Whickham School

Whickham School is a large, inclusive 11–18 academy where pupils achieve well and behave very well. Inspectors found high ambitions, a broad and carefully designed curriculum, and strong teaching that helps pupils revisit important content. Pupils with SEND, including those in the school’s autism resourced provision, are fully included and receive effective bespoke support. Pupils benefit from a wide range of trips, clubs, careers work and community activities, and safeguarding is effective. Leadership is a notable strength: staff feel well supported, and trust and governance are highly effective. The school has a calm and respectful culture, and pupils are polite and embody its values. Attendance is generally good, though some disadvantaged pupils, including those with SEND, remain absent too often, although work with families is improving this. The main area for improvement is reading beyond Years 7 and 8: the reading programme is less developed in other year groups, so too few pupils read widely and often. A further inconsistency is that effective teaching strategies used across the school are not applied routinely in sixth-form lessons. This was a graded inspection under the current framework, so no overall effectiveness grade was given; this is not a first inspection.

Strengths

• High ambitions for all pupils, with pupils achieving well across a broad curriculum
• Calm, respectful environment with very good pupil behaviour and politeness
• Pupils with SEND are fully included and receive highly effective bespoke support
• Ambitious, well-designed curriculum that is regularly reviewed to meet pupils’ needs
• Consistently high proportion of pupils studying the English Baccalaureate
• Well-trained teachers with secure subject knowledge and effective questioning
• Effective use of pupil passports to support pupils with SEND in mainstream lessons
• Strong personal development programme covering mental health, safety and modern Britain
• Wide range of extracurricular activities, trips and community/charity involvement
• Effective careers education and work experience across lower school and sixth form
• Staff feel proud to work at the school and value leaders’ support for wellbeing and workload
• Trust and governing body provide highly effective support and challenge
• Safeguarding arrangements are effective

Areas for Improvement

• Reading programme is less well developed beyond Years 7 and 8, so too few pupils in other year groups read widely and often
• Consistent teaching strategies are not applied routinely in sixth-form lessons, so sixth-form students do not benefit in the same way as other pupils
• Some disadvantaged pupils, including those with SEND, are still absent too often, although attendance is improving

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 Whickham School attended 91.9% of sessions (the national figure for secondary schools was 91.6%). 21.1% of pupils were persistently absent, missing at least one session in ten (nationally 23.4%).

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, 4.6% of pupils at Whickham School were suspended at least once (nationally 7.3%). 6 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 Whickham School had 17.9 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for secondary schools was 16.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 10.1% were no longer at the school a year later (nationally 14.1%).

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, 11.5% of pupils at Whickham School were on SEN support (nationally 14.1%) and 3.2% had an education, health and care (EHC) plan (nationally 3.5%).

The school has resourced provision with 21 pupils.

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 secondary schools. Counts are as published, with small numbers not hidden.

In 2024–25 Whickham School received £7,170 and spent £7,186 for each of its 1,729 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £1,591,000 (£920 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). Academy figures include a share of the trust's central services, shared out by pupil numbers, and are rounded to the nearest £1,000. Premises costs were defined differently from 2024, so compare them across that gap with care.

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What is Whickham School's Ofsted rating?

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

When was Whickham School last inspected by Ofsted?

Whickham School was last inspected in April 2025.

How many pupils does Whickham School have?

Whickham School has 1,690 pupils on roll.

What age range does Whickham School cover?

Whickham School for pupils aged 11 to 18.

What are Whickham School's GCSE results?

In 2026 its average Attainment 8 score was 50.2, and 56% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above in both English and maths GCSE.

Where is Whickham School?

Whickham School is at Burnthouse Lane, Whickham, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Tyne and Wear, NE16 5AR.