Orion Coopers
Hawkwood Lane, Chislehurst, BR7 5PS
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Academy converter
- Ages
- 11 to 18
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- None
- Trust
- ORION EDUCATION
- Principal
- Ms Maria Papachristodoulou
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Sponsor
- Education for the 21st Century
- Constituency
- Eltham and Chislehurst
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 1,629
- Pupils on roll
- 1,339
- URN
- 136464
- Local authority
- Bromley
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 02084673263
About this school
Orion Coopers is a secondary academy in Chislehurst. It teaches children aged 11 to 18 and has 1,339 pupils on roll.
You can read Ofsted's latest judgement for the school below. Where the Department for Education has published them, its results and pupil characteristics appear below. Seeing a school for yourself shows what no page can, so arrange a visit before you apply.
Ofsted judgement
Confirmed by a short inspection, not a full one
Ofsted's most recent visit was a short inspection on 9 March 2023, where inspectors confirmed the school remains Good. The school's last full inspection took place before September 2019, so its area grades are not part of Ofsted's current published data. Older reports are on the school's Ofsted page.
Exam results
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 240 | 231 | 224 |
| Attainment 8 score | 46.2 | 45.4 | 48.5 |
| Progress 8 score | -0.34 -0.52 to -0.16 | -0.38 -0.56 to -0.20 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 44% | 48.9% | 51.3% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 69% | 68.8% | 68.3% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 54% | 50.2% | 45.5% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 4.2 | 4.1 | 4.4 |
Progress 8 is paused nationally for the 2024/25 and 2025/26 school years. Those pupils sat no key stage 2 tests during the Covid pandemic, so there is no starting point to measure progress from. A blank figure here is not missing school data.
Trends over time
How Orion Coopers has moved over recent years against the local and national picture. Every figure is shown in the table beneath its chart.
| Year | This school | Bromley average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 46.2 | 39.7 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 45.4 | 39.7 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 48.5 | 38.6 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 9.9% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 9.1% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 8.9% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 1,393 |
| 2023/24 | 1,293 |
| 2024/25 | 1,318 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Orion Coopers compares
Orion Coopers ranked 12th of 19 secondary schools in Bromley for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 71% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 12% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 48.5 | 8.9% | 27.2% | 1,339 | — |
| Chislehurst School for Girls | 50.3 | 7% | 21% | 1,227 | 1.0 miles |
| Bullers Wood School | 56.3 | 7% | 12.5% | 1,555 | 1.1 miles |
| Bullers Wood School for Boys | 49 | 5.9% | 16.7% | 894 | 1.5 miles |
| Kemnal Technology College | 29.3 | 15.1% | 50.9% | 439 | 1.6 miles |
| Bishop Justus CofE School | 37.8 | 9.8% | 33% | 1,016 | 2.3 miles |
Results reflect each school's cohort as much as its teaching, and free school meals share is context, not a judgement. Small gaps between neighbouring schools are rarely meaningful on their own.
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 27.22%
- English as an additional language
- 7.5%
- Overall absence
- 8.88%
- Persistent absence
- 25.11%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Chislehurst School for Girls1.0 miles
Secondary · Chislehurst
-
Bullers Wood School1.1 miles
Secondary · Chislehurst
-
Bullers Wood School for Boys1.5 miles
Secondary · Bromley
-
Kemnal Technology College1.6 miles
Secondary · Sidcup
-
Bishop Justus CofE School2.3 miles
Secondary · Bromley
Other schools in Chislehurst
- Bullers Wood School Secondary
- Chislehurst School for Girls Secondary
- Edgebury Primary School Primary
- Orion Mead Road Primary
- Red Hill Primary School Primary
- St Nicholas Church of England Primary Primary
- Marjorie McClure School Academies
- Babington House School Independent schools
- Farringtons School Independent schools
Common questions
- What year groups does Orion Coopers teach?
- Orion Coopers teaches children aged 11 to 18. It is a secondary school in Chislehurst.
- Who is the principal of Orion Coopers?
- The principal of Orion Coopers is Ms Maria Papachristodoulou, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was Orion Coopers last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Orion Coopers, and its latest judgement is set out in the inspection section on this page, with the framework and the date it was made.
- How big is Orion Coopers?
- Orion Coopers has 1,339 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 18.
- Is Orion Coopers full?
- Orion Coopers has capacity for 1,629 pupils and 1,339 on roll (82%), so it has space against its published capacity. Places are allocated through the local authority's admissions process, so capacity alone does not tell you whether a place is available.
- Is Orion Coopers a faith school?
- No. Orion Coopers has no designated religious character.
- Is Orion Coopers a selective school?
- No. Orion Coopers is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- Who runs Orion Coopers?
- Orion Coopers is part of ORION EDUCATION. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- How have Orion Coopers's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 46.2 in 2022/23 and 48.5 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Orion Coopers rank locally?
- Orion Coopers ranked 12th of 19 secondary schools in Bromley for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 71% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 12% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Orion Coopers's absence rate?
- Orion Coopers's overall absence rate is 8.9% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Orion Coopers's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Orion Coopers's key stage results are shown in the results section on this page, with the last three years so you can see the trend rather than a single year.
School details come from the Department for Education's Get Information About Schools register. Inspection outcomes come from Ofsted, and exam results from the Department for Education's school performance service. This page was last updated on 1 July 2026.