Bishop Challoner Catholic College

Bishop Challoner Catholic College is a large Catholic secondary school in Birmingham where pupils are well cared for, attendance is high, and behaviour is exceptional. Inspectors found a school at the heart of its community, with strong leadership, effective governance, and a culture of high expectations described by pupils and staff as the 'BC family'. Safeguarding arrangements meet requirements. The strongest areas are attendance and behaviour, leadership and governance, and personal development and wellbeing. Pupils attend better than national averages, including disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND; behaviour is impeccable; and the school offers extensive enrichment, careers and wellbeing provision. Pupils achieve broadly in line with national peers, and disadvantaged pupils’ outcomes are a particular strength. Post-16 provision is inclusive and students move on to positive destinations. However, achievement, curriculum and teaching, inclusion, and post-16 provision are not as strong as the school’s best areas. Some pupils, especially in vocational subjects, do not make consistently strong progress. Assessment checks sometimes fail to identify gaps or misconceptions, and support for pupils with SEND or additional needs is occasionally not well matched. Leaders have clear next steps to address these issues. The school has above-average free school meals and a smaller-than-average proportion of pupils with EHC plans.

Strengths

• Highly effective attendance work, with whole-school attendance exceeding national averages.
• Disadvantaged pupils and pupils with SEND attend regularly.
• Behaviour in lessons and around school is impeccable, with highly positive pupil attitudes.
• Strong leadership with detailed, forensic knowledge of the school.
• Leaders have driven rapid improvement in many areas.
• Governance provides highly effective support and challenge.
• Staff feel valued, supported and proud to work at the school.
• An impressive personal development and wellbeing programme with extensive enrichment.
• Strong careers education with bespoke guidance and positive destinations.
• Disadvantaged pupils’ outcomes are a particular strength.
• Pupils with SEND make suitable progress from their individual starting points.
• The curriculum is broad, ambitious, well designed and sequenced.
• Teachers have secure subject knowledge and use effective teaching strategies.
• Inclusive post-16 provision with students acting as positive role models.
• A strong safeguarding culture, with safeguarding standards met.

Areas for Improvement

• Pupils in some vocational subjects do not achieve as well as in other subjects.
• Teachers do not always check pupils’ learning effectively, so gaps and misconceptions can be missed.
• Missed gaps and misconceptions can slow pupils’ progress through the curriculum.
• Support for pupils with SEND or additional needs is occasionally not as successful as it could be.
• Leaders need to ensure pupils consistently receive in-class support that is well matched to their needs.
• Leaders should ensure pupils who learn vocational subjects make strong progress and achieve well.

Admissions: local authority offers data from the Department for Education. A school is oversubscribed when at least 5% of the families who put it first were not offered a place, and undersubscribed when everyone who put it first got in but 10% or more of its places were unfilled in the Department's school capacity survey (the latest survey is used for entry years it does not cover). Places: Department for Education, School capacity, from local authorities' annual survey as at 1 May. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024–25); the survey was not run in 2020. Places include sixth form places. Forecasts are the local authority's own for the school's planning area, an area it uses to plan places that is not the school's catchment area. The forecast starts from a head count in 2025; the dashed line is the Department's estimate of places in that area, including those the authority has firm plans for. Planned places are cumulative, and only those with firm plans are counted.

In 2024–25 pupils at Bishop Challoner Catholic College attended 92.8% of sessions (the national figure for secondary schools was 91.6%). 23.1% of pupils were persistently absent, missing at least one session in ten (nationally 23.4%).

Sessions missed

Pupils persistently absent

Source: Department for Education, Pupil absence in schools in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Persistent absence means missing 10% or more of sessions; severe absence means 50% or more. No figures were published for 2019/20.

In 2024–25, 9.1% of pupils at Bishop Challoner Catholic College were suspended at least once (nationally 7.3%). One pupil was permanently excluded.

Pupils suspended at least once

Source: Department for Education, Suspensions and permanent exclusions in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). A pupil can be suspended more than once, so suspensions per 100 pupils can be higher than the share of pupils suspended. Very small numbers are hidden by the DfE. Exclusion figures dropped in 2020 and 2021 because of school closures.

In 2025–26 Bishop Challoner Catholic College had 13.2 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for secondary schools was 16.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 5.5% were no longer at the school a year later (nationally 14.1%).

Pupils per teacher

Teachers who left the school within a year

Source: Department for Education, School workforce in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Pupils per teacher counts full-time-equivalent pupils and teachers. Turnover is the share of a year's teachers (full-time equivalent) who were not at the school the following year, whether they moved to another school or left state-funded teaching. Turnover and sickness figures run one year behind the ratios. Sick leave is the share of teachers who took at least one day in the year, so it swings widely at small schools, where a few teachers can make it 0% or 100%. The national figures are for all state schools of the same type.

In 2025–26, 14.3% of pupils at Bishop Challoner Catholic College were on SEN support (nationally 14.1%) and 1.1% had an education, health and care (EHC) plan (nationally 3.5%).

Pupils by main type of need

Source: Department for Education, Special educational needs in England (the 2025–26 school census). SEN support is extra help in school without an EHC plan. National figures are for all state-funded secondary schools. Counts are as published, with small numbers not hidden.

In 2025–26 Bishop Challoner Catholic College received £12,105 and spent £12,014 for each of its 1,191 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £356,000 (£299 per pupil).

Income per pupil

Spending per pupil

Source: Department for Education, Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool. Each year is the one the financial year ends in (2024 is 2023–24).

• Primary Schools
• Secondary Schools

All schools in Birmingham · Birmingham local authority: places and applications

What is Bishop Challoner Catholic College's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Bishop Challoner Catholic College is Expected standard, from an inspection in March 2026.

When was Bishop Challoner Catholic College last inspected by Ofsted?

Bishop Challoner Catholic College was last inspected in March 2026.

How many pupils does Bishop Challoner Catholic College have?

Bishop Challoner Catholic College has 1,184 pupils on roll.

What age range does Bishop Challoner Catholic College cover?

Bishop Challoner Catholic College for pupils aged 11 to 18.

What are Bishop Challoner Catholic College's GCSE results?

In 2026 its average Attainment 8 score was 51.9, and 49% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above in both English and maths GCSE.

Where is Bishop Challoner Catholic College?

Bishop Challoner Catholic College is at Institute Road, Kings Heath, Birmingham, West Midlands, B14 7EG.