The Bridge Academy, Lichfield

Ofsted's report card from its 14 July 2026 inspection grades The Bridge Academy on 6 areas: 6 expected standard. Report cards replaced single-word judgements in November 2025, on a five-point scale from exceptional to urgent improvement.

Achievement - Expected standard. "Pupils achieve well from their starting points."

Attendance and behaviour - Expected standard. "Leaders understand that many pupils join the school with significant barriers to regular attendance, including exclusion, anxiety and negative perceptions of school."

Curriculum and teaching - Expected standard. "Leaders have developed a curriculum that reflects the needs of the pupils who attend the school."

Inclusion - Expected standard. "Leaders identify pupils' needs accurately."

Leadership and governance - Expected standard. "Leaders understand the school's context well."

Personal development and wellbeing - Expected standard. "Leaders have established a broad personal development programme that reflects pupils' needs, experiences and aspirations."

Safeguarding standards were met.

Ofsted's next steps for the school: "Leaders should further develop pupils' communication, language and writing skills so that they can express their ideas, explain their thinking and communicate their learning confidently across the curriculum"; "Leaders should strengthen the use of assessment so that gaps in learning, including those arising from disrupted educational experiences and absence, are identified and addressed consistently"; "Leaders should strengthen their evaluation of additional funding and targeted support so that the impact on pupils' academic, personal and wider outcomes can be demonstrated with greater precision".

In its own words: "At The Bridge Academy, our mission is to ensure that all students that attend our Academy, are School Ready , Work Ready and Life Ready , prepared for transition of academic challenges ahead, but also with the essential social, and emotional skills needed to thrive within, and beyond, the classroom."

From the headteacher's welcome: "On behalf of our staff and students, I am delighted to welcome you to The Bridge Academy. We believe that every child can, and will, achieve. Our ambition is for every student to achieve all, and more than they ever thought they could, by understanding and removing the barriers that may previously have stood in their way."

Across Staffordshire, 92% of families were offered their first-choice secondary school for 2026 entry, and 98% were offered one of the schools they named.

In 2026, families in Staffordshire lodged 309 appeals against secondary school offers; 231 reached a hearing and 36 succeeded (15.6% of those heard).

The nearest other state secondary schools to The Bridge Academy are Nether Stowe School (0.2 miles, Requires improvement, Attainment 8 39.6); King Edward VI School (0.8 miles, Good, Attainment 8 53.9); The Friary School (1.2 miles, Good, Attainment 8 58.5); and Shire Oak Academy (5.6 miles, Requires improvement, Attainment 8 37).

The Bridge Academy is one of 24 schools run by The Arthur Terry Learning Partnership, an academy trust.

Across the trust's secondary schools, pupils averaged an Attainment 8 score of 44.2 in 2024/25.

Of the 13 pupils who finished Year 11 in 2023/24, 46% stayed in education or training for at least two terms, including 39% to a further education college.

72.5% of pupils are eligible for free school meals, well above the average state school (25%), and 2% speak English as an additional language, against 18.8% on average, according to the 2026 school census.

In 2026, 36 pupils (70.6%) received SEN support and 5 (9.8%) 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.

The nearest railway station is Lichfield City Rail Station, about 870 metres away (roughly a 11-minute walk).

5 bus stops are within a five-minute walk; the closest is Cemetery (adjacent), 220 metres away.

In August 2026, police recorded 230 crimes within a mile of the school, most often violence and sexual offences, anti-social behaviour and shoplifting. That is well above the typical figure around schools in Staffordshire (86), as is usual near a town centre.

The primary schools closest to The Bridge Academy are St Chad's CofE Primary School (0.2 miles), St Michael's CofE (C) Primary School (0.4 miles), SS Peter and Paul Catholic Primary School (0.4 miles) and Scotch Orchard Primary School (0.4 miles). Admission does not depend on which primary a child attends unless the school's policy names feeder schools.