Bishop Challoner Catholic School

Tower Hamlets · E1 0LB

General information Secondary School · 11-18 years Who goes here 867 pupils, 31.2% FSM

Parent score Rate this school No reviews yet - be the first SEN 20.3% on SEN support Behaviour 8.8% absence rate Staff 23.8% turnover Financials £12,112 per pupil Environment Buildings and facilities

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Bishop Challoner Catholic School

General Information

Address: 352 Commercial Road, London, E1 0LB – View on map
Phone: 02077919500
Website: Visit school website
Headteacher: Mr Adam Hall
Age range: 11-18 years
Demand for places (Year 7, September 2026): 61 families put it first for 90 places – 7 for every 10 places. Every one of them was offered a place. 12 of the 90 places went to families living outside the council area. Children putting it first, for every 10 places: 2025 6 · 2026 7
Sixth form: Yes
Intake: Mixed
Religious character: Roman Catholic
Nursery provision: No

Who goes here

867 pupils out of 1650 places Plenty of room

Pupils eligible for free school meals: 230
% eligible for free school meals: 31.2%
Pupil mix: 9 in 10 (more mixed than the Tower Hamlets average)
English as an additional language: 24% (England 22%)

Staff

Teachers leaving each year

Teacher turnover: 23.8% a year (Tower Hamlets 18.1%, typical in England 15.5%)
Where they went: about 23% moved to another school, 77% left state schools altogether (retirement, other careers, independent schools, abroad)
Data years: 2022/23 to 2024/25 (one year, DfE school workforce census)

Teachers who moved school or left state schools in the year after each November, as a share of all the school's teachers. Some turnover is healthy – retirements, promotions, moving house. This is a small staff, so one or two teachers leaving moves the figure a lot.

Behaviour

Awaiting Data

About this Behaviour status

We've asked this school for real behaviour figures under Freedom of Information and haven't had a response yet.

Across Tower Hamlets: suspensions by reason

Suspensions for sexual misconduct: 9 (0.5 per 1,000 pupils; England 1.7)
Permanent exclusions for sexual misconduct: 0
Suspensions for bullying: 22 (1.1 per 1,000 pupils; England 1.9)
Suspensions for abuse against sexual orientation or gender identity: 5 (0.3 per 1,000 pupils; England 0.8)
Data year: 2024/25 (DfE suspensions and exclusions statistics)

These are figures for all state secondary schools in Tower Hamlets, not this school's own – the government doesn't publish them school by school. A suspension can have up to three reasons. Most sexual harassment between pupils never leads to a suspension, so these figures show only part of the picture.

Attendance

Overall absence: 8.8%
Persistently absent pupils: 27.7%
Data year: 2024/25

About persistent absence

A pupil is counted as "persistently absent" if they miss 10% or more of their possible school sessions - roughly one day in every two weeks. Schools and Ofsted both pay close attention to this figure specifically, since it can highlight a pattern the overall absence rate alone might hide.

SEN

No dedicated Unit or Resourced Provision

SEN Unit and Resourced Provision

Most mainstream schools don't have a dedicated SEN Unit or Resourced Provision - it isn't a mark against a school that doesn't, just a different kind of setup than one that does.

Pupils on SEN Support: 20.3%
Pupils with an EHC Plan: 3.2%
Data year: 2025/26

Most common needs - SEN Support

Moderate learning difficulty: 65 pupils
Social, emotional and mental health: 47 pupils
Speech, language and communications needs: 25 pupils
Specific learning difficulty: 17 pupils
SEN support but no specialist assessment of type of need: 12 pupils

Most common needs - EHC Plan

Autistic spectrum disorder: 10 pupils
Moderate learning difficulty: 6 pupils
Speech, language and communications needs: 5 pupils
Social, emotional and mental health: 4 pupils
Multi-sensory impairment: 1 pupil

These figures show the makeup of the school.

About these SEND figures

These figures give a sense of the makeup of the school - they aren't a judgement on the quality of support provided.

Parent score - no reviews yet –

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Behaviour

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Openness

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Teaching Quality

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School Ethos

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Ability to Deal with Problems

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Headteacher Approval

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SafeguardingSafeguarding (parent rating)How parents rate the school on keeping children safe - how safe their child feels, and how well concerns are listened to and acted on. It's parents' experience, not an inspection result; Ofsted checks safeguarding separately.

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Would recommend –

Educational Attainment

Good 2021 report

About this Ofsted rating

Ofsted changed how it rates schools in the last couple of years, so ratings from different years aren't always on the same scale - that's why we show the year alongside every rating.

Attainment 8 score: 44.6
Compared with the area: 3.6 points below the Tower Hamlets average (48.2)
Compared with schools with similar pupils: Well above (+6.6 points against an expected 38.0)
Grade 4+ in English and maths: 64% (Tower Hamlets 69%, England 65%) Falling
Data year: 2024/25

View the School Context Comparator – how this school's results compare with schools teaching similar pupils.

GCSE results over time

This schoolTower Hamlets averageEngland↘ Falling Down 6.3 points since 2022/23. In 2024/25 this school was 3.6 points below the Tower Hamlets average (48.2).

About the Attainment 8 score

Attainment 8 measures a pupil's average result across 8 GCSE-equivalent qualifications (English and maths count double). It shows how pupils performed, not how much progress they made getting there - a school with a higher score doesn't necessarily add more value, since pupils often arrive with different starting points. Progress 8 is the measure designed to account for that, but it currently can't be calculated for any school for the two most recent academic years, due to a nationwide gap in the data caused by COVID-19 disruption to Key Stage 2 testing.

14th of 17 secondary schools in Tower Hamlets for Attainment 8

#12Wapping High School46.9
#13Mulberry Academy Shoreditch45.0
#14Bishop Challoner Catholic School44.6
#15Langdon Park Community School43.5
#16Bow School43.2

Click to see the full ranking

Attainment 8 ranking

Illustrative MVP scores - not based on verified data yet.

Rank School Score

#1Swanlea School56.9
#2Mulberry School for Girls55.2
#3Central Foundation Girls' School54.3
#4Stepney All Saints Church of England Secondary School53.6
#5Canary Wharf College Crossharbour52.9
#6Oaklands School52.4
#7St Paul's Way Trust School51.8
#8Morpeth School49.2
#9George Green's School49.0
#10London Enterprise Academy48.0
#11Mulberry Stepney Green Mathematics and Computing College47.5
#12Wapping High School46.9
#13Mulberry Academy Shoreditch45.0
#14Bishop Challoner Catholic School44.6
#15Langdon Park Community School43.5
#16Bow School43.2
#17Mulberry UTC30.3

Leaver Destinations

In education, employment, or training a year later: 95.0%
Went into further education: 89.0%
Data year: 2024/25

About leaver destinations

This shows where a school's Year 11 leavers were recorded the following year - in a "sustained" destination means in education, an apprenticeship, or employment for at least 6 months, not just enrolled briefly. It's a different picture from exam results alone, and can highlight schools that support pupils well beyond just their GCSE grades.

GCSE Subjects Offered

Maths (General)
English Language
Religious Studies
English Literature
Science Double Award
History
Sociology
Geography
Spanish
French Language
Sports Studies
Music Studies (General)
Art & Design
D & T
Food Technology
Economics
Media Studies
Speech & Drama
Chemistry (General)
Biology
Physics (General)
Dance: General
Portuguese
Polish
Bengali
Italian
Russian
Arabic
Turkish
Community Development
Chinese

About this subject list

This isn't the school's own description of its curriculum - it's real DfE exam entry data, showing which GCSE subjects this school's pupils were actually entered for in 2024/25. A subject not appearing here may still be taught but had no pupils entered that year, so treat this as a helpful guide rather than a complete guarantee - it's worth confirming directly with the school for the year your child would actually study.

View full Ofsted inspection report

3rd of 10 secondary schools in Tower Hamlets for Ofsted rating

#1Mulberry School for GirlsOutstanding
#2Swanlea SchoolOutstanding
#3Bishop Challoner Catholic SchoolGood
#4Bow SchoolGood
#5George Green's SchoolGood

Click to see the full ranking

Ofsted Rating ranking

Based on real Ofsted ratings (via official DfE data) for schools on the same four-word grading scale.

Rank School Score

#1Mulberry School for GirlsOutstanding
#2Swanlea SchoolOutstanding
#3Bishop Challoner Catholic SchoolGood
#4Bow SchoolGood
#5George Green's SchoolGood
#6Morpeth SchoolGood
#7Mulberry Academy ShoreditchGood
#8St Paul's Way Trust SchoolGood
#9Wapping High SchoolGood
#10Canary Wharf College CrossharbourRequires improvement

Financials

Spending per pupil: £12,112 (2024-25)

About this spending figure

A higher or lower position here isn't a sign of a better or worse school - schools have different needs and circumstances - but it can help reassure you that a school has sufficient funding behind your child's education.

4th of 18 secondary schools in Tower Hamlets for spending per pupil

#2Wapping High School£15,514
#3London Enterprise Academy£13,306
#4Bishop Challoner Catholic School£12,112
#5Bow School£11,950
#6Canary Wharf College Crossharbour£11,868

Click to see the full ranking

Spending Per Pupil ranking

Based on official DfE financial return data (Consistent Financial Reporting / Academies Accounts Return) - not a ranking of school quality.

Rank School Score

#1Mulberry Academy London Dock£15,669
#2Wapping High School£15,514
#3London Enterprise Academy£13,306
#4Bishop Challoner Catholic School£12,112
#5Bow School£11,950
#6Canary Wharf College Crossharbour£11,868
#7St Paul's Way Trust School£11,600
#8Oaklands School£11,574
#9George Green's School£11,448
#10Langdon Park Community School£11,420
#11Morpeth School£11,011
#12Central Foundation Girls' School£10,662
#13Swanlea School£10,606
#14Mulberry Academy Shoreditch£10,378
#15Mulberry School for Girls£10,259
#16Stepney All Saints Church of England Secondary School£10,036
#17Mulberry Stepney Green Mathematics and Computing College£9,936
#18Mulberry UTC£8,171

View on the Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool (GOV.UK)

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General Information

Who goes here

Staff

Teachers leaving each year

Behaviour

Across Tower Hamlets: suspensions by reason

Attendance

SEN

Most common needs - SEN Support

Most common needs - EHC Plan

Educational Attainment

Attainment 8 ranking

Leaver Destinations ?

GCSE Subjects Offered ?

Ofsted Rating ranking

Financials

Spending Per Pupil ranking

Leaver Destinations

GCSE Subjects Offered