Northern Counties School
Special / other · Newcastle-upon-Tyne · NE2 3BB
Data updated
Graded inspection under the pre-November 2025 system
This is an overall-effectiveness grade from the previous inspection framework. The school has not yet had a report-card inspection.
Inspected 27 February 2024
Read the Ofsted report ↗At a glance
89 pupils · 74% of 120 capacity (January 2026 census)
- School type
- Non-maintained special school
- Age range
- 3–19
- Gender
- Mixed
- Free school meals
- 42.4% of pupils (January 2026)
- English as additional language
- 4.6% of pupils (2024/2025)
- SEN support
- 0% of pupils (2024/2025)
- EHC plan
- 100% of pupils (2024/2025)
- Sixth form
- Yes
- Nursery
- Yes
- Website
- ncs.percyhedley.org.uk
- URN
- 108551
In figures
Ofsted last graded it Good on 27 February 2024, under the framework used before November 2025. In the 2025/26 autumn and spring terms its pupils missed 13.7% of sessions, against 6.6% across England.
GCSE results (2024/2025)
9 pupils at the end of key stage 4 in 2024/2025
no pupils entered
no pupils entered
no pupils entered
no pupils entered
Progress 8 is suspended nationally for 2024/25 and 2025/26. These cohorts sat no key stage 2 tests (COVID), so there is no baseline to measure progress from.
Source: DfE performance tables 2024/2025 · what “suppressed” means National averages are not shown here. The England figures are dominated by mainstream schools, and pupils at a special school are working towards outcomes those measures were not designed to capture, so the comparison would mislead more than it tells you.
Special educational needs
Needs this school records that it caters for, in the order it lists them.
- Hearing Impairment
- Speech, Language and Communication Needs
- Autistic Spectrum Disorder
- Multi-Sensory Impairment
- Moderate Learning Difficulty
- Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulty
Pupils by ethnicity (January 2026)
White British 66% (Newcastle upon Tyne 67%, England 66%) · Black African 7% (Newcastle upon Tyne 6%, England 5%) · Any other Mixed background 6% (Newcastle upon Tyne 2%, England 3%) · Not recorded 6% (Newcastle upon Tyne 2%, England 2%) · Asian Bangladeshi 4% (Newcastle upon Tyne 6%, England 2%) · Any other Asian background 3% (Newcastle upon Tyne 3%, England 2%) · Asian Indian 2% (Newcastle upon Tyne 1%, England 2%) · Asian Pakistani 2% (Newcastle upon Tyne 5%, England 4%) · Mixed White and Asian 1% (Newcastle upon Tyne 1%, England 1%) · Mixed White and Black Caribbean 1% (Newcastle upon Tyne 0%, England 2%) · Any other White background 1% (Newcastle upon Tyne 3%, England 4%)
Source: DfE schools, pupils and their characteristics, January 2026 census · how to read these figures
Attendance (2025/26 autumn and spring terms)
Suspensions and permanent exclusions (2024/25)
0.00 suspensions per 100 pupils and 0 permanent exclusions · England, special schools: 12.32 suspensions and 0.08 permanent exclusions per 100 pupils · Newcastle upon Tyne: 46.93 suspensions and 0.00 permanent exclusions per 100 pupils
Suspensions and exclusions, last three years Premium
Premium shows the same figures for each of the last three years.
Unlock with SchoolFacts Premium →Source: DfE pupil absence data, autumn and spring terms, and DfE suspensions and permanent exclusions, school-level file · how absence is measured · how to read exclusions
Where pupils go after GCSEs
Destinations measured the year after leaving, DfE destination measures in the 2024/2025 performance tables.
Inspection history since 2015
- 27 February 2024: Good
- 6 December 2023: Taking effective action towards the removal of special measures
- 13 March 2023: Taking effective action towards the removal of special measures
- 23 November 2022: School is not taking effective action towards the removal of special measures
- 10 May 2022: Inadequate
- 28 March 2017: Good
Source: Ofsted management information · ungraded visits and the two inspection systems
The area around the school
- Child poverty (IDACI)
- 10/10among the least deprived tenth of England
- Overall deprivation (IMD)
- 8/10less deprived than most of England
| Census 2021 | This area | England |
|---|---|---|
| Adults with a degree or higher | 38.7% | 33.9% |
| Adults with no qualifications | 3.2% | 18.1% |
| In managerial or professional work | 24.5% | 33.2% |
| Households deprived in two or more ways | 9.9% | 18.1% |
| Residents in very good health | 63.3% | 48.5% |
| Homes owned by the occupier | 34.9% | 62.3% |
| Social housing | 6.1% | 17.1% |
| Privately rented | 58.8% | 20.5% |
| Detached houses | 1.3% | 22.9% |
| Flats | 56.7% | 22.2% |
| Homes with four or more bedrooms | 48.4% | 21.1% |
| Households with no car or van | 25.4% | 23.5% |
These figures describe the area, not the pupils. Source: Census 2021 (ONS) and English Indices of Deprivation 2025 (MHCLG) for small area E01008369 · how to read area figures
What homes cost nearby
- Median sale price
- £267,500336 sales within 1 km, January 2024 to September 2026
- Typical range
- £206,000–£465,000the middle half of sales
- England median
- £300,000all sales over the same period
Homes around this school are cheaper than most school neighbourhoods in England, comparing the median within 1 km across every state school.
Source: HM Land Registry sales within 1 km since January 2024 · how sales are counted. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. This data is licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Postcodes located with OS Code-Point Open: contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026; contains Royal Mail data © Royal Mail copyright and database right 2026; contains National Statistics data © Crown copyright and database right 2026.
Roads around the school
- Child pedestrian casualties
- 0an urban school averages 2.0
- Collisions at school-run times
- 12an urban school averages 5.7
- All reported collisions
- 34an urban school averages 30.5
- Of those, serious or fatal
- 6an urban school averages 6.1
A high count usually reflects traffic, not an unsafe school. Source: DfT road casualty statistics (STATS19), collisions within 500 m, 2021–2025 · what is counted