Delta Independent School Review 2026: Alternative provision for secondary-age students in Consett

This is a small independent school with a specialist role, providing alternative provision for students aged 13 to 16, rather than a conventional Year 7 intake. The scale is intentionally intimate, with a published capacity of 80, and a current roll in the low dozens on sector directories, which typically supports close adult oversight and fast adjustments when students need a reset.

Leadership is clearly framed around reintegration and stabilisation. The principal’s welcome places equal weight on learning and on behaviour, communication, and self awareness, which aligns with the reality that many placements here follow disrupted mainstream experiences.

Because the intake is different from a mainstream comprehensive, parents should interpret standard attainment headlines cautiously. The FindMySchool GCSE ranking sits in the lower performance band nationally, which is often typical for settings taking students at a point of crisis rather than from a stable Key Stage 3 pathway.

The clearest organising idea is “alternative provision with structure”. The school’s public-facing language focuses on resilience, empathy, communication skills, and teamwork, presented as daily habits rather than poster values.

Staffing roles on the school’s team page reinforce that focus. Alongside subject teachers, there are explicit leadership responsibilities for behaviour, attendance, special educational needs coordination, and a designated mental health lead worker. The implication for families is straightforward: this is a setting designed to keep students in education when mainstream routines have broken down, with multiple levers available before exclusion becomes the default outcome.

The school sits within a wider organisational structure linked to Delta North Consett Ltd, described in inspection documentation as a registered charity with a single proprietor supported by an advisory board. For parents, governance matters because it shapes oversight of safeguarding and compliance, especially in a small provision where systems cannot rely on scale.

FindMySchool’s GCSE outcomes ranking places the school at 4,307th in England, and 2nd locally in Consett, for GCSE outcomes (FindMySchool ranking based on official data). The percentile position falls in the lower performance band nationally, which indicates results are below England average on this measure.

The available GCSE metrics include:

• Average Attainment 8 score: 3.4

• Average EBacc APS score: 0.29

• Percentage achieving grade 5 or above in the EBacc: 0%

In a specialist setting, these numbers often reflect the prior disruption many students bring with them, alongside small cohorts that can swing sharply year to year. The academic question for parents is less about comparison to large mainstream cohorts, and more about whether teaching and behaviour systems are strong enough to rebuild consistency, attendance, and qualification access.

The inspection record is helpful here because it explains the school’s purpose and curriculum context. Provision includes GCSE study at the end of the placement, with a curriculum modified on a personalised basis to meet individual needs, including a cohort with identified special educational needs and disabilities.

The staffing structure suggests a practical, intervention-led model: a teaching and learning lead at vice-principal level, subject coverage across English, mathematics, science, history, information technology, and PSHE, and additional strands such as Level 1 skills and sports science listed in staff roles. The implication is a curriculum that can flex between re-engagement work and examination preparation, rather than one built primarily for high-volume academic breadth.

Digital infrastructure appears embedded in the everyday offer, with a parent portal and Google Classroom linked as core tools. For families, that tends to mean clearer assignment tracking and faster communication, which can matter when attendance and routine are fragile.

This provision is aimed at keeping students in education and moving them towards a viable post-16 route, whether that is return to a mainstream school, progression to further education, or a vocational pathway. The school’s careers support is explicitly identified, with a named careers worker and one-to-one guidance described as part of the model.

What is not published is a sixth form performance record, and the school’s age range ends at 16, so parents should plan early for the Year 11 to post-16 transition. In practice, the quality of careers guidance, employer links, and referral partnerships will matter as much as GCSE headline figures in shaping the next step.

This is not a standard “apply in Year 6 for Year 7” school. Inspection documentation describes it as alternative provision supporting placements arranged via local maintained schools, pupil referral units, and the local authority, including dual registration and full-time placements.

That has three practical implications:

1. Entry can be in-year and needs-led, rather than tied to a single annual deadline.

2. Many placements will involve discussions between the current school, the local authority, and the provider about suitability and safeguarding arrangements.

3. Families should expect admissions to focus on fit, risk assessment, and support planning, not just academic prior attainment.

For context, families pursuing a mainstream secondary place in County Durham for September 2026 entry are typically working to a local authority timeline, with published dates including an application opening of 1 September 2025, a closing date of 31 October 2025, and a late-application cut-off of 23 January 2026. This timeline is relevant for mainstream Year 7 applications, not as a direct route into this setting, but it is useful background if you are weighing pathways.

Parents considering the school should also use FindMySchool’s Map Search to understand travel time and practical feasibility, since alternative provision placements can sometimes involve longer journeys than a catchment-based mainstream allocation.

Pastoral structures are prominent. The team listing includes a mental health lead worker, behaviour leadership, attendance leadership, and a SENCo at vice-principal level. That profile is consistent with a setting where therapeutic style support and behavioural re-stabilisation sit alongside teaching.

The most recent compliance monitoring also focused on safeguarding and staff suitability standards, which matters in small provisions where every recruitment check and supervision arrangement carries heavy weight. For parents, the relevant question is whether the school can demonstrate consistent routines, predictable boundaries, and rapid multi-agency communication when issues arise.

Extracurricular life in alternative provision often looks different from a large mainstream school. The evidence base here points to targeted enrichment and practical development rather than a long menu of clubs. Three school-specific strands stand out in published materials:

• A structured careers offer with dedicated one-to-one support and planning for post-16 routes.

• Curriculum breadth that includes PSHE and Level 1 skills alongside core subjects, which can be important for re-engaging students who need practical wins as well as academic targets.

• Access to wider activities beyond the school day linked to the building’s community use, referenced in earlier inspection material about after-school activities operating from the same site.

The implication for families is that enrichment is likely to be personalised and needs-driven, with staff selecting activities that support attendance, confidence, and employability, rather than assuming students will self-select from many optional clubs.

Published sector listings describe day fees in a per-term range of £4,875 to £5,525, and state that scholarships and bursaries are not offered.

Families should also be alert to VAT treatment on independent school fees since policy changes applying VAT to private school education and boarding services took effect from 1 January 2025. Where fee listings state “excluding VAT”, confirm the school’s current charging approach for the 2025 to 2026 academic year directly with the finance team.

The school website publishes office hours of 8am to 5pm on weekdays, but does not clearly publish a daily teaching start and finish time in the main public pages. Term and closure information is shared through an online calendar, with recent entries covering inset days and holiday periods.

Transport planning should be treated as part of the decision. Alternative provision placements can be arranged in-year and may not align neatly with local school-run travel patterns, so families should verify the expected daily routine, travel expectations, and any commissioned transport arrangements at the point of referral.

• This is alternative provision, not a conventional secondary intake. Placement is typically arranged through schools and the local authority, and the experience is built around re-engagement and stabilisation.

• Academic data can be volatile in small cohorts. GCSE outcomes should be interpreted in light of disrupted prior education and a needs-led intake, and parents should ask how progress is tracked for each student across the placement.

• Financial support is not listed as available. Published fee listings state no scholarships or bursaries, so affordability needs checking early, alongside clarity on who is responsible for fees in referral-funded placements.

• Safeguarding and compliance history matters. Parents should understand what monitoring has covered recently, and how recruitment checks, supervision, and record keeping are handled day to day.

This is a small, specialist independent setting designed for students who need an alternative route back into sustained education. The staffing structure, values language, and inspection context point to a model built around behaviour, attendance, special educational needs support, and rebuilding learning habits. It suits families and professionals seeking a structured placement for a young person at risk of exclusion or prolonged non-attendance, where the priority is stability and credible progression to a post-16 pathway. The key decision is fit: parents should focus on safeguarding confidence, the day-to-day routine, and how the school measures progress for students whose starting points are uneven.