Appletree Gardens First School

Appletree Gardens First School continues to perform well, maintaining its status as a good school. The strong sense of community and the supportive environment contribute to pupils feeling proud and engaged in their learning. The curriculum is broad and encourages personal development, while high expectations for behavior are reinforced through the school's Blossom Code. Additionally, support for pupils with special educational needs is robust, enabling all students to thrive academically and socially. However, the school does face some challenges in the refinement of its foundation subjects. While subjects like mathematics and history are well-developed, there is a need for improvement in ensuring that all subjects effectively reinforce key learning for pupils. This is an important area for the school to focus on as it reviews its curriculum to enhance retention and comprehension across all subjects.

Strengths

• Pupils are enthusiastic and proud to attend the school.
• The curriculum offers a broad and interesting range of opportunities.
• High expectations for pupil behavior are consistently met.
• Strong and warm relationships between staff and pupils create a supportive environment.
• Pupils with SEND receive effective, personalized support.
• The school promotes a culture of reading and provides high-quality phonics instruction.
• Pupils actively engage in a variety of extracurricular clubs and leadership opportunities.

Areas for Improvement

• Some foundation subjects need further refinement to enhance key subject knowledge retention.

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 Appletree Gardens First School attended 94.8% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 16.0% 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 Appletree Gardens First 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 Appletree Gardens First School had 19.2 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 6.9% 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, 15.1% of pupils at Appletree Gardens First School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 2.7% 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 Appletree Gardens First School received £8,192 and spent £7,683 for each of its 276 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £391,000 (£1,418 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 Whitley Bay · North Tyneside local authority: places and applications

Appletree Gardens First School is part of The North Tyneside Learning Trust, which runs 29 schools. The nearest others:

• Monkseaton Coastal School Whitley Bay
• Woodlawn School Whitley Bay
• Monkseaton High School Whitley Bay
• Marden Bridge Middle School Whitley Bay
• Valley Gardens Middle School Whitley Bay
• Whitley Bay High School Whitley Bay
• Monkhouse Primary School North Shields
• Marden High School North Shields
• Southlands School North Shields
• Rockcliffe First School Whitley Bay

What is Appletree Gardens First School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Appletree Gardens First School is Good, from an inspection in July 2024.

When was Appletree Gardens First School last inspected by Ofsted?

Appletree Gardens First School was last inspected in July 2024.

How many pupils does Appletree Gardens First School have?

Appletree Gardens First School has 292 pupils on roll.

What age range does Appletree Gardens First School cover?

Appletree Gardens First School for pupils aged 2 to 9.

Where is Appletree Gardens First School?

Appletree Gardens First School is at Appletree Gardens, Monkseaton, Whitley Bay, Tyne and Wear, NE25 8XS.