What schools serve Birkenhead?

There are 21 schools in Birkenhead, Wirral, including Bedford Drive Primary School, Woodlands Primary School, Devonshire Park Primary School, Birkenhead Christ Church CofE Primary School, The Priory Parish CofE Primary School and more. You can view each school's catchment area guidance and admissions policy on catchment.school.

How many primary and secondary schools are in Birkenhead?

Birkenhead has 14 primary schools and 2 secondary schools. There are also 5 other schools (such as all-through or special schools) in the area. All data is sourced from the Department for Education's GIAS register.

How do I find out if my address is in a school's catchment area in Birkenhead?

To check whether your address falls within a school's catchment area in Birkenhead, use the postcode search tool at catchment.school. Catchment area boundaries for Birkenhead schools are set by Wirral and reviewed each year. You can also consult the school's admissions policy or contact the Wirral admissions team directly for the most up-to-date boundary maps.

Who sets catchment area boundaries for schools in Birkenhead?

Catchment area boundaries for schools in Birkenhead are set by Wirral as the admissions authority. Community and voluntary-controlled schools follow the council's published admissions policy, while academies and voluntary-aided schools may set their own. Boundaries are reviewed annually and published each September for the following academic year.

Schools in Birkenhead

Reviewed by the catchment.school editorial team · Last updated 15 March 2026

Birkenhead is the largest town on the Wirral Peninsula, with 21 state schools administered by Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council. The town has a high proportion of Catholic and Church of England voluntary-aided schools, which set their own faith-based admissions criteria and are therefore outside the standard distance-based allocation. For community primaries, road distance is the final tiebreaker.

Secondary admissions in Birkenhead are co-ordinated by Wirral Council. The town's main comprehensives draw from specific geographic catchments, and Wirral publishes the catchment boundary maps alongside last year's offer distances in its annual secondary guide. Families near the boundary with the Tranmere and Rock Ferry areas should check which school catchment their postcode falls into before applying.

School demand in Birkenhead

Across the 18 schools in Birkenhead with published capacity data, the average fill rate is 84%. 4 of them are currently at or above their published admission number, and at those schools catchment distance is likely to decide places at the next intake.

6 schools in Birkenhead have a religious character, so faith criteria sit alongside catchment distance in their admissions policies.

7 of the schools in Birkenhead are academies that set their own admissions criteria independently of Wirral, so check each school's policy directly rather than assuming the council default applies.

9 of the schools in Birkenhead have a current Ofsted rating, of which 6 are rated Good or Outstanding. Demand and catchment distance tend to be tightest at the highest-rated schools.

Primary schools in Birkenhead: 2 oversubscribed (14)

Bedford Drive Primary School

Primary · Community school

Birkenhead · CH42 6RT

Ages 3-11 432 pupils Capacity 420

Woodlands Primary School

Primary · Community school

Birkenhead · CH41 2SY

Ages 2-11 341 pupils Capacity 336

Devonshire Park Primary School

Primary · Community school

Birkenhead · CH42 9JX

Ages 3-11 431 pupils Capacity 520