Firwood High School
Firwood High School is a special academy in Bolton for boys and girls aged 11 to 19. It has 261 pupils, 111 more than it has places for. About 56 in every 100 pupils come from a low-income family, far more than at most schools in England. Ofsted's last grade was good, back in 2023.
Stitch-MI Lane, Bolton, BL2 4HU01204 333044firwood.bolton.sch.ukMr Carl Heatley head of schoolAll details
What Ofsted found
A shorter visit on 8 March 2023 found nothing to change the school's grade. Read the report on Ofsted's website.
Good overall. A shorter follow-up visit found nothing to change that. The last full inspection was before September 2019, which is as far back as Ofsted's public records go, so we can't show its date or the grades for each area.
Results
GCSE results, summer 2025
30 pupils sat their GCSEs. Here is how they did against every state secondary in England.
The government hasn't published this school's headline results. That usually means the year group was too small to publish without identifying children.
Getting a place
Admissions policy not published.
Each council publishes its own figures on how many families applied and how far away the last child to get a place lived. We are adding councils one at a time. If you have a link to Bolton council's admissions booklet, send it to us.
Who goes here
Who the school teaches, from the latest school census.
Specialist SEND provision. A special school for pupils with severe learning difficulties.
To get a place in the unit or resourced provision, a child normally needs an education, health and care plan (EHCP) that names the school. Other schools in Bolton with severe learning difficulties provision.
The most common needs among pupils getting extra support: Autistic spectrum disorder (104), Severe learning difficulty (77), Profound and multiple learning difficulty (51), Moderate learning difficulty (7), language and communications needs (7), Specific learning difficulty (5).
How the mix of pupils has changed
| Census | 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils on roll | 261 | 230 | 212 | 199 | 187 | 164 |
| Pupils from low-income familiesFree school meals | 53% | 51% | 51% | 47% | 44% | 43% |
| Pupils learning EnglishEnglish as an additional language | 31% | 32% | 32% | 32% | 33% | 31% |
| Pupils getting extra supportSEN support | – | 1% | 2% | 2% | 3% | 1% |
| Pupils with an EHC planEducation, health and care plans | – | 99% | 98% | 98% | 97% | 99% |
Attendance and behaviour
In 2024/25 pupils were in school 86.1% of the time. Across similar schools in England it was 94.8%.
Attendance year by year
| Measure | 2024/25 | 2023/24 | 2022/23 | 2021/22 | 2020/21 | 2018/19 | England |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sessions missedOverall absence | 14.0% | 14.4% | 12.6% | 15.3% | 18.6% | 13.4% | 5.2% |
| Missed with permissionAuthorised absence | 12.5% | 13.1% | 11.7% | 14.9% | 18.2% | 12.6% | – |
| Missed without permissionUnauthorised absence | 1.5% | 1.3% | 0.8% | 0.4% | 0.4% | 0.7% | – |
| Pupils missing a lot of schoolPersistent absence | 37.7% | 40.4% | 42.1% | 40.5% | 74.8% | 38.1% | 12.8% |
| SuspensionsSuspension rate | 6.5 | 1.4 | 2.0 | 0.5 | 1.8 | – | – |
| Permanent exclusionsPermanent exclusions | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – |
What pupils do next
After GCSEs
Where the 17 pupils who left in 2022/23 were a year later.
Among pupils from low-income families it was 100%, compared with 100% for everyone else.
Earlier years
| Destination | 2022/23 leavers | 2021/22 leavers | 2020/21 leavers | 2019/20 leavers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Still in education, work or training | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% |
| Education | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% |
| Apprenticeship | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Work | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Not in education, work or training | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
Staff and money
From the government's count of school staff in November 2025 and the school's published accounts.
Money
From the academy accounts return, year to August 2025. The per-pupil figures are compared with other special schools in England that report their accounts the same way.
Reserves are the money left over at the end of the year, kept back for emergencies and big projects. Being in the red year after year is a warning sign. Very large reserves can mean money sitting in the bank instead of being spent on today's pupils. Academy figures are rounded to the nearest £1,000 and include a share of any money the trust holds centrally.
The area around the school
Crime figures come from police.uk. The police record each crime at the nearest of a fixed set of map points rather than the exact spot, so “within 500 m” is only rough. House prices are from HM Land Registry sales nearby over the last two years.
Nearby schools
The closest schools, nearest first. Hover over a row to see it on the map.
| School | Type | Distance | Pupils | Ofsted | Score | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bolton St Catherine's Academy | Academy | 210 m | 1,003 | No overall grade 2025 | 10 | Compare |
| Harwood Meadows Primary School | Academy | 420 m | 224 | Report card 2026 | 39 | Compare |
| Red Lane Primary School | Academy | 720 m | 475 | No overall grade 2025 | 69 | Compare |
| Hardy Mill Primary School | Council | 820 m | 316 | Not inspected | 51 | Compare |
| St Brendan's RC Primary School, Harwood, Bolton | Roman Catholic | 0.7 miles | 199 | Good 2020 | 54 | Compare |
| Park School Teaching Service | Academy alternative provision converter | 0.8 miles | 12 | Not inspected | – | Compare |
| Forwards Centre | Academy alternative provision converter | 0.8 miles | 48 | No overall grade 2025 | – | Compare |
| Breightmet School | Independent | 0.8 miles | 18 | Not inspected | – | Compare |
Questions parents ask
Is Firwood High School a good school?
Firwood High School doesn't have a score yet. Ofsted rated it good at its last inspection in March 2023.
What is Firwood High School's Ofsted rating?
Ofsted rated Firwood High School good at its last full inspection on 8 March 2023.
How many pupils does Firwood High School have?
261 pupils aged 11 to 19 were on the roll in January 2026. It has 150 places, so it is 174% full.
What is attendance like at Firwood High School?
Pupils were in school 86.1% of the time in 2024/25. Similar schools in England managed 94.8%. 38% of pupils missed at least a tenth of the year.
Does Firwood High School have specialist SEND provision?
Yes. It is a special school for severe learning difficulties. To get a place there, a child normally needs an education, health and care plan (EHCP) that names the school.
Does Firwood High School have a sixth form?
Yes.
These answers come straight from the figures on this page and update when new data comes out.
Contact and details
- Address
- Stitch-MI Lane, Bolton, BL2 4HU
- Telephone
- 01204 333044
- Website
- www.firwood.bolton.sch.uk
- Head of School
- Mr Carl Heatley
- Type of school
- Special academy (Academy special converter, academies)
- Phase
- Special school, ages 11-19, with sixth form
- Gender
- Mixed
- Multi-academy trust
- Woodbridge Trust (2 schools)
- Local authority
- Bolton
- Ward
- Breightmet
- Constituency
- Bolton North East
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Opened
- 1 October 2018 (academy converter)
- URN
- 146410 · LAESTAB 3507004 · UKPRN 10081168
- Formerly
- Firwood High School
Recent changes
- New KS4 results for 2024/25
Where these figures come from
- School details: Department for Education, Get Information About Schools, refreshed daily (this page rebuilt 13 September 2026).
- Inspections: Ofsted management information, monthly; latest publication in our data 27 August 2026.
- GCSE results: DfE key stage 4 performance tables, 2024/25 final.
- Attendance: DfE pupil absence in schools in England, 2024/25 full year.
- Pupil characteristics: DfE school census, January 2026.
- Staff: DfE school workforce census, November 2025.
- Pupil premium: DfE allocations and conditions of grant, 2026 to 2027.
- Money: DfE financial benchmarking and insights tool, academy accounts return 2024/25.
- Neighbourhood: police.uk street-level crime, HM Land Registry price paid data, NaPTAN bus stops, English Indices of Deprivation 2025.
- All under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Full list and update calendar.