Venerable Bede Church of England Academy Review 2026: A Church school in reset mode, with a clear improvement plan and rising expectations

This is a large, mixed 11–16 Church of England secondary serving the Tunstall area of Sunderland, with a strong emphasis on relationships, inclusion, and rebuilding pupils’ confidence in learning. The school sits within Northern Lights Learning Trust, and recent years have brought significant leadership and staffing changes, alongside a renewed focus on curriculum sequencing, reading, attendance, and behaviour routines.

Academically, the picture remains challenging. The school’s latest published GCSE measures place it below England averages, with a notably weak Progress 8 score. That is the headline families need to weigh. At the same time, official evaluations also describe genuine momentum in behaviour systems, curriculum clarity, and a stronger culture around reading and daily expectations. The key question for parents is whether the improvement work now embedded in day-to-day routines is arriving early enough to benefit their child’s cohort.

The school’s identity is strongly shaped by its Church of England character, though it positions itself as open to families of all faiths and none. The language of the vision and ethos places relationships and shared responsibility at the centre, rather than faith as a barrier to entry. In practice, that tends to show up as a consistent emphasis on how pupils treat one another, the importance of belonging, and clear expectations about respect.

Relationships are repeatedly described as a defining strength. Staff are presented as caring and attentive to vulnerability, with a deliberate approach to overcoming barriers that can limit attendance, engagement, or wellbeing. For families with a child who needs adults to know them well and intervene early when things wobble, this relational focus matters. It can reduce the sense of anonymity that sometimes comes with a larger secondary, and it can make school feel safer for pupils who find social dynamics or routines difficult.

Leadership has been in flux, which can be unsettling for pupils, but can also be a necessary precondition for improvement when outcomes have been weak. Tracey Burgess is the Head of School and, according to the trust’s leadership profile, took up the role in January 2024 after previously serving as deputy headteacher at the school.

Ranked 3105th in England and 12th in Sunderland for GCSE outcomes (FindMySchool ranking based on official data)

This places the school below England average overall, sitting within the bottom 40% of schools in England on this measure.

The underlying indicators reinforce that message. Average Attainment 8 is 37.6, compared with an England average of 45.9. Progress 8 is -1.04, which indicates pupils, on average, make substantially less progress than similar pupils nationally from the end of primary. In the English Baccalaureate, the average point score is 3.4 (England average 4.08), and 10.7% of pupils achieve grade 5 or above across the EBacc subjects (a demanding threshold, and a figure that signals a significant attainment gap).

The most useful way to interpret these numbers as a parent is to separate aspiration from probability. Pupils who are already high attainers can still do well, particularly if home support is strong and the pupil is motivated. For a pupil who is middle attaining or has gaps from primary, the headline figures suggest they may need extra structure and sustained reinforcement to keep pace. The school’s improvement work is therefore not a cosmetic issue, it goes directly to whether day-to-day teaching consistently helps pupils remember and apply what they have learned.

The most recent Ofsted inspection (January 2025) graded Quality of Education as Inadequate, with Behaviour and Attitudes, Personal Development, and Leadership and Management all graded Requires Improvement.

Recent priorities are tightly aligned to the gaps implied by the performance data. The improvement approach described in official monitoring focuses on making the curriculum clearer and more consistent across subjects, tightening sequencing, and ensuring teachers check what pupils know before moving on. When that happens well, pupils accumulate knowledge in a usable way rather than experiencing learning as disconnected tasks.

Reading is a particularly important strand. The school has put in place a higher-profile reading culture, including a dedicated reading room and planned tutor-time reading, alongside phonics intervention for pupils at an early stage of reading and systematic checks on entry. The implication for families is straightforward. If your child has weaknesses in reading fluency or comprehension, a structured school-wide approach can be the difference between coping across the curriculum and falling behind in every subject that relies on text. The monitoring narrative also makes clear that the next step is using reading information more precisely so pupils receive the right follow-on support, rather than generic encouragement.

Support for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities is described as improving, with individual “pupil passports” setting out needs and classroom strategies, and statutory processes such as annual reviews being met. The practical value of this depends on consistency. Where teachers actively use this information to adapt explanations, tasks, and scaffolding, pupils are more likely to experience success and stay engaged. Where it is treated as paperwork rather than day-to-day practice, progress is likely to remain uneven.

As an 11–16 school, the central transition point is post-16. The school places strong emphasis on careers education and guidance as part of preparing pupils for their next stage, including work experience, encounters with employers, and access to impartial careers advice. This matters in an 11–16 setting because pupils are making consequential decisions at 15 and 16, often before they have a clear sense of what they are good at or what pathways exist beyond sixth form.

A second, and often underestimated, “destination” issue is readiness for post-16 study. Where outcomes have historically been weak, pupils can arrive at college courses with gaps in literacy, subject knowledge, and study habits. The school’s focus on curriculum clarity, improved assessment, and reading is therefore directly linked to destinations. The more successfully the school embeds consistent teaching routines and knowledge retention, the more likely pupils are to start their next phase on stable foundations rather than trying to catch up while also adapting to a new institution.

Venerable Bede is a comprehensive Church of England academy. The local authority coordinates the secondary application process for families resident in Sunderland, while the school’s governing body sets admissions criteria.

For September 2026 entry (Year 7), Sunderland’s published timeline states:

• Applications open 8 September 2025 and close 31 October 2025.

• National offer day is 1 March 2026.

• The normal round appeal deadline is shown as 2 April 2026.

Demand, based on the most recent admissions data provided, indicates the school is oversubscribed. There were 191 applications for 114 offers, equating to 1.68 applications per place. That is competitive, though not at the extreme levels seen in the most oversubscribed Sunderland secondaries. The practical implication is that admissions rules and distance can matter in a way that surprises families who assume a large 900-place school will always have capacity. Where you live, and which priority group you fall into, can still be decisive.

A sensible parent approach is to treat admissions as a probability exercise. Use FindMySchool’s Map Search to check your distance accurately, then compare it with recent offer patterns for realistic expectations, and keep a second and third preference that you would genuinely accept.

Pastoral culture is framed around inclusion and safeguarding pupils’ ability to engage with school, particularly where anxiety or attendance patterns have become difficult. Official evaluations highlight strong relationships and a sense that pupils are known as individuals, with staff making pragmatic decisions to overcome barriers to flourishing.

Behaviour is described as improving, with raised expectations and practical routines designed to remove friction at the start of the day. The monitoring letter describes a “meet and greet” approach and ensuring pupils have equipment, alongside a wider “Team Venerable Bede” culture that staff and pupils can buy into. When routines are predictable and consistently applied, pupils who struggle with organisation or low-level disruption often do better, because lessons start calmly and teachers can focus on learning rather than repeated resets.

Attendance remains a critical issue to watch. The school has strengthened its attendance strategy and there are reported improvements for some groups, but persistent absence is described as still high overall. For parents, this is not just a data point, it is a daily lived reality. In schools where attendance problems are widespread, learning gaps accumulate quickly, and classroom culture can be harder to stabilise. Families should ask directly how attendance is being tracked, what thresholds trigger action, and what support is available for pupils whose absence is linked to anxiety or other vulnerabilities.

The school positions enrichment as a meaningful part of school life, rather than an optional extra. Both the Church school inspection and the school inspection material refer to a broad set of enrichment opportunities, with some pupils using these to develop talents and interests.

Two specific features stand out as signals of how the school is trying to rebuild engagement. First, the reading room is a concrete investment in literacy culture, giving reading a visible home and a structured place in the school day. Second, the trust’s parliament and the use of prefect roles create a leadership pipeline where pupils can practise responsibility and represent peers, not simply collect badges. That sort of structured pupil voice can be particularly valuable in an improvement phase, because it helps leaders understand what is landing well and what is not, from the pupil perspective.

Social action is also present, including organised support for the local community through activities such as donations to a food bank and toy collections. The value here is partly moral and partly practical. Pupils who feel disconnected from academic success can still find status through contribution, leadership, and service, which in turn can help re-anchor attendance and behaviour.

Published information available through official documents confirms the school is part of Northern Lights Learning Trust, and that there has been active trust support for curriculum development, staff networks, and workload management.

Specific start and finish times, and any breakfast or after-school provision, are not consistently accessible from the sources that could be reliably verified at the time of writing. Families should therefore confirm the current school day structure directly with the school, particularly if transport logistics, caring responsibilities, or wraparound arrangements are a deciding factor.

• Academic outcomes remain a serious concern. The school’s GCSE performance indicators sit below England averages, including a Progress 8 of -1.04. Families should be realistic about the level of support a child may need to secure strong outcomes.

• Improvement is underway, but not complete. There is evidence of curriculum, behaviour, and reading reforms, but consistency across classrooms is still described as variable. That can mean a child’s experience depends heavily on subject, teacher, and year group.

• Attendance culture is still stabilising. Improved systems are in place, yet persistent absence remains high overall. Parents should probe how the school works with families when attendance dips, and what early intervention looks like.

• Admissions can be competitive. With 191 applications for 114 offers, it is not a “guaranteed” place in all circumstances. Treat your preferences strategically and keep credible alternatives.

Venerable Bede Church of England Academy is best understood as a school in a structured reset. The relational culture and inclusive ethos are genuine strengths, and recent work on curriculum clarity, reading, and behaviour routines is coherent and practical. At the same time, academic outcomes remain weak by England standards, and the pace of improvement is the crucial unknown for any given cohort.

Who it suits

families who value a Church school ethos centred on inclusion and relationships, and who want a school that is actively implementing an improvement plan, particularly around literacy and classroom routines. It may also suit pupils who benefit from clear daily expectations and adults who notice issues early.

Who may want to think carefully

families prioritising consistently high academic outcomes, or pupils who need stable, uniformly strong teaching across every subject without variability.