Cardinal Wiseman Catholic School
Birmingham, B44 9SR · Birmingham local authority
Birmingham’s School Grade B better than 55% of towns in England
What stands out about Cardinal Wiseman Catholic School
- Its own letter, B−: GCSE results better than 53% of England’s secondary schools
- Over capacity: 788 pupils for 645 places
- 47% of pupils are eligible for free school meals (more than England’s 30%)
- Ofsted report card, April 2026: achievement expected standard, safeguarding met (shown, not graded)
- 89% of families who put it first got a place for September 2026 (141 of 158)
- Progress 8 of +0.27 in 2023/24, the last year DfE published it: pupils did better at GCSE than pupils nationally with the same results at 11
- Homes in its postcode sector (B44 9) sold for a median £210,000; Birmingham’s is £225,000
Results
DfE · GCSEs 2025/26, provisional · 142 pupilsEach bar is a group of England’s 3,224 graded secondary schools. The schools Cardinal Wiseman Catholic beats are shaded green.
Attainment 8 48
Average grade across 8 GCSEs ×10 · higher than 60% of schools · Birmingham avg 48.3
Grade 5+ in English and maths 44%
A strong pass · higher than 46% of schools · Birmingham avg 50%
Attainment 8, three years
The mark is England’s average that year
Progress 8, 2023/24
+0.27: above average. How pupils did at GCSE against pupils nationally with the same results at 11. Not published since 2023/24 (no Key Stage 2 tests in 2020 and 2021).
Disadvantaged pupils, 2025/26
Attainment 8 for the 61 pupils DfE counts as disadvantaged (free school meals in the last 6 years, or looked after) and the rest, beside England’s schools
England’s figures are of its graded mainstream state schools, each school counted once; grammar schools are included, which is why the right-hand tail is long. Small cohorts are suppressed.
How hard is it to get a place at Cardinal Wiseman Catholic School?
89% of the families who put it first got a place for September 2026.
Years when some first choices missed out: 2019 (33), 2020 (30), 2021 (15), 2022 (41), 2023 (32), 2024 (36), 2025 (33), 2026 (17). The council runs the coordinated admissions; each school’s rules (siblings, distance, faith) decide who gets in. DfE doesn’t publish the furthest distance offered, so check the council’s admissions booklet for that. The school’s governing body sets the admissions rules. Apply through Birmingham council’s coordinated admissions.
Outline = places offered · green = families who put it first · striped = more first choices than places · the 10 most in demand
89% got their first choice
Birmingham and Birmingham, side by side
2025/26All 86 graded secondaries in Birmingham. Schools with more pupils on free school meals usually score lower, so a school above the crowd for its free school meals is doing better than its intake predicts. Birmingham’s schools are coloured by their letter.
Show as a table
| School | Letter | Free school meals | Attainment 8 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sutton Coldfield Grammar School for Girls | A+ | 17% | 80.5 |
| Bishop Vesey's Grammar School | A+ | 14% | 79.5 |
| King Edward VI Five Ways School | A+ | 17% | 79.3 |
| King Edward VI Camp Hill School for Girls | A+ | 30% | 78.8 |
| King Edward VI Camp Hill School for Boys | A+ | 28% | 78.4 |
| King Edward VI Handsworth School | A+ | 26% | 76.2 |
| King Edward VI Handsworth Grammar School for Boys | A+ | 19% | 71.3 |
| King Edward VI Aston School | A+ | 25% | 69.9 |
| St Paul's School for Girls | A+ | 31% | 65.9 |
| Eden Girls' Leadership Academy, Birmingham | A+ | 49% | 63.6 |
| Eden Boys' School, Birmingham | A | 52% | 62.2 |
| Eden Boys' Leadership Academy, Birmingham East | A | 59% | 56.2 |
| Selly Park Girls' School | A− | 58% | 55.6 |
| Bishop Walsh Catholic School | A− | 13% | 54.8 |
| King Edward VI Lordswood School for Girls | A− | 33% | 53.6 |
| Swanshurst School | A− | 45% | 53.3 |
| Birmingham Ormiston Academy | A− | 17% | 53 |
| The Arthur Terry School | A− | 13% | 52.6 |
| Nishkam High School | A− | 30% | 52 |
| Bishop Challoner Catholic College | B+ | 38% | 51.9 |
| Kings Norton Girls' School | A− | 27% | 51.4 |
| Bordesley Green Girls' School & Sixth Form | B+ | 66% | 51.3 |
| St Thomas Aquinas Catholic School | B+ | 48% | 50.9 |
| Ark St Alban's Academy | B+ | 77% | 50.4 |
| St John Wall Catholic School | B+ | 65% | 50.2 |
| Queensbridge School | B+ | 28% | 50.1 |
| Hodge Hill Girls' School | B | 57% | 50 |
| Hillcrest School and Sixth Form Centre | B | 53% | 49.6 |
| Plantsbrook School | B+ | 18% | 49.1 |
| E-ACT Heartlands Academy | B+ | 77% | 48.7 |
| Fairfax | B+ | 23% | 48.5 |
| Ark Victoria Academy | B− | 69% | 48.5 |
| Wheelers Lane Technology College | B+ | 40% | 48.2 |
| King Edward VI King's Norton School for Boys | B+ | 32% | 48.1 |
| Cardinal Wiseman Catholic School | B− | 47% | 48 |
| Stockland Green School | B+ | 57% | 47.8 |
| The University of Birmingham School | B | 43% | 47.8 |
| Small Heath Leadership Academy | B | 60% | 46.6 |
| King Edward VI Handsworth Wood Girls' Academy | B− | 56% | 46.4 |
| Ark Boulton Academy | B− | 66% | 46.4 |
| Starbank School | B | 48% | 46.4 |
| Ninestiles, an Academy | B | 61% | 46.1 |
| Kings Heath Secondary School | B | 52% | 46 |
| King Edward VI Sheldon Heath Academy | B− | 52% | 45.8 |
| King Edward VI Northfield School for Girls | C+ | 48% | 45.3 |
| Lordswood Boys' School | B | 46% | 45.2 |
| Aston Manor Academy | B− | 76% | 45 |
| Prince Albert High School | B− | 43% | 44.6 |
| Harborne Academy | B− | 54% | 44.4 |
| Hall Green School | C+ | 47% | 44.4 |
| Washwood Heath Academy | C+ | 58% | 44.4 |
| E-ACT North Birmingham Academy | C+ | 60% | 44.2 |
| Hodge Hill College | C+ | 48% | 44.1 |
| Turves Green Boys' School | B− | 48% | 43.8 |
| Holyhead School | C+ | 65% | 43.6 |
| Yardleys School | C+ | 63% | 43.6 |
| Arena Academy | C | 42% | 42.7 |
| Holte School | C− | 68% | 42.1 |
| Broadway Academy | C | 62% | 41.9 |
| Dame Elizabeth Cadbury School | C+ | 46% | 41.9 |
| Archbishop Ilsley Catholic School | C | 49% | 41.9 |
| Holy Trinity Catholic School | C− | 58% | 41.4 |
| Cockshut Hill School | C− | 62% | 41.1 |
| St Edmund Campion Catholic School | C− | 40% | 41.1 |
| Moseley School and Sixth Form | C− | 64% | 41 |
| Hamstead Hall Academy | C− | 41% | 40.6 |
| Erdington Academy | C− | 61% | 40.4 |
| Rockwood Academy | C− | 64% | 40.1 |
| Waverley School | C− | 54% | 40.1 |
| Ark Kings Academy | D | 70% | 39.9 |
| Saltley Academy | C− | 57% | 39.8 |
| The Royal Sutton School | C− | 49% | 39.8 |
| King Edward VI Balaam Wood Academy | C− | 67% | 39.5 |
| Colmers School and Sixth Form College | D | 56% | 39.1 |
| Lift Four Dwellings Secondary | C− | 66% | 39 |
| Fortis Academy | D | 55% | 38.4 |
| Jewellery Quarter Academy | D | 59% | 38.1 |
| Bournville School | D | 66% | 37.5 |
| City Academy | D | 57% | 37.5 |
| George Dixon Academy | D | 67% | 37.3 |
| Bartley Green School | C− | 60% | 37.1 |
| Tile Cross Academy | D | 76% | 36.7 |
| Lift Greenwood | D | 56% | 34.8 |
| Christ Church, Church of England Secondary Academy | D | 44% | 34.1 |
| E-ACT Shenley Academy | D | 60% | 32.9 |
| Star King Solomon Academy | D | 55% | 32.4 |
Who goes here
DfE school census, January 2025778 pupils. SEN support is extra help in school for a special educational need; an EHC plan is the council’s legal plan for pupils who need more.
Girls and boys
Cardinal Wiseman Catholic School’s letter
Its own results against England’s schools, not the town’s School Grade.
How school letters are worked out
Each school’s measure is compared with every graded school in England of the same phase: for primaries, the share of pupils meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (DfE’s three-year average); for secondaries, Attainment 8 and the share with grade 5 or above in English and maths, each turned into a z-score against England’s schools and averaged. The letter comes from the share of those schools it beats, in the same bands as every grade on the site. The same method gives U.S. schools their letters, against their own state.
Graded: England’s open mainstream state schools with published results (grammar schools included, which select by test). Not graded: special schools, alternative provision, nurseries, 16–19 colleges, UTCs and studio schools, Welsh schools. Ofsted plays no part.
Ofsted inspections
Shown, not graded: Ofsted is never part of a letter or the School Grade.
Report card, inspection starting April 2026.
Before the report card: Ungraded inspection: School remains Good, October 2021.
Living near Cardinal Wiseman Catholic School
For families thinking of moving: what homes cost around the school, and the other schools close by.
Home prices in B44 9, the school’s postcode sector
Birmingham property prices →Median sale price each year, 2010 to 2025
By type, the 36 months to August 2026
Homes in B44 9 sell for a little under Birmingham’s typical price. HM Land Registry Price Paid, standard sales. Catchments aren’t published, so the postcode sector stands in for “around the school”.
Schools within 1.6 miles
27 state schoolsLocation
Directions ↗
Birmingham, B44 9SR
Cardinal Wiseman Catholic School: common questions
Is Cardinal Wiseman Catholic School a good school?
By its published results, above average: its GCSE results are better than 53% of England’s secondary schools (its letter is B−), with an Attainment 8 of 48 and 44% getting grade 5 or above in English and maths, against 47.3 and 47% for England’s schools. Ofsted: a report card in April 2026.
How hard is it to get into Cardinal Wiseman Catholic School?
For September 2026, 158 families put Cardinal Wiseman Catholic School first and 141 of them were offered a place; 160 places were offered in all.
What is Cardinal Wiseman Catholic School’s Ofsted rating?
Its latest inspection (April 2026) gave a report card: achievement expected standard, safeguarding met. Ofsted stopped giving one-word overall grades in September 2024.
How much do houses cost near Cardinal Wiseman Catholic School?
Homes in its postcode sector, B44 9, sold for a median £210,000 over the 36 months to August 2026 (407 sales).
Sources: DfE Get Information about Schools (16 October 2026), Key Stage 2 performance tables (2023–2025, three-year average) and Key Stage 4 (2025/26, provisional); Ofsted state-funded school inspections as at 30 September 2026. All under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Also: DfE Key Stage 4 performance, schools data (2023/24 and 2024/25 final, 2025/26 provisional) and Key Stage 2 performance tables 2024/25 by subject; DfE school census, January 2025; DfE school-level applications and offers, September 2019 to 2026 entry; HM Land Registry Price Paid by postcode sector, 2010 to August 2026.
A school’s letter is our own summary of its published results against England’s schools of the same phase; Birmingham’s School Grade is a separate grade, built from the results of the schools in and around the town against other towns. Map: © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026 (ONS boundaries). Northern Ireland: Source: NISRA; contains Land & Property Services data and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland information, © Crown copyright, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Scotland: contains National Records of Scotland data, Registers of Scotland data and SEPA data, © Crown copyright / © SEPA 2025, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.