Palmerston School serves the city of Liverpool and provides for students aged 11 to 19 with severe learning difficulties. Many students have associated difficulties, including autistic spectrum disorders and communication difficulties. The headteacher is a National Leader in Education and the school is a nationally accredited Teaching School and provides support for other schools. There is a high proportion of disadvantaged students. These students are eligible for support through the pupil premium funding. The pupil premium is additional funding for those students known to be eligible for free school meals and those who are looked after by the local authority. Students come from a variety of different ethnic backgrounds, the large majority of which are White British. Very few students speak English as an additional language. The school holds the Basic Skills award and has Healthy School status. It is also an Investor in Careers and has the Career Connect Quality Mark. The school uses Young Persons Opportunity Project as an alternative provision to enable work-based learning opportunities in Key Stage 4 and Connections to organise work experience placements in sixth form. It does not use early entry for GCSE.