Many of the country’s young learners will be starting at a new secondary school this week - or starting preparations for their GCSEs.
The summer holidays have now ended for most of Tyne and Wear’s schoolchildren, with the 2025/26 school year beginning this week across most local authority areas. Those entering their secondary school years will soon find they are particularly important ones, with exams and qualifications that will set them up for their life beyond school to keep in mind.
This is why we have revisited the top performing state secondary schools across the county, including the Gateshead, Newcastle, North Tyneside, South Tyneside, and Sunderland council areas, using our own ‘gold standard’ for schools. The key figure this uses is each school’s latest Progress 8 score (currently from 2024), an official figure based on GCSE results and other student achievements which helps to determine how quickly pupils progressed compared to peers of similar academic backgrounds.
Any score above 0 is positive and considered to be towards the upper end of the Government’s ‘average’ band, so only schools with a score at least this high have made it onto our league table. It is worth noting that this data has now been finalised, so results and placings may differ slightly from earlier reports based on interim results.
But exam results aren’t the only measure of a great learning environment, so we’ve also made sure all schools included had positive ratings in their latest Ofsted inspections. These are going through some changes, but only those with a ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ overall grade under the previous system or positive ratings across all categories under the current one have made the list. This means that quality of education, student behaviour and attitudes, school leadership and management, and safeguarding practices have all met or exceeded expectation.
Here are the 19 schools from across Tyne and Wear which made the cut this year:
5. St Mary's Catholic School
St Mary’s is a Catholic secondary academy and sixth form in Newcastle, most recently rated ‘outstanding’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2023/24 school year, it had a ‘well above average’ Progress 8 score of 0.56. | Google
6. Sacred Heart Catholic High School
Sacred Heart is another Catholic secondary academy and sixth form in Newcastle, for female pupils only. In a recent Ofsted inspection, it was found to be ‘outstanding’ in all categories. In the 2023/24 school year, it had a ‘well above average’ Progress 8 score of 0.54. | Google
7. Marden High School
This is a local authority-maintained secondary school in the Cullercoats area, near North Shields. It was most recently rated ‘good’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2023/24 school year, it had an ‘above average’ Progress 8 score of 0.41. | Google
8. St Aidan's Catholic Academy
St Aidan’s is a Catholic boys’ secondary academy and sixth form in Sunderland. In a recent Ofsted inspection, it was found to be ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ in all categories. In the 2023/24 school year, it had an ‘above average’ Progress 8 score of 0.37. | Google