Bishop Douglass School Finchley

Bishop Douglass School in Finchley is performing well overall, achieving a 'Good' rating in all areas of education. Leaders and staff demonstrate ambition and maintain high expectations for pupils. The school offers a broad curriculum along with supportive extra learning opportunities, helping students to progress effectively. Notably, pupils appreciate the emphasis on personal development, with effective PSHE and careers education being integral to their experience. However, there are some areas for improvement, particularly regarding the support for pupils with SEND and the impact of internal exclusions on learning.

Strengths

• Leaders and staff have high expectations for all pupils.
• The school provides a broad and ambitious curriculum.
• Teachers give regular and detailed feedback to help pupils improve.
• A strong emphasis is placed on teaching subject vocabulary.
• The PSHE programme effectively supports pupils’ personal development.
• Pupils feel safe and know they can talk to someone if worried.
• There are extensive extra-curricular activities available for pupils.

Areas for Improvement

• Support strategies for pupils with SEND are not consistently applied by all staff.
• Some pupils experience lengthy internal exclusions, impacting their curriculum access.
• Not all staff maintain high expectations for pupils of all abilities.

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 Douglass School Finchley attended 94.2% of sessions (the national figure for secondary schools was 91.6%). 14.1% 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, 1.3% of pupils at Bishop Douglass School Finchley were suspended at least once (nationally 7.3%). 2 pupils were 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 Douglass School Finchley had 15.2 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for secondary schools was 16.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 18.7% 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, 12.2% of pupils at Bishop Douglass School Finchley were on SEN support (nationally 14.1%) and 1.9% 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 2024–25 Bishop Douglass School Finchley received £9,200 and spent £9,026 for each of its 1,013 pupils. It ended the year with a deficit of £41,000 (-£40 per pupil).

Across all 3 schools of The Cardinal Hume Academies Trust, income was £9,829 and spending £9,747 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). Academy figures include a share of the trust's central services, shared out by pupil numbers, and are rounded to the nearest £1,000. Premises costs were defined differently from 2024, so compare them across that gap with care.

• Primary Schools
• Secondary Schools

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

Bishop Douglass School Finchley is part of The Cardinal Hume Academies Trust, which runs 3 schools. The nearest others:

• St Thomas More Catholic School London
• St George's Catholic School London

What is Bishop Douglass School Finchley's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Bishop Douglass School Finchley is Good, from an inspection in September 2022.

When was Bishop Douglass School Finchley last inspected by Ofsted?

Bishop Douglass School Finchley was last inspected in September 2022.

How many pupils does Bishop Douglass School Finchley have?

Bishop Douglass School Finchley has 968 pupils on roll.

What age range does Bishop Douglass School Finchley cover?

Bishop Douglass School Finchley for pupils aged 11 to 18.

What are Bishop Douglass School Finchley's GCSE results?

In 2026 its average Attainment 8 score was 47.3, and 40% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above in both English and maths GCSE.

Where is Bishop Douglass School Finchley?

Bishop Douglass School Finchley is at Hamilton Road, East Finchley, London, N2 0SQ.