Local authority · North East
Newcastle upon Tyne has 25 secondary schools in this dataset — 19 state-funded and 6 independent. 2 are selective, admitting on an entrance test; 6 have a religious character; 18 have a sixth form.
The typical school here posts a three-year Progress 8 of -0.57 (well below average) — 0.56 of a grade per subject below the national median of -0.01. That is the middle of the 12 schools in this area with a published score.
The spread inside the area is wider than the gap between areas: from -1.54 to +0.57. Which school a child goes to matters more here than which area you move to.
For 2026 entry the typical school here drew 0.95 first preferences per place — the same as the national median. 4 of the 11 schools with published figures were named first by more families than they had places for. A high figure means popular, not good, and it is not your chance of a place — that depends on where you live.
Overall absence runs at 9.2% for the typical school here, above the national median of 8.7%. Absence is a plainer signal of whether pupils are turning up and engaged than any grade average.
Ordered on the three-year average Progress 8, which is steadier than any single year. Read the confidence interval beside each score before you read the order: it is the range the school's true figure is likely to sit in, and a wide one means a small year group rather than an unpredictable school.
| School | Progress 8 | 95% interval | Attainment 8 | Pressure | Ofsted | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | St Mary's Catholic SchoolAcademy converter | +0.57well above average | +0.37 to +0.742023–24 | 57.7 | 1.84× | Outstanding |
| 2 | Gosforth AcademyAcademy converter | +0.50well above average | +0.50 to +0.782023–24 | 56.8 | — | Good |
| 3 | Sacred Heart Catholic High SchoolAcademy converter | +0.37above average | +0.35 to +0.732023–24 | 55.8 | 1.43× | — |
| 4 | Jesmond Park AcademyAcademy sponsor led | +0.18average | +0.12 to +0.452023–24 | 50.2 | 1.15× | Good |
| 5 | St Cuthbert's High SchoolAcademy converter | -0.05average | -0.20 to +0.202023–24 | 48.7 | 0.95× | Good |
| 6 | Excelsior AcademyAcademy sponsor led | -0.52well below average | -0.82 to -0.422023–24 | 33.5 | 0.71× | Requires improvement |
| 7 | Walbottle AcademyAcademy sponsor led | -0.63well below average | -0.86 to -0.522023–24 | 41.6 | 0.92× | Good |
| 8 | Kenton SchoolAcademy converter | -0.84well below average | -1.02 to -0.682023–24 | 37.6 | 0.56× | — |
| 9 | Benfield SchoolAcademy converter | -1.09well below average | -1.30 to -0.892023–24 | 34.3 | 0.30× | — |
| 10 | Walker Riverside AcademyAcademy converter | -1.09well below average | -1.12 to -0.722023–24 | 36.7 | 1.26× | — |
| 11 | Studio WestStudio schools | -1.33well below average | -1.83 to -1.252023–24 | 31.9 | 0.59× | — |
| 12 | North East Futures UTCUniversity technical college | -1.54well below average | -1.58 to -1.092023–24 | 32.8 | — | — |
3 of the 11 other schools ranked here have a confidence interval that overlaps St Mary's Catholic School's. On these figures they cannot be told apart from the school at the top of the table, and the order between them is not a finding. 1 school here has an interval that includes zero (shaded above) — those cannot be told apart from an average school nationally.
These are not bottom of the table — they are not in it. A school with no published score has not done badly; the measure was not calculated for it, and the reason differs.
| Bahr Academy | Independent — no Progress 8 is calculated for fee-paying schools |
|---|---|
| Callerton Academy | No Progress 8 published — usually a new school, a special school, or too small a cohort |
| Dame Allan's Schools | Independent — no Progress 8 is calculated for fee-paying schools |
| Gosforth Central Middle School | No Progress 8 published — usually a new school, a special school, or too small a cohort |
| Gosforth East Middle School | No Progress 8 published — usually a new school, a special school, or too small a cohort |
| Gosforth Junior High Academy | No Progress 8 published — usually a new school, a special school, or too small a cohort |
| Great Park Academy | No Progress 8 published — usually a new school, a special school, or too small a cohort |
| NCG | No Progress 8 published — usually a new school, a special school, or too small a cohort |
| Newcastle High School for Girls GDST | Independent — no Progress 8 is calculated for fee-paying schools |
| Royal Grammar School | Independent — no Progress 8 is calculated for fee-paying schools |
| The Newcastle School | Independent — no Progress 8 is calculated for fee-paying schools |
| Trinity Solutions Academy | Sixth-form or 16–19 site — no GCSE cohort, so no Progress 8 |
| Westfield School | Independent — no Progress 8 is calculated for fee-paying schools |
The most sought-after school in Newcastle upon Tyne for 2026 entry was St Mary's Catholic School at 1.84 first preferences per place — 414 families named it first for 225 places.
Pressure is not a chance of admission. A school with two applicants per place can still admit every family living near it, while a less popular school further away turns you down. Distance from the gate is usually what decides it, and no national figure can tell you that for your own address.
See Newcastle upon Tyne on the map →The same schools on a map, with every filter: results, admissions pressure, Ofsted, faith and selection — or sorted by distance from your own postcode.Admissions do not stop at an authority line. If you live near one, your realistic list of schools spans both sides of it.
The results here are for 2023–24 and earlier, so they describe pupils who have already left. Nothing on this page covers sixth-form results, pastoral care, music, sport or drama, or how a school feels to walk around — which is what parents most often say settled it. The ranking is a starting point for a shortlist, not a verdict on a school.
Nor is it a prediction of a place. Admission depends on each school's criteria and, most often, on how far you live from it — and in Newcastle upon Tyne you apply for a state-funded place through the council's coordinated scheme, naming several schools in order of preference.