Meadowside School
Meadowside School is a council special school in Wirral for boys and girls aged 11 to 19. It has 114 pupils, 1 more than it has places for. About 60 in every 100 pupils come from a low-income family, far more than at most schools in England. Ofsted's last grade was inspected 2025, no overall grade.
Pool Lane, Woodchurch, Wirral, CH49 5LA0151 678 7711meadowsideschool.comMiss Paula Wareing acting headteacherAll details
What Ofsted found
Ofsted's last full inspection was on 4 March 2025, back when it gave schools one overall grade. Read the report on Ofsted's website.
Not judged Between September 2024 and November 2025, Ofsted graded each area but stopped giving one overall word.
Results
GCSE results, summer 2025
15 pupils sat their GCSEs. Here is how they did against every state secondary in England.
All GCSE measures, year by year
| Measure | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2019 | 2018 | Wirral | England |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of Year 11 | 15 | 14 | 17 | 18 | 5 | 3 | – | – |
| Average GCSE scoreAttainment 8 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.2 | – | – | – | 47.4 | 46.8 |
| Progress from age 11Progress 8 | – | -1.57 | -1.55 | – | – | – | – | – |
| Strong pass in English and mathsGrade 5+ in English and maths | 0% | 0% | 0% | – | – | – | 47% | 46% |
| Standard pass in English and mathsGrade 4+ in English and maths | 0% | 0% | 0% | – | – | – | 65% | 66% |
| Core subjects scoreEBacc average point score | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | – | – | – | 4.16 | 4.15 |
| Taking the core subjectsEBacc entry | 0% | 0% | 0% | – | – | – | 41% | 41% |
| Average GCSE score: pupils who started behindAttainment 8, low prior attainers | – | 0.3 | 0.3 | – | – | – | – | – |
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 Wirral council's admissions booklet, send it to us.
Who goes here
Who the school teaches, from the latest school census.
The most common needs among pupils getting extra support: Severe learning difficulty (83), Moderate learning difficulty (16), Profound and multiple learning difficulty (6), Autistic spectrum disorder (4), emotional and mental health (3), Specific learning difficulty (1).
How the mix of pupils has changed
| Census | 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils on roll | 114 | 112 | 107 | 104 | 97 | 81 |
| Pupils from low-income familiesFree school meals | 62% | 66% | 67% | 64% | 65% | 67% |
| Pupils learning EnglishEnglish as an additional language | 2% | 2% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Pupils getting extra supportSEN support | – | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Pupils with an EHC planEducation, health and care plans | – | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% |
Attendance and behaviour
In 2024/25 pupils were in school 90.0% 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 | 10.0% | 12.9% | 15.0% | 15.6% | 20.6% | 11.9% | 5.2% |
| Missed with permissionAuthorised absence | 5.2% | 7.6% | 6.6% | 10.7% | 16.4% | 10.5% | – |
| Missed without permissionUnauthorised absence | 4.8% | 5.3% | 8.4% | 4.9% | 4.2% | 1.4% | – |
| Pupils missing a lot of schoolPersistent absence | 17.3% | 27.8% | 35.1% | 39.0% | 66.7% | 30.5% | 12.8% |
| SuspensionsSuspension rate | 0.0 | 0.9 | 3.9 | 4.1 | 4.9 | – | – |
| Permanent exclusionsPermanent exclusions | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – |
What pupils do next
After GCSEs
Where the 17 pupils who left in 2022/23 were a year later.
Earlier years
| Destination | 2022/23 leavers | 2021/22 leavers | 2020/21 leavers | 2019/20 leavers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Still in education, work or training | 94% | 94% | 100% | 91% |
| Education | 94% | 94% | 100% | 91% |
| Apprenticeship | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Work | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Not in education, work or training | 0% | 0% | 0% | 9% |
Staff and money
From the government's count of school staff in November 2025 and the school's published accounts.
Money
From the council school accounts, year to March 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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Woodchurch CofE Primary School | Academy | 140 m | 157 | Inadequate 2023 | 0 | Compare |
| Gilbrook School | Council | 460 m | 60 | No overall grade 2025 | – | Compare |
| Ganneys Meadow Nursery School and Family Centre | Local authority nursery school | 580 m | 170 | Outstanding 2024 | – | Compare |
| Fender Primary School | Council | 580 m | 275 | Report card 2026 | 4 | Compare |
| Woodchurch High School | Academy | 920 m | 1,399 | No overall grade 2025 | 27 | Compare |
| Foxfield School | Council | 950 m | 242 | Good 2023 | – | Compare |
| St Michael and All Angels Catholic Primary School | Roman Catholic | 0.7 miles | 208 | Report card 2025 | 58 | Compare |
| St Peter's Catholic Primary School | Roman Catholic | 0.8 miles | 216 | Good 2022 | 25 | Compare |
Questions parents ask
Is Meadowside School a good school?
Meadowside School doesn't have a score yet. Ofsted rated it not judged at its last inspection in March 2025.
What is Meadowside School's Ofsted rating?
Ofsted rated Meadowside School not judged at its last full inspection on 4 March 2025.
How good are Meadowside School's GCSE results?
In summer 2025, 0% of pupils got a grade 5 or better in both English and maths. Across England it was 46%. Its Attainment 8 score, which is the average grade across a pupil's best eight subjects times ten, was 0.3, against 46.8 for England. In each subject, pupils here finished well over a grade behind children across England who started secondary school at the same level.
How many pupils does Meadowside School have?
114 pupils aged 11 to 19 were on the roll in January 2026. It has 113 places, so it is 101% full.
What is attendance like at Meadowside School?
Pupils were in school 90.0% of the time in 2024/25. Similar schools in England managed 94.8%. 17% of pupils missed at least a tenth of the year.
Does Meadowside 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
- Pool Lane, Woodchurch, Wirral, CH49 5LA
- Telephone
- 0151 678 7711
- Website
- www.meadowsideschool.com
- Acting Headteacher
- Miss Paula Wareing
- Type of school
- Council special school (Community special school, special schools)
- Phase
- Special school, ages 11-19, with sixth form
- Gender
- Mixed
- Local authority
- Wirral
- Ward
- Upton
- Constituency
- Wirral West
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Opened
- 1 January 1900 (not recorded)
- URN
- 105133 · LAESTAB 3447007 · UKPRN 10018170
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, consistent financial reporting 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.