Cardinal Wiseman Catholic School

Coventry · CV2 2AJ

General information Secondary School · 11-18 years Who goes here 1406 pupils, 38.5% FSM

Educational attainment Ofsted report card

Parent score Rate this school No reviews yet - be the first SEN 16.8% on SEN support Behaviour 10.4% absence rate Staff 19.5% turnover Financials £7,090 per pupil Environment Buildings and facilities

We've asked this school for its figures on behaviour, bullying and staffing under the Freedom of Information Act. Get an email when it replies.

Notify me

Your email address

Leave this empty

We'll email you a link to confirm first. Your address is only used for news about this school, and every email has a link to stop them. Privacy

Cardinal Wiseman Catholic School

General Information

Address: Potters Green Road, Coventry, CV2 2AJ – View on map
Phone: 02476617231
Website: Visit school website
Headteacher: Ms Laura Burtonwood
Age range: 11-18 years
Demand for places (Year 7, September 2026): 153 families put it first for 199 places – 8 for every 10 places. Every one of them was offered a place. 2 of the 199 places went to families living outside the council area. Children putting it first, for every 10 places: 2023 7 · 2024 7 · 2025 8 · 2026 8
Sixth form: Yes
Intake: Mixed
Religious character: Roman Catholic
Nursery provision: No

Who goes here

1406 pupils out of 1416 places At or near capacity

Pupils eligible for free school meals: 469
% eligible for free school meals: 38.5%
Pupil mix: 8 in 10 (more mixed than the Coventry average)
English as an additional language: 51% (England 22%)

Staff

Teachers leaving each year

Teacher turnover: 19.5% a year (Coventry 17.7%, typical in England 15.5%)
Where they went: about 61% moved to another school, 39% left state schools altogether (retirement, other careers, independent schools, abroad)
Data years: 2022/23 to 2024/25 (average of 3 years, 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.

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 Coventry: suspensions by reason

Suspensions for sexual misconduct: 48 (1.8 per 1,000 pupils; England 1.7)
Permanent exclusions for sexual misconduct: 1
Suspensions for bullying: 25 (1.0 per 1,000 pupils; England 1.9)
Suspensions for abuse against sexual orientation or gender identity: 7 (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 Coventry, 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: 10.4%
Persistently absent pupils: 27.5%
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: 16.8%
Pupils with an EHC Plan: 2.2%
Data year: 2025/26

Most common needs - SEN Support

Moderate learning difficulty: 72 pupils
Speech, language and communications needs: 54 pupils
Autistic spectrum disorder: 40 pupils
Social, emotional and mental health: 36 pupils
Specific learning difficulty: 23 pupils

Most common needs - EHC Plan

Moderate learning difficulty: 11 pupils
Autistic spectrum disorder: 9 pupils
Social, emotional and mental health: 7 pupils
Specific learning difficulty: 2 pupils
Speech, language and communications needs: 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 –

Be the first to review — win £100 of books for your school Every honest review enters you into our prize draw

Behaviour

–

Openness

–

Teaching Quality

–

School Ethos

–

Ability to Deal with Problems

–

Headteacher Approval

–

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.

–

Would recommend –

Educational Attainment

Ofsted report card April 2026

Ofsted's new report cards grade each part of school life separately, instead of giving one overall word.

Safeguarding Met
Inclusion Expected standard
Curriculum and teaching Needs attention
Achievement Expected standard
Attendance and behaviour Expected standard
Personal development and wellbeing Expected standard
Sixth form (post-16) Needs attention
Leadership and governance Expected standard

Before this, under the old system, Ofsted rated the school Good (2021). The report card above replaces that grade.

How Ofsted report cards work

Since November 2025, Ofsted grades each area of a school on its own five-point scale, and no longer gives a single word like “Good” or “Outstanding”. Safeguarding (keeping children safe) is simply met or not met.

Exceptional The very best practice nationally
Strong standard Above what Ofsted expects
Expected standard What Ofsted expects of every school
Needs attention Some weaknesses the school needs to fix
Urgent improvement Serious weaknesses needing urgent action

“Expected standard” is a sound result – it's what Ofsted expects a good school to do. Report cards aren't directly comparable with the old single grades, which is why we don't turn them into one.

Attainment 8 score: 46.6
Compared with the area: 1.5 points above the Coventry average (45.1)
Compared with schools with similar pupils: Below (−3.2 points against an expected 49.8)
Grade 4+ in English and maths: 68% (Coventry 63%, England 65%) Improving
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 schoolCoventry averageEngland↗ Improving Up 5.3 points since 2022/23. In 2024/25 this school was 1.5 points above the Coventry average (45.1).

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.

7th of 22 secondary schools in Coventry for Attainment 8

#5St John Henry Newman Catholic School49.6
#6Barr's Hill School46.7
#7Cardinal Wiseman Catholic School46.6
#8Caludon Castle School46.5
#9Coundon Court45.0

Click to see the full ranking

Attainment 8 ranking

Illustrative MVP scores - not based on verified data yet.

Rank School Score

#1Eden Girls' School, Coventry62.6
#2Finham Park School55.7
#3Bishop Ullathorne Catholic School52.9
#4Blue Coat Church of England School and Music College51.2
#5St John Henry Newman Catholic School49.6
#6Barr's Hill School46.7
#7Cardinal Wiseman Catholic School46.6
#8Caludon Castle School46.5
#9Coundon Court45.0
#10Seva School44.4
#11Finham Park 243.8
#12Stoke Park School43.4
#13Grace Academy Coventry43.2
#14President Kennedy School Academy43.2
#15WMG Academy for Young Engineers43.0
#16West Coventry Academy41.2
#17Foxford Community School41.0
#18The Westwood Academy40.7
#19Sidney Stringer Academy40.1
#20Ernesford Grange Community Academy38.3
#21Meadow Park School34.9
#22Lyng Hall School32.6

Leaver Destinations

In education, employment, or training a year later: 90.0%
Went into further education: 86.0%
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
English Literature
Religious Studies
Science Double Award
History
Geography
Biology
Chemistry (General)
Physics (General)
Art & Design
Photography
Business Studies
French Language
Computer Science
Polish
Spanish
Italian
Russian
Greek
Portuguese
German

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

Financials

Spending per pupil: £7,090 (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.

16th of 22 secondary schools in Coventry for spending per pupil

#14Coundon Court£7,194
#15Grace Academy Coventry£7,174
#16Cardinal Wiseman Catholic School£7,090
#17St John Henry Newman Catholic School£7,014
#18Finham Park School£6,978

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

#1Sidney Stringer Academy£8,458
#2Ernesford Grange Community Academy£8,454
#3Meadow Park School£8,238
#4WMG Academy for Young Engineers£8,022
#5Eden Girls' School, Coventry£7,995
#6Lyng Hall School£7,952
#7Barr's Hill School£7,903
#8Finham Park 2£7,764
#9The Westwood Academy£7,606
#10Caludon Castle School£7,531
#11Stoke Park School£7,521
#12Foxford Community School£7,411
#13President Kennedy School Academy£7,365
#14Coundon Court£7,194
#15Grace Academy Coventry£7,174
#16Cardinal Wiseman Catholic School£7,090
#17St John Henry Newman Catholic School£7,014
#18Finham Park School£6,978
#19Bishop Ullathorne Catholic School£6,893
#20Blue Coat Church of England School and Music College£6,610
#21West Coventry Academy£5,899
#22Seva School£5,865

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

Have you rated Cardinal Wiseman Catholic School yet? Your experience helps other parents.

Rate this school

General Information

Who goes here

Staff

Teachers leaving each year

Behaviour

Across Coventry: 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 ?

Financials

Spending Per Pupil ranking

Leaver Destinations

GCSE Subjects Offered