NCEA Duke's Secondary School Review 2026: A large local secondary with a clear improvement agenda and a small sixth form

For families across Ashington, Newbiggin by the Sea and Lynemouth, NCEA Duke's Secondary School is the default 11 to 19 option in the NCEA Trust, big enough to feel like a town school and structured enough to support very different starting points. The tone is purposeful, with an explicit focus on behaviour, literacy and consistency in teaching, alongside timetable space for enrichment.

Leadership is stable. Mr R Atkinson has been Principal since March 2020, after joining the school as Deputy Head in 2016, and the current phase is defined by rebuilding routines and improving outcomes.

Inspection evidence confirms a mixed picture that matters for parents: the June 2023 Ofsted inspection judged the school Requires Improvement overall, while behaviour, personal development, leadership and management, and sixth form provision were judged Good.

This is a school that works hard to be explicit about expectations. The strongest cultural signal is consistency, or at least the drive towards it: staff training, a shared approach to curriculum delivery, and a behaviour system designed to reduce disruption and keep pupils learning. Where this lands well, it creates calm corridors and classrooms where pupils know what happens next.

The Church of England character is part of the identity rather than an add on. The Principal frames the school’s ethos through a biblical reference, drawing on Matthew 5:16, “Let your light shine before others so that they may see your good deeds and glorify your father in heaven”. For some families, that will read as a gentle moral framework; for others, it is a prompt to check how faith shows up in daily life, assemblies, and relationships.

Pastoral and inclusion work is notably visible in the way the environment is described. Safe spaces are part of the support model, including a sensory room referenced in official inspection reporting as a valued space for pupils who need help regulating anxiety. That kind of practical provision often matters more to day to day wellbeing than any policy statement.

Headline performance data points to a school still working through a significant attainment gap. The most useful parent lens here is trajectory plus specifics: what is being prioritised, what is already strong, and where the school remains below the level families should expect.

At GCSE level, the school’s Attainment 8 score is 34, and Progress 8 is -1.05, indicating that pupils, on average, are making below average progress from the end of primary compared with pupils nationally.

For parents comparing local options, FindMySchool’s England ranking places the school 3700th in England for GCSE outcomes (FindMySchool ranking based on official data), and 2nd locally in Ashington. The same picture appears at post 16: the A level ranking is 1979th in England (FindMySchool ranking based on official data), again 2nd locally in Ashington. These rankings place the school in the lower performance band across England, so the practical question becomes whether the current improvement work matches your child’s needs and learning habits.

Sixth form headline grades show a cohort achieving a smaller share of top outcomes than England averages. In the latest published breakdown, 35% of grades were A* to B, with 0% A* and 15% A.

Parents weighing this should use the FindMySchool Local Hub comparison tool to place these figures alongside nearby providers, then sanity check fit through open events and conversations with subject leads.

The school’s teaching strategy is best understood through its improvement priorities: literacy, vocabulary, and consistent classroom delivery.

One strand is explicit vocabulary teaching. The curriculum is planned to include subject specific vocabulary teaching, with the intent that pupils do not just meet content, but can recall and apply it confidently across subjects. For pupils who struggle with reading, this kind of systematic vocabulary work can be a meaningful lever, especially in humanities and science where language barriers can masquerade as low ability.

A second strand is targeted reading intervention. Support is described as focusing on early stage reading needs, including decoding and comprehension, with an ambition to extend into fluency and ensure sufficient trained staff to deliver it at scale. For parents of pupils entering Year 7 with weak reading confidence, the practical question to ask is how quickly screening happens, how often intervention runs, and how impact is measured term by term.

Consistency is the third strand, and it cuts both ways. Quality assurance processes, including planned lesson visits, are intended to identify uneven delivery and respond quickly. However, the effectiveness of this approach depends on follow through: training that changes classroom practice, and middle leaders who can sustain high expectations across every department.

With a sixth form on site, the school supports both Year 11 leavers moving into post 16 pathways and Year 13 leavers stepping into university, work, or training.

The strongest evidence base here is destination outcomes for the most recently reported leaver cohort. For the 2023 to 2024 cohort (49 students), 27% progressed to university, 16% entered apprenticeships, 27% moved into employment, and 10% progressed to further education. This is a genuinely mixed set of routes, which can suit students who want a practical, work facing pathway as well as those aiming for degree level study. It also underlines the importance of strong careers guidance and employer links for a cohort where many do not take the traditional university route.

Sixth form culture is described as benefiting from small scale, with personalised support and teachers able to check precisely what students know before moving on. For the right student, that can be a meaningful advantage over larger sixth forms where individual attention is harder to sustain.

Year 7 admissions are managed through Northumberland’s coordinated process, with applications made through the local authority portal rather than directly to the school.

Timing matters. The school states that, for the September 2026 Year 7 intake, the admissions portal opened on 12 September 2025. National guidance states that secondary applications must be submitted by 31 October, and the national offer day for secondary places for this cycle is Monday 2 March 2026.

Open events appear to run early in the autumn term. For example, the published Year 6 open evening for this cycle was held on 01 October 2025, from late afternoon into early evening. Families planning ahead should assume open evenings are typically scheduled in late September or early October, and check the school’s calendar as dates go live each year.

Demand is described as oversubscribed in the latest available admissions status, so families should plan early and avoid relying on late applications.

Parents who are unsure about the practicalities should use FindMySchool’s Saved Schools feature to keep key dates, open events, and application tasks in one place, then build a short shortlist of realistic alternatives in case your preferred option does not come through.

Pastoral care here is closely linked to behaviour, attendance, and inclusion. The intent is clear: reduce suspensions, embed a tiered behaviour approach, and rebuild relationships after incidents so pupils can return to learning rather than cycling through repeated sanctions.

Inclusion support is most convincing where it is tangible. The availability of safe spaces, including a sensory room, points to staff thinking practically about regulation and anxiety rather than treating wellbeing as purely a classroom management issue. That matters for pupils with social, emotional, and mental health needs, and for families who have experienced exclusions or repeated conflict in previous settings.

Safeguarding is a baseline question for any school choice. The June 2023 inspection confirmed safeguarding arrangements were effective, and described staff training and record keeping as clear and thorough.

Extracurricular life is structured and specific, with a mix of sport, inclusion focused provision, and practical clubs that suit pupils who want something to belong to after the last bell.

One clear pillar is the Combined Cadet Force (CCF), positioned as a weekly after school commitment designed to build responsibility, leadership and self discipline. It runs on Mondays after school and is open to older year groups, which can create a strong peer culture and clear progression from participant to leader. For pupils who respond well to structure and teamwork, this can be an important anchor.

A second pillar is sport and activity clubs offered across the week. The published programme includes girls’ football, boys’ football, basketball, futsal, rugby, badminton and table tennis, plus a trampoline session by invitation. These are time boxed, which helps families plan around transport and caring arrangements, and provides a realistic option for pupils who are not already part of external clubs.

Third, there is an explicit commitment to inclusion and safe spaces in the club offer. Pride Club is described as an inclusive space for LGBT+ students and allies, with staff led discussion and optional activities, including cross curricular links. That level of clarity helps parents understand how the school supports identity, belonging and respectful conversation, which is increasingly central to adolescent wellbeing.

For pupils who need academic structure after school, the programme also lists SEN homework support and an ICT and STEM session for younger years. Done well, these are not just add ons, they reduce the gap between those who get support at home and those who do not.

The timetable is clearly set out. Tutor time begins at 08:30, lessons run through the day with a mid morning break, and the final period ends at 15:00. Sixth form hours mirror this core day, with students able to use study facilities until 17:00 Monday to Thursday.

As a local secondary serving Ashington and nearby communities, travel is typically shaped by school buses, public transport, and family drop off, rather than long distance commuting. Pupils come from across Ashington, Newbiggin by the Sea and Lynemouth, so it is worth modelling the journey time at the same time of day your child would travel.

• Requires Improvement overall. The most recent graded inspection outcome is Requires Improvement. While several areas were judged Good, overall performance and consistency remain a key consideration for families choosing between local options.

• Outcomes remain below England norms. Progress measures and attainment figures indicate that many pupils are not yet achieving as well as they could. Families should probe how teaching consistency is being secured in the subjects your child will study most heavily.

• Behaviour policy is still embedding. Current improvement work is strongly focused on reducing suspensions and making behaviour systems consistent. Ask how the approach supports pupils who struggle with regulation, and how quickly families are brought into problem solving.

• Small sixth form is a specific choice. A smaller post 16 cohort can mean more personalised support, but it can also mean a narrower range of subjects and peer groups than a large sixth form college. Check the course offer and whether your child wants a bigger social and academic environment.

NCEA Duke's Secondary School is a large, local Church of England secondary with stable leadership, a clear improvement agenda, and a sixth form that can suit students who value personalised support. It is strongest for families who want a structured approach to behaviour and literacy, and who are prepared to engage with the school as it continues to improve outcomes.

Who it suits: pupils who benefit from clarity, routines, and a broad local peer group, including those who want practical post 16 routes such as apprenticeships alongside academic pathways. The key trade off is that published outcomes remain below where most families would want them, so securing fit depends on how well the current improvement work aligns with your child’s needs.