Trinity Academy Newcastle

Trinity Academy Newcastle remains in special measures following its November 2025 full inspection, and this first monitoring inspection in July 2026 focused on safeguarding, attendance and behaviour, and leadership and governance. Safeguarding now meets the required standards, and the upper school site is safer and calmer than at the full inspection. However, the school still does not provide an acceptable standard of education overall, with urgent improvement still needed in achievement, curriculum and teaching, inclusion, personal development and wellbeing, and leadership and governance. The school serves pupils who all have education, health and care plans and special educational needs and/or disabilities, and its lower and upper sites provide markedly different experiences. Primary-age pupils at the lower site generally learn and achieve well from their different starting points. Early reading, writing, mathematics and communication are supported effectively, social, emotional and mental health needs are well understood, and personal development is personalised. In contrast, secondary-age pupils at the upper site do not achieve well: gaps in prior learning persist and widen, the curriculum is not fit for purpose, staff lack expertise in several subjects, lessons are disrupted, education, health and care plan provision is not consistently delivered, attendance remains low, and older pupils are not well prepared for adulthood. Leaders and trustees have responded with urgency on safeguarding and behaviour. They have established rigorous systems for checking on absent pupils, reduced physical assaults, bullying and derogatory language, addressed internal truancy, provided additional leadership and staffing capacity, and trained staff to manage behaviour. Nevertheless, improvements to the secondary curriculum, inclusion, attendance and governance are still in their infancy, and trustees and the local governing body are not yet holding leaders to account with sufficient rigour across all areas of provision.

Strengths

• Safeguarding standards are now met, with an open culture and effective management of concerns.
• The upper school site is generally calm and orderly, and pupils feel safe.
• Incidents of physical assault, bullying and derogatory language have reduced.
• Internal truancy has been addressed effectively, and pupils attend lessons when in school.
• Rigorous daily systems check on absent pupils and work with families to remove attendance barriers.
• Primary-age pupils at the lower site typically learn and achieve well from differing starting points.
• Early reading, writing, mathematics and communication are effectively supported at the lower site.
• Lower-site staff understand pupils' social, emotional and mental health needs well and act quickly.
• The lower site provides a personalised personal development offer that builds confidence and relationships.
• Trustees responded with urgency to safeguarding and provided additional leadership and staffing capacity.
• Staff receive training to keep pupils safe and manage behaviour, and no significant workload or wellbeing concerns were reported.
• The trust has established systems for trustees and the local governing body to hold leaders to account, with some evidence of appropriate challenge.

Areas for Improvement

• Secondary-age pupils do not achieve well, and gaps in prior learning persist and widen.
• The secondary curriculum is broad but not fit for purpose.
• In several subjects, leaders have not identified the essential knowledge pupils should learn.
• Staff are unclear about curriculum content and lack expertise to design suitable learning activities.
• Lessons are often interrupted or abandoned because of poor behaviour.
• Many pupils do not receive the provision specified in their education, health and care plans or specialist reports.
• Upper-site staff do not identify or address gaps in pupils' reading, writing and mathematical knowledge.
• Secondary-age pupils who struggle to read do not receive effective support.
• Systems for assessing and meeting pupils' needs at the upper site are poorly developed.
• Leaders have not established an agreed approach to identifying and removing barriers to learning and wellbeing.
• Staff do not receive effective guidance to meet pupils' needs, and the impact of provision is not checked.
• The school's overall evaluation of the impact of additional funding and support is weak.
• Attendance at the upper school site remains low, with no significant improvement since the full inspection.
• The personal development programme does not meet pupils' individual needs and is not delivered consistently well.
• Pupils' knowledge of different faiths, fundamental British values and topics such as consent is underdeveloped.
• Older pupils show little respect for differences, and prejudicial language is heard frequently.
• Pupils are not well prepared for life in modern Britain or for adulthood.
• Trustees and the local governing body still lack rigour in holding leaders to account.
• Accountability systems and processes are not implemented effectively across all areas of school provision.
• Leaders' actions to improve the secondary curriculum and teaching are in their infancy.
• Expectations of pupils' behaviour in lessons need to be raised further.
• The school remains in special measures and still does not provide an acceptable standard of education.

In 2024–25 pupils at Trinity Academy Newcastle attended 55.5% of sessions (the national figure for special schools was 87.2%). 78.9% of pupils were persistently absent, missing at least one session in ten (nationally 35.3%).

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, 49.5% of pupils at Trinity Academy Newcastle were suspended at least once (nationally 5.1%). 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 Trinity Academy Newcastle had 9.3 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for special schools was 6.6). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 30.8% were no longer at the school a year later (nationally 14.5%).

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 Trinity Academy Newcastle had 205 pupils, 100.0% of them with an education, health and care (EHC) plan (nationally 99.5%).

It says it provides for: moderate learning difficulty; social, emotional and mental health; speech, language and communication needs; autistic spectrum disorder; other difficulty or disability.

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

In 2024–25 Trinity Academy Newcastle received £33,989 and spent £24,138 for each of its 206 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £2,785,000 (£13,518 per pupil).

Across all 3 schools of Trinity Academy Newcastle, income was £24,525 and spending £19,994 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.

• Primary Schools
• Secondary Schools

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

Trinity Academy Newcastle is part of Trinity Academy Newcastle, which runs 3 schools. The nearest others:

• Trinity Solutions Academy Newcastle-Upon-Tyne
• Trinity Academy New Bridge Sunderland

What is Trinity Academy Newcastle's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Trinity Academy Newcastle is Urgent improvement, from an inspection in September 2026.

When was Trinity Academy Newcastle last inspected by Ofsted?

Trinity Academy Newcastle was last inspected in September 2026.

How many pupils does Trinity Academy Newcastle have?

Trinity Academy Newcastle has 205 pupils on roll.

What age range does Trinity Academy Newcastle cover?

Trinity Academy Newcastle for pupils aged 5 to 16.

What are Trinity Academy Newcastle's GCSE results?

In 2018 its average Attainment 8 score was 9.4, and 0% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above in both English and maths GCSE.

What are Trinity Academy Newcastle's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 0% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Trinity Academy Newcastle?

Trinity Academy Newcastle is at Condercum Road, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Tyne and Wear, NE4 8XJ.