Fellside Community Primary School

Fellside Community Primary School is a smaller-than-average primary school in a relatively low-deprivation area, with low proportions of disadvantaged pupils and pupils with SEND. The inspection found notable strengths in the early years and inclusion: children benefit from warm interactions, a well-resourced curriculum, strong phonics and reading, and tailored nursery provision. Leaders have built an inclusive culture and improved identification and support for pupils with SEND and disadvantaged pupils. Pupils are generally happy, feel safe, attend very well and benefit from a broad personal development programme, including enrichment and careers work. Safeguarding standards are met, and outcomes in reading, writing and mathematics have been high over time.

Strengths

• Warm and purposeful adult-child interactions support high expectations in the early years
• Strong phonics teaching and story times help children become confident, fluent readers
• The early years curriculum is carefully constructed and well resourced, including tailored nursery provision
• Leaders have created an inclusive culture where pupils feel welcome and valued
• Identification of SEND has improved significantly, with careful tracking of pupil progress
• Support for disadvantaged pupils is well considered, including academic and pastoral help
• Pupils' personal development is promoted well through British values, relationships education and online safety
• A varied enrichment programme includes trips, clubs, visitors and careers work
• Outcomes in reading, writing and mathematics have been high over time
• Attendance is high and persistent absence is consistently low
• Safeguarding standards are met
• Some staff adapt lessons thoughtfully to meet pupils' needs

Areas for Improvement

• Pupils' achievement in wider curriculum subjects, including geography, religious education and art and design, is not secure
• The curriculum in several foundation subjects is under-developed and inconsistent across the school
• Support and adaptations for some pupils, including those with SEND, are not consistently effective
• Tasks sometimes do not help pupils learn the intended curriculum, limiting progress
• Writing is less well modelled and expectations of pupils' written work are inconsistent
• Checking of what pupils know and remember is inconsistent across the curriculum
• Behaviour for learning is often poor and pupils' attitudes to learning remain too variable
• Agreed rules and routines are not consistently embedded, and the new behaviour policy is inconsistently implemented
• Some pupils, staff and parents remain concerned about how serious behaviour incidents have been handled
• Pupils do not retain enough of what they have been taught in personal development, including about different faiths and beliefs
• Leaders' approach to school improvement is not yet precise enough to identify, monitor and act on priorities
• Governors are committed but several are new and lack a clear understanding of what is working well and what is not
• Leaders' evaluation of the impact of professional learning is limited
• Relationships with some stakeholders are not consistently positive, and some staff report a lack of support for workload

Admissions: local authority offers data from the Department for Education. A school is oversubscribed when at least 5% of the families who put it first were not offered a place, and undersubscribed when everyone who put it first got in but 10% or more of its places were unfilled in the Department's school capacity survey (the latest survey is used for entry years it does not cover). Places: Department for Education, School capacity, from local authorities' annual survey as at 1 May. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024–25); the survey was not run in 2020. Places include sixth form places. Forecasts are the local authority's own for the school's planning area, an area it uses to plan places that is not the school's catchment area. The forecast starts from a head count in 2025; the dashed line is the Department's estimate of places in that area, including those the authority has firm plans for. Planned places are cumulative, and only those with firm plans are counted.

In 2024–25 pupils at Fellside Community Primary School attended 96.9% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 2.2% of pupils were persistently absent, missing at least one session in ten (nationally 13.0%).

Sessions missed

Pupils persistently absent

Source: Department for Education, Pupil absence in schools in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Persistent absence means missing 10% or more of sessions; severe absence means 50% or more. No figures were published for 2019/20.

In 2024–25, 0.0% of pupils at Fellside Community Primary School were suspended at least once (nationally 1.1%). No pupils were permanently excluded.

Pupils suspended at least once

Source: Department for Education, Suspensions and permanent exclusions in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). A pupil can be suspended more than once, so suspensions per 100 pupils can be higher than the share of pupils suspended. Very small numbers are hidden by the DfE. Exclusion figures dropped in 2020 and 2021 because of school closures.

In 2025–26 Fellside Community Primary School had 30.7 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 33.3% were no longer at the school a year later (nationally 15.7%).

Pupils per teacher

Teachers who left the school within a year

Source: Department for Education, School workforce in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Pupils per teacher counts full-time-equivalent pupils and teachers. Turnover is the share of a year's teachers (full-time equivalent) who were not at the school the following year, whether they moved to another school or left state-funded teaching. Turnover and sickness figures run one year behind the ratios. Sick leave is the share of teachers who took at least one day in the year, so it swings widely at small schools, where a few teachers can make it 0% or 100%. The national figures are for all state schools of the same type.

In 2025–26, 8.1% of pupils at Fellside Community Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 0.9% had an education, health and care (EHC) plan (nationally 4.1%).

Pupils by main type of need

Source: Department for Education, Special educational needs in England (the 2025–26 school census). SEN support is extra help in school without an EHC plan. National figures are for all state-funded primary schools. Counts are as published, with small numbers not hidden.

In 2025–26 Fellside Community Primary School received £6,049 and spent £6,185 for each of its 231 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £131,000 (£569 per pupil).

Income per pupil

Spending per pupil

Source: Department for Education, Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool. Each year is the one the financial year ends in (2024 is 2023–24).

• Primary Schools
• Secondary Schools

All schools in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne · Gateshead local authority: places and applications

What is Fellside Community Primary School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Fellside Community Primary School is Needs attention, from an inspection in October 2026.

When was Fellside Community Primary School last inspected by Ofsted?

Fellside Community Primary School was last inspected in October 2026.

How many pupils does Fellside Community Primary School have?

Fellside Community Primary School has 235 pupils on roll.

What age range does Fellside Community Primary School cover?

Fellside Community Primary School for pupils aged 3 to 11.

What are Fellside Community Primary School's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 90% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Fellside Community Primary School?

Fellside Community Primary School is at Fellside Road, Whickham, Fellside Community Primary School, Fellside Road, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Tyne and Wear, NE16 5AY.