All Saints Catholic School and Technology College is a Roman Catholic secondary school

Secondary school

Secondary school is a term used to describe an educational institution where the final stage of schooling, known as secondary education and usually compulsory up to a specified age, takes place...

 located on Terling Road, Dagenham

Dagenham

Dagenham is a large suburb in East London, forming the eastern part of the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham and located east of Charing Cross. It was historically an agrarian village in the county of Essex and remained mostly undeveloped until 1921 when the London County Council began...

 in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham

London Borough of Barking and Dagenham

In 1801, the civil parishes that form the modern borough had a total population of 1,937; and the area was characterised by farming, woodland and the fishing fleet at Barking. This last industry employed 1,370 men and boys by 1850, but by the end of the century had ceased to exist; replaced by...

.

Status

With around 1100 students, it is the only Catholic

Catholic school

Catholic schools are maintained parochial schools or education ministries of the Catholic Church. the Church operates the world's largest non-governmental school system...

 voluntary aided

Voluntary aided school

A voluntary aided school is a state-funded school in England and Wales in which a foundation or trust owns the school buildings, contributes to building costs and has a substantial influence in the running of the school...

 comprehensive school

Comprehensive school

A comprehensive school is a state school that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude. This is in contrast to the selective school system, where admission is restricted on the basis of a selection criteria. The term is commonly used in relation to the United...

 in Barking and Dagenham. The school is notable as a specialist college

Specialist school

The specialist schools programme was a UK government initiative which encouraged secondary schools in England to specialise in certain areas of the curriculum to boost achievement. The Specialist Schools and Academies Trust was responsible for the delivery of the programme...

 in technology

Technology

Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...

, one of the first in the country. It is also a training college, receiving the status in 2008, making it one of the first twin colleges.

History

All Saints School was previously an all-boys school under the name Bishop Ward until it joined with the Sacred Heart all-girls school in 1989.

Performance

Results at Bishop Ward were poor with an atmosphere that Desmond 'Des' Smith described as "depressed and violent". Following the appointment of Smith as head teacher

Head teacher

A head teacher or school principal is the most senior teacher, leader and manager of a school....

 in 1984 results steadily improved until in 2003 it was considered "the second most improved school in England". The March 2003 Ofsted report summarised the situation "The school has many very good features. Strategies adopted by the headteacher and governors have led to overall GCSE results rising faster than the national trend for some years, culminating in well above average results in 2002". However, the inspectors also said that the school's strategy led to several subjects of the National Curriculum not being
taught to all pupils in Years 10 and 11. In addition, National Curriculum music provision remained poor.

Improvements continued and in the report of the 6 June 2007 inspection Ofsted rated the school as Grade 1 Outstanding saying "The school provides its students with an outstanding education. Standards are high and students achieve extremely well as a result of excellent teaching. The leaders and managers believe that each child is important and this maxim is at the heart of their decision making. There is a clear
vision and a hunger for improvement building on the school's record of outstanding success." However, the school recognises the need to extend some aspects of its provision for the 14-19 age group including improving the guidance in the sixth form.

Cash for peerages

Since January 2006, while headmaster at the school, Smith has been notorious for making the indiscreet remarks that triggered the Cash for Peerages

Cash for Peerages

Cash for Honours is the name given by some in the media to a political scandal in the United Kingdom in 2006 and 2007 concerning the connection between political donations and the award of life peerages...

 scandal. At the end of the 2005-06 academic school year Smith retired and was replaced by the Deputy Head Teacher Kevin Wilson.