Hexham Middle School

About Hexham Middle School

Hexham Middle School holds a Good rating from Ofsted, a grade it has maintained since its last graded inspection in 2016. The school's most recent ungraded inspection in April 2024 confirmed it remains Good, with leadership and management also rated Good. This is a notable improvement from its previous graded inspection in 2014, when the school was judged to require improvement. For a middle school catering to Years 5 to 8, the most telling academic metric is Progress 8, which measures how much pupils improve between the end of primary school and the end of Key Stage 4. Hexham Middle School's Progress 8 score is not individually published in this data, but the local authority average for all schools in Northumberland is -0.22, meaning pupils across the area typically make slightly less progress than the national average. The school's Good rating suggests it is performing above that local baseline.

The school's Ofsted report highlights strong leadership and management, which have been key to its sustained Good rating. Behaviour and attitudes, while not given a separate graded judgement in the most recent inspection, were noted as positive in the 2016 graded inspection. The school serves 606 pupils, slightly above its official capacity of 600, indicating it is popular with local families. Around 14.7% of pupils are eligible for free school meals, which is close to the national average for state secondary schools. The school does not have a sixth form, so pupils typically move on to other local secondary schools for their GCSEs and A-levels. Among the top-performing schools in the same local authority, The King Edward VI School has a Progress 8 score of 1.21, Ashington Academy 0.46, and Queen Elizabeth High School 0.27, all well above the LA average.

Hexham Middle School offers a broad range of facilities including a swimming pool, astro turf, sports hall, gymnasium, tennis courts, and art studios. Sports on offer include athletics, cricket, rugby, hockey, football, and martial arts, while clubs range from chess and coding to gardening and debate. The school provides support for a wide spectrum of special educational needs, including dyslexia, moderate learning difficulties, social and emotional mental health needs, speech and language communication needs, physical disabilities, and autistic spectrum disorder. This makes it a strong option for families whose children need targeted support within a mainstream setting. The school is oversubscribed, so parents should be prepared to apply early. It suits families who want a middle school model that bridges primary and secondary education, with strong pastoral care and a wide extracurricular offer, all within a Good-rated environment.

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