Front Street Community Primary School

About Front Street Community Primary School

Front Street Community Primary School sits within Gateshead local authority, where it ranks 14th out of 66 primary schools of the same type, placing it comfortably in the top 25% of its local peers. The school’s ranking score of 75 puts it just behind the area’s top performers, which include St Mary & St Thomas Aquinas Catholic Primary School in Blaydon (score 90), Clover Hill Community Primary School (88), and St Philip Neri Catholic Primary School in Dunston (86). Front Street is one of only six primary schools in Gateshead to hold an Outstanding rating from Ofsted, and the nearest other Outstanding school is St Mary & St Thomas Aquinas, located 4.1 kilometres away. Headteacher Helen Gladstone leads a mixed, non-denominational state primary for children aged 3 to 11, with a nursery on site. The school has 414 pupils against a capacity of 472, and 14.4% of its children are eligible for free school meals, which is slightly below the national average.

In its most recent graded inspection in 2017, Ofsted rated the school Outstanding overall, with leadership and management also Outstanding and early years provision Outstanding. An ungraded inspection in October 2023 confirmed the school remains Outstanding. At Key Stage 2 in the 2023/24 academic year, 75% of pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined, well above the Gateshead local authority average of 64%. In reading, 80% reached the expected standard and 36% achieved a higher standard; in writing, 83% met expectations and 17% reached the higher level; and in maths, 85% hit the expected standard with 41% achieving the higher standard. Average scaled scores were 107 in reading and 108 in maths. The school does not publish progress scores for reading, writing or maths, so it is not possible to compare pupil progress against national benchmarks.

The school is oversubscribed: for 2025/26 entry, it received 101 applications for 49 places, with 47 first-preference offers made, giving an oversubscription ratio of 2.06. Facilities include a dining hall, library, playing fields, outdoor playground, ICT suite, art studios and a chapel. Sports on offer are rounders, cricket, gymnastics and cross country, while clubs include choir, gardening, drama, book club, science club and chess. The school provides support for a range of special educational needs, including dyslexia, social, emotional and mental health needs, speech, language and communication difficulties, autistic spectrum disorder and other disabilities. Front Street is a strong choice for families in Gateshead who want a well-regarded local primary with a nursery, strong academic outcomes and a broad range of extracurricular activities, though competition for places is high.

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