Bede Burn Primary School

About Bede Burn Primary School

Bede Burn Primary School is a state primary in South Tyneside that currently educates 196 pupils against a capacity of 210, meaning it runs with a small number of spare places. Its intake reflects a higher-than-average level of disadvantage for the area: 19.4% of pupils are eligible for free school meals, compared with a national primary average of around 23% but notably above the South Tyneside average of roughly 17%. Despite this, the school is clearly in demand. For the 2025/26 admissions cycle, it received 74 applications for just 27 places, an oversubscription ratio of 2.74 to one. Of those, 21 were first-preference applications, and 20 first-preference offers were made, suggesting that most families who put it top of their list secured a spot. The school has no nursery provision and no sixth form, so it serves the standard primary age range of 4 to 11.

Academically, Bede Burn performs around the middle of the pack locally. In the 2023/24 Key Stage 2 results, 57% of pupils reached the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined, which is below the South Tyneside local authority average of 64%. The school ranks 25th out of 37 primaries in the borough on this measure, placing it in the bottom half of the local league table. Individual subject scores are more mixed: 75% met expectations in reading and in writing, and 71% in maths, but the proportion reaching the higher standard in all three subjects is low, at 7%. Average scaled scores were 104 in reading and 103 in maths, both slightly above the national benchmark of 100. The school’s most recent Ofsted inspection, in March 2023, rated it Good across all categories, including quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, and early years provision. This is consistent with its previous Good rating from 2013.

The school offers a solid range of facilities for a primary of its size, including an ICT suite, gymnasium, sports hall, music rooms, and a forest school area. Sports provision covers gymnastics, swimming, netball, athletics, cricket and tennis, while clubs extend to art, coding, science, film, eco and chess. SEND support is broad, with provisions for specific learning difficulties like dyslexia, moderate learning difficulty, speech and language needs, autistic spectrum disorder, and social, emotional and mental health needs. The school is non-religious and co-educational. For families considering Bede Burn, the key takeaway is that it is a popular, Good-rated local primary with a diverse intake and a decent set of extracurriculars, but its academic outcomes are middling for the borough. If you are looking for a school with stronger results, the nearest Outstanding-rated alternative is St Aloysius Catholic Junior School Academy, 1.9 km away.

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