Bow School

Community school·Secondary school London, Tower Hamlets·E3 3QW
Composite score
54.0
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#2,030
National rank
#391
In London
#16
In Tower Hamlets
Top 64%
Nationally

Performance (KS4 GCSE)

Attainment 8 score
43.2
National avg ≈ 46
Progress 8 score
—
% achieving 9–5 in English & Maths
33%
% achieving 9–4 in English & Maths
60%
% EBacc grade 5+
14%
EBacc average points score
3.79

Getting a place

Offered a place after putting it first
100%
72 first choices, 122 places
First choices per place
0.59
fewer first choices than places
Applications naming the school
265
any preference, for 122 places
Applications from another council area
2%
First preferences per place, last five years▲ 0.23
00.511.5
1 per place
0.3420220.3320230.4820240.3620250.592026

Red dashed line = one first choice per place. How to read this

Every child who put Bow School first was offered a place in 2026, so no distance cut-off applied: living further away did not cost a place that year.

Application figures: DfE, school level applications and offers (2026 intake).

School profile

Age range
11–18
Pupils on roll
1,173
Gender
Mixed
Religious character
None
Admissions
Non-Selective

Pupil background

% FSM ever-6
57.5%
Typical secondary: 27.5%
% EAL
67.7%
Typical secondary: 12.0%

Special educational needs

% SEN support
15.3%
Typical secondary: 13.7%
% with an EHC plan
3.3%
Typical secondary: 2.9%

Attendance

Overall absence
6.5%
Typical secondary: 8.9%
Persistently absent
15.9%
Typical secondary: 25.7%

Staffing & funding

Pupils per teacher
13.9
Typical secondary: 16.7
Spend per pupil
£11,950
Typical secondary: £7,815

“Typical” = the median secondary school in England. What this means

What pupils do next

The share of this school's Year 11 leavers in education, training or employment for at least two terms afterwards.

In education, training or work
96%
223 pupils tracked
Stayed in education
96%

DfE, KS4 destination measures.

Nearby secondary schools

Location

Bow School at a glance

Located in London, Tower Hamlets, Bow School is a secondary school, classified by the DfE as a community school. The school educates roughly 1,173 pupils aged 11 to 18. The school's average Attainment 8 score in the latest GCSE results was 43.2 — broadly in line with the national average (national average: 46). Performance is little changed year on year. On our composite score, which combines the DfE attainment measures above, this places it in the lower half of secondary schools nationally.

33% of pupils achieved a grade 5 or above in both English and maths, below the national average of about 45%. 60% achieved a standard pass (grade 4+) in English and maths. Getting a place is straightforward: for the September 2026 intake every family who made Bow School their first choice was offered one of its 122 Year 7 places. After Year 11, 96% of its leavers went on to education, an apprenticeship or work that they stayed in for at least two terms. Overall pupil absence was 6.5%. There are about 13.9 pupils per teacher. The school serves a community with above-average levels of disadvantage: about 57% of pupils have been eligible for free school meals in the last six years, compared with roughly 24% nationally — useful context when reading the results above. Bow School does not currently have a recent graded Ofsted judgement on record (often the case for newer or recently converted schools), so it is worth asking when its next inspection is expected. This overview is generated automatically from the latest published DfE performance tables and Ofsted data; figures are rounded, and you can check the originals via the official links above.

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