Kingsmeadow Community School

About Kingsmeadow Community School

Kingsmeadow Community School is a mixed, non-denominational secondary in Gateshead, one of seven schools in the local authority ranked by Progress 8. It sits sixth in that list, placing it behind the three top-performing peers in the area: Cardinal Hume Catholic School, Whickham School, and St Thomas More Catholic School, Blaydon. The school is led by headteacher Mark Barrett and has 911 pupils on roll, just shy of its 975 capacity. A notably high proportion of its students — 47 per cent — are eligible for free school meals, well above the national average. The school has held a Good rating from Ofsted since its 2019 inspection, and its most recent graded inspection in September 2021 confirmed that rating across all five categories: overall effectiveness, quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, and leadership and management. The sixth form provision was also judged Good. Kingsmeadow is a popular choice locally; for the 2025/26 admissions cycle, it received 300 applications for 173 places, with 122 first-preference offers made.

Academically, Kingsmeadow’s results sit below the Gateshead average. Its Progress 8 score of -0.75 is significantly lower than the local authority average of -0.14, and the school is ranked in the bottom 50 nationally on this measure. The Attainment 8 score stands at 37.6, and just over half of pupils (50.6 per cent) achieved a grade 4 or above in English and maths, though only 27.4 per cent reached the stronger grade 5 threshold. The EBacc entry rate is high at 82.9 per cent, but the proportion of pupils who actually achieved the EBacc at grade 4 or above is 14.6 per cent. In the sixth form, the picture is more mixed: the value-added score is -0.2, which falls within the average banding, and the average points per entry is 27.63, equivalent to a C- grade. The best three A-levels averaged 29.49 points, roughly a C grade, though no students achieved the AAB threshold.

The school offers a broad range of facilities including a swimming pool, astro turf, theatre, art studios, and a dedicated sixth form centre. Sports provision covers football, netball, rugby, martial arts, dance, and athletics, while clubs range from Model UN and Young Enterprise to coding and debate. Kingsmeadow’s SEND provision is extensive, supporting pupils with specific learning difficulties like dyslexia, moderate learning difficulties, social, emotional and mental health needs, speech and language communication needs, hearing and visual impairments, physical disabilities, and autistic spectrum disorder. Given its high FSM intake and below-average Progress 8, this is a school that serves a challenging community with a strong pastoral and inclusive ethos. It will suit families who value a genuinely comprehensive, non-selective environment with a wide extracurricular offer, particularly those who prioritise sixth form continuity and a full range of SEND support.

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