Heworth Grange School

Heworth Grange School is a welcoming and caring secondary school where pupils are polite and feel safe, and personal development is a clear strength. The curriculum is broad and ambitious, pupils with SEND are identified and supported well, early reading support helps pupils catch up, and safeguarding arrangements are effective. The school also benefits from effective trust support and strong staff wellbeing arrangements. However, the quality of education, behaviour and leadership require improvement. Key stage 4 pupils have not had a consistently effective curriculum, and some have gaps in foundational knowledge. Teaching is not always adapted well enough to help pupils secure or deepen learning. Attendance and persistent absence remain high, especially for disadvantaged pupils, and a significant minority of pupils are persistently disruptive, leading to suspensions and disruption to others. The school is working against a challenging context including the ongoing impact of the pandemic on attendance and pupils’ social, emotional and mental health. A new headteacher took up post in September 2024, and the school is part of the Consilium Academies trust. Inspectors identified clear priorities: strengthen teaching through professional development, sustain the rigorous attendance strategy, and improve consistency in behaviour management and support.

Strengths

• Pupils are polite, friendly, respectful and feel safe and valued.
• Effective pastoral support and work with parents remove barriers to pupils’ success.
• The school has a broad and ambitious curriculum designed to build knowledge and skills logically.
• Pupils with SEND access the same curriculum and their needs are identified and met well.
• Early reading support helps pupils catch up and become confident, fluent readers.
• Personal development is prioritised, with a wide range of clubs, visits and debates.
• High-quality careers education and guidance prepare pupils well for modern Britain.
• Safeguarding arrangements are effective.
• Trust support provides additional leadership capacity and professional development.
• Staff workload and well-being are prioritised, and staff enjoy working at the school.

Areas for Improvement

• Teaching is not consistently adapted well enough to help all pupils secure foundational knowledge or deepen learning.
• Key stage 4 pupils have not experienced a consistently effective curriculum.
• Some pupils have fundamental gaps in knowledge, partly because of high absence.
• Attendance and persistent absence remain high, particularly for disadvantaged pupils.
• A significant minority of pupils are persistently disruptive.
• Disruptive behaviour leads to suspensions and sometimes affects other pupils’ learning.
• Behaviour management is not consistently applied by teachers.
• Pupils who are persistently disruptive need better support to improve their behaviour.
• The school should provide teachers with professional development in pedagogy and pedagogical content knowledge.

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 Heworth Grange School attended 86.2% of sessions (the national figure for secondary schools was 91.6%). 35.7% 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, 11.8% of pupils at Heworth Grange School were suspended at least once (nationally 7.3%). 9 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 Heworth Grange School had 15.2 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for secondary schools was 16.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 20.9% 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, 19.1% of pupils at Heworth Grange School were on SEN support (nationally 14.1%) and 2.9% had an education, health and care (EHC) plan (nationally 3.5%).

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 Heworth Grange School received £9,151 and spent £8,722 for each of its 997 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £649,000 (£651 per pupil).

Across all 7 schools of Consilium Academies, income was £9,167 and spending £9,138 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 Gateshead · Gateshead local authority: places and applications

Heworth Grange School is part of Consilium Academies, which runs 7 schools. The nearest others:

• Washington Academy Washington
• Thornhill Academy Sunderland
• Wyvern Academy Darlington
• Armthorpe Academy Doncaster
• Moorside High School Manchester
• Ellesmere Park High School Manchester

What is Heworth Grange School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Heworth Grange School is Requires Improvement, from an inspection in December 2024.

When was Heworth Grange School last inspected by Ofsted?

Heworth Grange School was last inspected in December 2024.

How many pupils does Heworth Grange School have?

Heworth Grange School has 910 pupils on roll.

What age range does Heworth Grange School cover?

Heworth Grange School for pupils aged 11 to 16.

What are Heworth Grange School's GCSE results?

In 2026 its average Attainment 8 score was 37.9, and 32% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above in both English and maths GCSE.

Where is Heworth Grange School?

Heworth Grange School is at High Lanes, Felling, Gateshead, NE10 0PT.