St Edmund's Catholic School

About St Edmund's Catholic School

St Edmund’s Catholic School sits squarely in the middle of the pack in Tower Hamlets, ranking 35th out of 58 primary schools in the borough. Its headline KS2 metric — the percentage of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths — stands at 68%, which is three points below the local authority average of 71%. That gap is modest but worth noting for parents weighing up options. The school’s reading and maths average scores (105 and 107 respectively) are solid, and 80% of pupils hit the expected standard in both reading and maths individually. Where it really lags behind is at the higher end: just 20% of pupils achieved a higher standard in reading, 36% in maths, and only 4% in writing. That’s a sharp drop-off compared with the top-performing primaries nearby, like Canary Wharf College, Glenworth, which scores 93 on the same ranking metric.

In its most recent graded inspection, back in 2012, Ofsted rated the school Good overall, with leadership and management also judged Good. A subsequent ungraded inspection in January 2023 confirmed that the school remains Good. The early years provision was rated Outstanding in the 2008 inspection, though no updated judgement has been published since. The school’s Progress 8 scores for reading, writing and maths are all missing from the data, so it’s not possible to say how much value the school adds on top of pupils’ starting points. What we do know is that 68% of pupils met the expected standard in all three subjects — a figure that places St Edmund’s in the bottom half of Tower Hamlets primaries, but still within striking distance of the LA average. For context, the borough has 19 Outstanding primaries, so competition is stiff.

St Edmund’s is a small, oversubscribed Roman Catholic primary with 204 pupils on roll, operating at about 91% of its 225 capacity. For the 2025/26 intake, there were 87 applications for 24 places, giving an oversubscription ratio of 3.63, and all 21 first-preference applicants were offered a spot. The school has a nursery provision, a chapel, a sensory room, and a forest school, plus the usual primary staples like a library, ICT suite, music rooms and art studios. Sports include athletics, netball, gymnastics, swimming, dance and cricket, and clubs range from science and drama to eco and gardening. SEND support covers specific learning difficulties, moderate learning difficulties, social and emotional needs, and speech and language issues. For families prioritising a faith-based setting with a strong community feel and a decent but not standout academic record, St Edmund’s is a realistic choice — especially if you live close enough to secure a first-preference place.

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