School History

All Saints Catholic School was formed in September 1989 by the merger of Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Convent School for Girls, Goresbrook Road, Dagenham, and Bishop Ward Roman Catholic Boys School, Wood Lane.

Bishop Ward (Wood Lane) Roman Catholic secondary (modern) school was opened in 1954 as a mixed school. It was re-organized for boys in 1962, when the Sacred Heart Convent (Goresbrook Road) R.C. secondary (modern) school for girls was opened.

A few years later the Goresbrook Road site closed, and all pupils were transferred to the ex-Bishop Ward site in Wood Lane. All Saints is a specialist Technology College, and was the first school in the Borough to be awarded Specialist College status.

Mr Des Smith was the last Head of Bishop Ward and the first Head of All Saints from 1989 until 2006; Mr Kevin Wilson became Head from 2006 until 2016, with our present Head Ms Clare Cantle from September 2016.

In 2017 the Diocese of Brentwood will celebrate its Centenary. Brentwood is the only diocese to have been originally part of the Archdiocese of Westminster, from which it was separated in 1917.

On 22 March 1917 Pope Benedict XV appointed Monsignor Bernard Ward as Titular Bishop of Lydda (A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop the tradition of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches is that he be ordained for a specific place.) and Apostolic Administrator of the new Diocese of Essex. Bishop Ward was consecrated by Cardinal Bourne in Westminster Cathedral on 10 April 1917.

Initially no name was given to the new diocese, save that of ‘Essex’, because a decision had to be made as to where the new bishop would reside. As well as being a distinguished educationalist and the foremost historian of English Catholicism of his generation, Bishop Ward was also something of a railway buff. Hence the choice of Brentwood as the seat of the new bishop because its station was the first on the London side of Shenfield junction, which gave access to the Colchester and Southend lines. Moreover, Brentwood itself boasted a fine, although modest, church which would become the Cathedral, as well as a number of convents and Catholic schools.

The Diocese of Brentwood was formally erected on 22 July 1917 and Bishop Ward was named its first Bishop.

The Foundation Stone lays in the reception area, in which then Bishop Doubleday (Second Bishop) reminding us of our past and our present.

On display, along the RE corridor, we also have one of three Mitre’s worn by Bishop Ward.

Priests of the Diocese

~ Ad Multos Annos ~

Bishop Ward School has been blessed so far by having 2 priests of the Diocese;

(Canon Paul with the other Canons of the Diocese; Canon Paul is the first on the Right by the exit door)

Canon Paul Bruxby, who was ordained by Pope St. John Paul II on his visit to Great Britain in 1982.

Fr Tom Jordan was ordained a priest on 22nd July 1989 at St Vincent de Paul, Becontree

All Saints Catholic School was formed in September 1989 by the merger of Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Convent School for Girls, Goresbrook Road, Dagenham, and Bishop Ward Roman Catholic Boys School, Wood Lane.

Bishop Ward (Wood Lane) Roman Catholic secondary (modern) school was opened in 1954 as a mixed school. It was re-organized for boys in 1962, when the Sacred Heart Convent (Goresbrook Road) R.C. secondary (modern) school for girls was opened.

A few years later the Goresbrook Road site closed, and all pupils were transferred to the ex-Bishop Ward site in Wood Lane.  All Saints is a specialist Technology College, and was the first school in the Borough to be awarded Specialist College status.

Mr Des Smith was the last Head of Bishop Ward and the first Head of All Saints from 1989 until 2006; Mr Kevin Wilson became Head from 2006 until 2016, with our present Head Ms Clare Cantle from September 2016.

In 2017 the Diocese of Brentwood will celebrate its Centenary. Brentwood is the only diocese to have been originally part of the Archdiocese of Westminster, from which it was separated in 1917.

On 22 March 1917 Pope Benedict XV appointed Monsignor Bernard Ward as Titular Bishop of Lydda (A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop the tradition of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches is that he be ordained for a specific place.) and Apostolic Administrator of the new Diocese of Essex. Bishop Ward was consecrated by Cardinal Bourne in Westminster Cathedral on 10 April 1917.

Initially no name was given to the new diocese, save that of ‘Essex’, because a decision had to be made as to where the new bishop would reside. As well as being a distinguished educationalist and the foremost historian of English Catholicism of his generation, Bishop Ward was also something of a railway buff. Hence the choice of Brentwood as the seat of the new bishop because its station was the first on the London side of Shenfield junction, which gave access to the Colchester and Southend lines. Moreover, Brentwood itself boasted a fine, although modest, church which would become the Cathedral, as well as a number of convents and Catholic schools.

The Diocese of Brentwood was formally erected on 22 July 1917 and Bishop Ward was named its first Bishop.

The Foundation Stone lays in the reception area, in which then Bishop Doubleday (Second Bishop) reminding us of our past and our present.

On display, along the RE corridor, we also have one of three Mitre’s worn by Bishop Ward.

Priests of the Diocese

~ Ad Multos Annos ~

Bishop Ward School has been blessed so far by having 2 priests of the Diocese;

(Canon Paul with the other Canons of the Diocese; Canon Paul is the first on the Right by the exit door)

Canon Paul Bruxby, who was ordained by Pope St. John Paul II on his visit to Great Britain in 1982.

Fr Tom Jordan was ordained a priest on 22nd July 1989 at St Vincent de Paul, Becontree