places that year.
Key Information
DfE GIASOfsted Rating
Ofsted · 3 years agoOverall
Quality of Education
Behaviour & Attitudes
Personal Development
Leadership & Management
Ofsted's report, in its own words
What is it like to attend this school?
More and more pupils are joining this school as a result of its increasingly good reputation in the local community. Pupils embrace the school's ASPIRE values and ethos.
Many pupils join the school part way through their education. They settle in quickly. They follow school routines and get on well together. They are happy to come to school. Most attend well.
What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?
The school has focused, in recent years, on improving the quality of education that it provides for pupils. It has worked in collaboration with the trust to put a curriculum in place that now meets the requirements of the national curriculum for all year groups. This curriculum identifies the crucial knowledge and the key vocabulary that pupils need to acquire and remember. Staff implement the curriculum in a logical order that enables pupils to make connections in their learning. These improvements in the design and delivery of the curriculum have resulted in improved outcomes for pupils in national tests in many subjects.
Teachers regularly check pupils' understanding and recall. In most subjects, they use the information that they gain to identify and address any gaps in pupils' knowledge. However, in a few subjects, teachers do not use this information well enough to adapt future teaching to enable them to embed missing knowledge. Consequently, in these subjects, pupils cannot build successfully on what they have learned before and struggle to remember their learning over time.
From Ofsted's September 2023 inspection report: the opening paragraphs of each section, quoted word for word. Read the full report Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Ofsted Insights
Ofsted rated this school Good at its September 2023 inspection.
Rated Good for
Quality of education, Behaviour & attitudes, Personal development, Leadership & management.
At a Glance
61.6%
Free School Meals
No
Boarding
No
Nursery
No
Sixth Form
No
Special Measures
Secondary Performance (GCSE)
Academic year 2025/26GCSE Results
2025/26 academic year
Progress 8 has remained stable at around -0.57 (2023 to 2024). Attainment 8 has improved from 31.4 to 35.7 (2023 to 2026). GCSE English & Maths 5+ has improved from 11% to 17% (2023 to 2026).
Performance by Group
| Group | Progress 8 | Attainment 8 | Eng+Maths 5+ |
|---|---|---|---|
| All pupils | - | 35.7 | 17.1% |
| Disadvantaged(74) | - | 33.4 | 12.2% |
| Not known to be disadvantaged(49) | - | 39.1 | 24.5% |
| Boys(59) | - | 31.0 | 10.2% |
| Girls(64) | - | 40.0 | 23.4% |
Show more breakdowns (2)
| Known or believed to be other than English(20) | - | 44.5 | 30% |
| Non mobile(114) | - | 36.3 | 16.7% |
2025/26 academic year - DfE performance tables data
GCSE Subjects Offered
2025/26 academic year - entries by number of pupils
After GCSEs - Leaver Destinations
After GCSEs (Year 11) - 104 students
2023/24 data
Exclusions & Suspensions
0
Permanent exclusions
0.00%
Exclusion rate
334
Suspensions
50.00%
Suspension rate
111 pupils received one or more suspensions out of 668 pupils
2024/25 academic year
How Does This School Compare?
Ranked against 5 nearby secondary schools
Keep up with King's Leadership Academy Hawthornes
Nurseries
The nearest nurseries and pre-schools to King's Leadership Academy Hawthornes, with their latest published grades:
- Northfield Forest School Nursery - Pre-school, 0.4 milesOfsted report card, 16 April 2026: Strong standard in 6 areas; safeguarding standards met
- Ashbourne Day Nursery Bootle - Day nursery, 0.6 milesOfsted, 14 November 2024: Good overall; safeguarding is effective
- Early Learners Day Nursery - Day nursery, 0.6 miles
- Bumbles Orrell Park - Day nursery, 0.7 milesOfsted, 6 October 2021: Good overall; safeguarding is effective
- Kids Planet Linacre Road - Day nursery, 0.8 milesOfsted, 22 July 2025: Good overall; safeguarding is effective
Getting There
Bus Stops
Free school transport
Check free transport to King's Leadership Academy Hawthornes from your postcode →
You apply to the council where you live. King's Leadership Academy Hawthornes is in Sefton; for families living there:
- Sefton's school travel policy: Home to School Transport Policy ext
- How to apply: Apply for Travel Support
Safety and surroundings
Road collisions within 500 m (2021 to 2025)
- Collisions
- 36
- Fatal
- 0
- Serious
- 9
- Children hurt
- 5
Within 500 m of the school's mapped location, police recorded 36 road collisions in which someone was injured in 2021 to 2025: none fatal, 9 serious and 27 slight.
5 children aged 0 to 15 were hurt: 1 on foot, 3 on a bicycle and 1 in a vehicle or otherwise.
7 of the collisions happened on a weekday between 08:00 and 09:30 or 14:45 and 16:30, holidays included.
The typical figure for schools in Sefton is 16 (the median across 116 schools, same distance and years).
Serious and slight are DfT estimates (severity adjustment). Source: Department for Transport, Road Safety Data (STATS19), Open Government Licence v3.0.
Commute and house prices
Your chances of a place at King's Leadership Academy Hawthornes
Will you get a place at King's Leadership Academy Hawthornes?
For 2026 entry it had 130 first choices for 167 places. The report sets your home postcode against these figures.
£9.99 once (inc. VAT; £19.99 for up to three schools), or Pro £9 a month, every report included, cancel any time. What's in the report
Capacity & Demand
School Occupancy
91%
Near capacity
659 pupils
725 places
66 spare places in 2025
2025, DfE school capacity data
Across Sefton council
Places available
3,321
Applications
2,791
Got 1st preference
89.0%
Got preferred school
97.3%
All secondary applications across Sefton council (2026/27), not just this school.
This school: Every first choice offered
Future places in the local planning area
DfE estimates the Bootle & Litherland Secondary planning area (Sefton) will need 43 more secondary places than it is due to have in 2027/28.
Source: Department for Education, School capacity: Academic year 2024/25 (published 19 March 2026), estimates of future school place demand by planning area. Council pupil forecasts against reported places, counting places councils and DfE plan to add or remove; rounded to whole places. Explore Education Statistics
Inspection History(12)
SEND & SEN Provision
SEN Overview
139
SEN Support
39
EHC Plans
25.1%
of Total Pupils
2026 academic year
Provision & Specialist Facilities
Pupils by Need Type
Pupil Demographics
Ethnicity
2026 academic year
Key Indicators
708
Total Pupils
368
Boys
340
Girls
2026 academic year
Workforce
48
Teachers
14.8:1
Pupil-teacher ratio
£45,873
Mean salary
2026 data
School Funding
£8,559
Per pupil
£6316k
Total funding
£431k
Pupil premium
2025-26 financial year allocations
Pupil Absence2024/25
14.2%
Overall absence
43.7%
Persistent absence
703
Enrolments
Absence trend
Source: DfE pupil absence statistics. Persistent absence = pupils missing 10%+ sessions.
Feeder Primary Schools
Primary schools that likely feed into this school, based on proximity
King's Leadership Academy Hawthornes
Showing 10 of 15 linked schools
Questions parents ask about King's Leadership Academy Hawthornes
What are GCSE results like at King's Leadership Academy Hawthornes?
In the 2026 results, pupils at King's Leadership Academy Hawthornes achieved an Attainment 8 score of 35.7. 17% passed GCSE English and maths at grade 5 or above.
What is King's Leadership Academy Hawthornes's Ofsted rating?
King's Leadership Academy Hawthornes was rated Good at its most recent Ofsted inspection in September 2023. At its previous graded inspection in 2020 it was rated Requires Improvement.
Is it hard to get a place at King's Leadership Academy Hawthornes?
King's Leadership Academy Hawthornes was not full in 2025: it ran at 91% of its 725 places.
How big are the classes at King's Leadership Academy Hawthornes?
Classes at King's Leadership Academy Hawthornes average 24 pupils (2025/26).
How many pupils go to King's Leadership Academy Hawthornes?
King's Leadership Academy Hawthornes has around 708 pupils on roll. 62% are eligible for free school meals.
What is attendance like at King's Leadership Academy Hawthornes?
14.2% of sessions were missed at King's Leadership Academy Hawthornes in 2024/25. 43.7% of pupils were persistently absent.
How many road collisions happen near King's Leadership Academy Hawthornes?
Within 500 m of the school's mapped location, police recorded 36 road collisions in which someone was injured in 2021 to 2025: none fatal, 9 serious and 27 slight. 5 children aged 0 to 15 were hurt: 1 on foot, 3 on a bicycle and 1 in a vehicle or otherwise. 7 of the collisions happened on a weekday between 08:00 and 09:30 or 14:45 and 16:30, holidays included. The typical figure for schools in Sefton is 16 (the median across 116 schools, same distance and years).
Where is King's Leadership Academy Hawthornes?
King's Leadership Academy Hawthornes is at Fernhill Road, Bootle, Merseyside, L20 6AQ.
Source: Department for Transport, Road Safety Data (STATS19)