Seaton Sluice First School

Seaton Sluice First School is a caring, welcoming and inclusive first school where pupils in the main school and those in The Lighthouse specially resourced SEND provision learn together. This was the school’s first routine inspection since the COVID-19 pandemic, and under current arrangements no overall effectiveness grade was given; inspectors judged the quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, leadership and management, and early years provision all to be good. Safeguarding is effective.

Strengths

• Caring and welcoming ethos with strong inclusion, including The Lighthouse SEND provision
• Pupils behave well and feel safe; older pupils behave exceptionally well during less-structured times
• Early reading is a high priority with confident phonics teaching, precise book matching and effective interventions
• Pupils achieve well from their individual starting points across a newly sequenced curriculum
• Music is central to the school’s academic and pastoral offer, including sign language and choral performance
• Pupils with SEND in The Lighthouse access the same curriculum and make small but significant daily progress
• Staff support pupils with complex SEND empathetically and use therapeutic strategies to help them regulate
• Pupils take on responsibility roles and engage willingly in charitable work
• Leaders evaluate strengths and areas for development accurately and consider staff workload and well-being
• Safeguarding arrangements are effective
• Governors have proactively increased leadership capacity

Areas for Improvement

• The new curriculum is not fully embedded, leaving gaps in some pupils’ foundational knowledge in some subjects
• Pupils’ knowledge of different cultures, religions and ethnicities is underdeveloped
• Pupils are not fully prepared for life in the wider local and national community beyond first school
• A few pupils behave less well in lessons when planned work does not capture their interest

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 Seaton Sluice First School attended 95.1% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 11.0% 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, 2.1% of pupils at Seaton Sluice 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 Seaton Sluice First School had 21.0 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 19.6% 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, 10.7% of pupils at Seaton Sluice First School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 10.2% 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 Seaton Sluice First School received £8,486 and spent £8,038 for each of its 185 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £151,000 (£816 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

What is Seaton Sluice First School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Seaton Sluice First School is Good, from an inspection in April 2025.

When was Seaton Sluice First School last inspected by Ofsted?

Seaton Sluice First School was last inspected in April 2025.

How many pupils does Seaton Sluice First School have?

Seaton Sluice First School has 187 pupils on roll.

What age range does Seaton Sluice First School cover?

Seaton Sluice First School for pupils aged 3 to 9.

Where is Seaton Sluice First School?

Seaton Sluice First School is at Granville Avenue, Seaton Sluice, Whitley Bay, Tyne and Wear, NE26 4BX.