The Department for Education (DfE) has published its Attainment 8 scores for the borough’s secondary schools with some schools scoring higher than the national state funded school average, but a significant number below.
In South Tyneside, pupils achieved an average GCSE Attainment 8 score of 42.7, below the England state funded school average score of 45.9.
What is Attainment 8?
Attainment 8 looks at how pupils have performed in up to eight Government stipulated GCSE subjects including the core subjects of maths and English, English Baccalaureate subjects - the sciences, computer science, history, geography and languages - and three DfE approved subjects which may be specific to that school.
Each GCSE grade is given a value between one to nine with maths and English given double weighting to reflect the significance of these core subjects. A school’s Attainment 8 score is the average total achieved by pupils in that year’s GCSE cohort of students.
Why no Progress 8 scores?
Progress 8 scores are normally viewed as the most important attainment benchmark on which a secondary school’s performance is judged as it looks at how much progress teachers have made with pupils since joining them in Year 7, rather than just raw outcomes.
Progress 8 compares pupils of similar pre-assessed ability in Year 6 Standard Assessment Tests with their GCSE results achieved in Year 11. A statistically calculated positive or negative value is then reached indicating whether pupils made more or less progress than their national counterparts.
Progress 8 scores could not be calculated for this year’s 2025 cohort of students as, due to Covid, this group of pupils did not sit their Year 6 tests.
Check out the Attainment 8 scores for South Tyneside’s secondary schools. These are provisional results which the DfE have published so may be subject to slight change once remarks are factored in.
*Special schools have not been included in this list.*
1. South Tyneside secondary school attainment 8 scores
These are South Tyneside's secondary schools ranked by their 2025 GCSE Attainment 8 scores. | Google Maps
2. Whitburn Church of England Academy, Whitburn
Whitburn Church of England Academy has an attainment 8 score of 51.6, which is above both the South Tyneside and national average. | Google Maps
3. St Wilfrid's RC College, South Shields
St Wilfrid's RC College has an attainment 8 score of 48, which is above both the South Tyneside and national average. | Google Maps
4. St Joseph's Catholic Academy, Hebburn
St Joseph's Catholic Academy has an attainment 8 score of 45.5 which is above the South Tyneside average but below the national average. | Google Maps