Whickham School
Secondary · Academy converter · Ages 11–18 · Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Gateshead
Last distance offered · Year 7 2026
3.42 miles
Published by Gateshead Council · offers on 2 March 2026
2025 figure 🔒
Nearby schools' earlier years 🔒
Whickham School is a secondary school in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Gateshead for ages 11–18 (academy converter). Its latest Ofsted outcome is Not judged, from the inspection on 14 January 2025. Gateshead has published a last distance offered for this school for Year 7 2025 to 2026 entry.
Whickham School catchment area: last distance offered
Parents often call this the catchment area: it's how far from the school the last child offered a place lived. It changes every year.
| Entry | Last distance offered |
|---|---|
| Year 7 2026 | 3.42 mi |
| Year 7 2025 | 🔒 With a pass |
What the pass includes · How to read it: one past year, not a catchment
What the figures show
- For Year 7 2026, the last child offered a place lived 3.42 miles from the school, further than in 2025.
- In 2024/25, 60% of pupils got grade 5 or above in GCSE English and maths (England 45%), with an Attainment 8 score of 53 (England 46).
- Year 7 2026 drew 289 first-choice applications for 279 offers; 263 offers went to first-choice families, and 26 first-choice families (9%) were not offered a place.
- Some 20.1% of pupils are eligible for free school meals, against a middle figure of 35.1% across the 8 nearest secondary schools in Gateshead.
Worked out by Catchmently from the published figures on this page and those for other Gateshead schools. Distances are as published; how they were measured differs between admission authorities.
Key facts
- Address
- Burnthouse Lane, Whickham, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, NE16 5AR
- Type
- Academy converter
- Phase
- Secondary
- Ages
- 11–18
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Council
- Gateshead
- Pupils on roll
- 1,690 January 2026 school census
- Free school meals
- 20.1% of pupils eligible
- Pupils per teacher
- 17.9
Official record: Get Information about Schools · as at 15 September 2026
Ofsted
Not judged Inspected 14 January 2025
Strengths
- “The school has high ambitions for all its pupils.”
- “The broad curriculum prepares pupils well for life beyond school.”
- “Pupils achieve well at Whickham School.”
To improve
- “Some of these consistent strategies are not applied routinely in sixth-form lessons, which means that students here do not benefit in the same way that pupils in other year groups do.”
- “Beyond Year 8 there is not as strong a focus on reading.”
- “This means that some pupils in the school do not read widely and often.”
Safeguarding: Effective
Quoted from the Ofsted report published 4 April 2025 (read the report). Crown copyright, Open Government Licence v3.0.
Exam results
| Measure | School | England |
|---|---|---|
| GCSE English and maths, grade 5 or above (2024/25) | 60% | 45% |
| Attainment 8 score (2024/25) | 53 | 46 |
| A level average grade (2024/25) | B- | B- |
Department for Education school performance data. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Applications and offers
- 2026 Year 7 entry: 289 first-preference applications, 279 offers in total, 263 offers to first-preference applicants.
Department for Education, school-level applications and offers, figures on national offer day. Earlier years are in the pass.
Nearby secondary schools
Straight-line distance, in Gateshead.
- Kingsmeadow Community School 1.4 mi No Ofsted grade Last distance published
- St Thomas More Catholic School, Blaydon 2.1 mi Good Last distance published
- Grace College 3.2 mi No Ofsted grade Last distance published
- Thorp Academy 4.2 mi School remains Good Last distance published
- Cardinal Hume Catholic School, Gateshead 4.4 mi Outstanding Last distance published
- XP Gateshead 4.8 mi Not judged Last distance published
- Heworth Grange School 5.3 mi Not judged Last distance published
- Lord Lawson of Beamish Academy 5.6 mi No Ofsted grade Last distance published