The North East is home to plenty of high-performing secondary schools, but some pulled ahead of the pack in the last school year.
The government’s brand new preliminary performance figures for state-funded secondary schools were released last week, with primary school and sixth form data expected to follow soon. These official league tables were initially delayed, due to what the government described as “quality issues” with the data.
We’ve ranked the North East’s highest-performing state secondary schools for the 2023/24 school year based on this new data, namely their latest Progress 8 scores. This is a unique figure based on GCSE results and other student achievements, which helps to determine how quickly students at any particular school are learning and progressing compared to peers from similar primary schools nationwide. Any score above 0 is positive, while any above 0.5 is considered ‘well above average’ - the highest band available.
All schools on the list also had an overall Ofsted rating of ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ before this measure was recently dropped, or, if they’ve been inspected more recently, had passing marks across the board. This means that the quality of education provided, student behaviour and attitudes, school leadership and management, and student safeguarding all met or exceeded government standards last time the school was inspected.
Here are the 18 schools from across the North East that made the cut:
1. Kings Priory School
Kings Priory is an all-through school in Tynemouth, North Shields. It was formerly rated ‘good’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2023/24 school year, it had an excellent Progress 8 score of 0.85 - putting it in the ‘well above average’ band. | Google
2. Tanfield School
Tanfield is a secondary school in Stanley, County Durham. In its most recent Ofsted inspection, it was found to be ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ in all categories. In the 2023/24 school year, it had a fantastic Progress 8 score of 0.83 - earning it a place in the ‘well above average’ band. | Google
3. Cardinal Hume Catholic School
Cardinal Hulme is a Catholic secondary school and sixth form in Beacon Lough, Gateshead. It was formerly rated ‘outstanding’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2023/24 school year, it had a great Progress 8 score of 0.71 - also putting it in the ‘well above average’ band. | Google
4. St Leonard's Catholic School
St Leonard’s is a Catholic secondary school and sixth form in Durham. In its most recent Ofsted inspection, it was found to be ‘outstanding’ across the board. In the 2023/24 school year, it had a high Progress 8 score of 0.65 - placing it too in the ‘well above average’ band. | Google