Valley Gardens Middle School
Middle deemed secondary · Whitley Bay · NE25 9AQ
Data updated
SchoolFacts estimate: Ofsted awarded no overall grade at this inspection
We show the lowest of the four areas Ofsted did judge, listed below. Why some schools have no overall grade →
Inspected 19 November 2024
Read the Ofsted report ↗At a glance
768 pupils · 100% of 771 capacity (January 2026 census)
- School type
- Foundation school
- Age range
- 9–13
- Gender
- Mixed
- Free school meals
- 6% of pupils (January 2026)
- English as additional language
- 1.3% of pupils (2024/2025)
- SEN support
- 11.4% of pupils (2024/2025)
- EHC plan
- 2.2% of pupils (2024/2025)
- Website
- http://www.vgms.uk
- URN
- 108636
In figures
At its inspection on 19 November 2024 Ofsted awarded no overall grade; the lowest of the four areas it judged was Outstanding. In the 2025/26 autumn and spring terms its pupils missed 4.2% of sessions, against 6.6% across England.
Catchment area
Catchment area: not named in the council's figures. The council did not publish a cutoff distance for 2026 entry.
Admissions cutoff distance: Year 5
The council did not publish a cutoff distance for 2026 entry.
Last child offered a place under the distance criterion (2025 entry, the most recent year with a distance-only cutoff) lived within 0.63 miles
measured in a straight line.
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Source: the admissions authority's published figures · how cutoffs work
Compare admissions across the area: Whitley Bay school admissions · North Tyneside school admissions
Key stage 2 results (2024/2025)
192 pupils at the end of key stage 2 in 2024/2025
Source: DfE performance tables 2024/2025 · what “suppressed” means
Special educational needs
Needs this school records that it caters for, in the order it lists them.
- Moderate Learning Difficulty
Provision type: Resourced provision.
Pupils by ethnicity (January 2026)
White British 91% (North Tyneside 87%, England 59%) · Any other White background 2% (North Tyneside 2%, England 7%) · Any other Mixed background 2% (North Tyneside 1%, England 3%) · Mixed White and Asian 2% (North Tyneside 1%, England 2%) · Asian Chinese 1% (North Tyneside 1%, England 1%) · Asian Indian 1% (North Tyneside 1%, England 4%) · other groups together 1%
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)
6.21 suspensions per 100 pupils and 2 permanent exclusions · England, secondary schools: 21.24 suspensions and 0.23 permanent exclusions per 100 pupils · North Tyneside: 24.96 suspensions and 0.71 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
Staffing
Full-time-equivalent, 2025/26.
Teacher retention (2024/25)
90% of teachers stayed at the school the following year · 2% moved to another state school · 9% left the state-funded sector
Vacancies (November 2025)
0% of teaching posts vacant, 0% filled temporarily · England, council-maintained secondaries: 0.22% vacant, 0.42% temporary
Teacher sickness absence (reported in the November 2024 census)
66.7% of teachers took sickness absence, 10.8 days each on average · England, all state-funded schools: 61.8%, 8.1 days
Teacher pay (November 2025)
Mean salary of full-time qualified teachers £55,976; 13.2% on the leadership pay range · England, secondary schools: £53,766, 11.3%
Vacancies, sickness and pay, last three years Premium
Premium shows the same figures for each of the last three years.
Unlock with SchoolFacts Premium →Source: DfE School Workforce Census · how these figures are counted
Spending per pupil (2025-26)
Where the money went (2025-26)
Share of spending, with the median for secondary schools in brackets: Staff 82% (77%) · premises 6% (6%) · occupation (energy, rates, cleaning) 6% (7%) · supplies and services 6% (10%) · educational supplies 4% (6%) · bought-in professional services 2% (2%) · catering 3% (3%)
Reserves (2025-26)
Revenue reserve £515,060; in-year balance +£14,095
Spending and reserves, last three years Premium
Premium shows the same figures for each of the last three years.
Unlock with SchoolFacts Premium →Higher spending is not a measure of quality. Source: council-maintained school finance return, 2025-26, DfE · how spending is compared
Inspection history since 2015
- 19 November 2024: Outstanding
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)
- 10/10among the least deprived tenth of England
| Census 2021 | This area | England |
|---|---|---|
| Adults with a degree or higher | 48.3% | 33.9% |
| Adults with no qualifications | 8.7% | 18.1% |
| In managerial or professional work | 52.3% | 33.2% |
| Households deprived in two or more ways | 6.6% | 18.1% |
| Residents in very good health | 54.5% | 48.5% |
| Homes owned by the occupier | 93.6% | 62.3% |
| Social housing | 1% | 17.1% |
| Privately rented | 5.5% | 20.5% |
| Detached houses | 7.6% | 22.9% |
| Flats | 0.3% | 22.2% |
| Homes with four or more bedrooms | 23.1% | 21.1% |
| Households with no car or van | 10.1% | 23.5% |
These figures describe the area, not the pupils. Source: Census 2021 (ONS) and English Indices of Deprivation 2025 (MHCLG) for small area E01008517 · how to read area figures
What homes cost nearby
- Median sale price
- £370,000578 sales within 1 km, January 2024 to September 2026
- Typical range
- £270,000–£505,500the middle half of sales
- England median
- £300,000all sales over the same period
Homes around this school are dearer than most school neighbourhoods in England, comparing the median within 1 km across every state school.
Inside the Year 5 cutoff distance (1.01 km, 2025 entry): 598 sales, median £375,000. The homes that would have got a child in that year, at the straight-line distance the school last filled to.
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
- 2an urban school averages 5.7
- All reported collisions
- 3an urban school averages 30.5
- Of those, serious or fatal
- 1an 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