Byker Primary School
Commercial Road, Byker, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, NE6 2AT
- Phase
- Primary
- School type
- Community school
- Ages
- 2 to 11
- Gender
- Mixed
- Headteacher
- Mrs Michelle Donnison
- Nursery provision
- Has Nursery Classes
- Constituency
- Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 494
- Pupils on roll
- 391
- URN
- 108458
- Local authority
- Newcastle upon Tyne
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01912656906
About this school
Byker Primary School is a community primary school in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. It teaches children aged 2 to 11 and has 391 pupils on roll.
Ofsted has inspected Byker Primary School, and its latest judgement is set out below. Where the Department for Education has published them, its results and pupil characteristics appear below. Seeing a school for yourself shows what no page can, so arrange a visit before you apply.
Ofsted judgement
Ofsted did not give an overall grade. Between September 2024 and September 2025 inspections graded each area of a school's work without a single overall judgement, ahead of the move to report cards. How Ofsted report cards work
- Quality of education
- Requires improvement
- Behaviour and attitudes
- Requires improvement
- Personal development
- Good
- Leadership and management
- Requires improvement
- Early years
- Good
- Safeguarding
- Effective
Exam results
Key stage 2 (end of primary school)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 2 | 56 | 59 | 59 |
| Met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths | 38% | 63% | 64% |
| Reached the higher standard in reading, writing and maths | 4% | 8% | 8% |
| Expected standard in reading | 59% | 71% | 80% |
| Expected standard in maths | 71% | 78% | 76% |
| Expected standard in grammar, punctuation and spelling | 70% | 61% | 69% |
| Average scaled score in reading | 103.0 | 105.0 | 105.0 |
| Average scaled score in maths | 104.0 | 105.0 | 105.0 |
| Reading progress | -0.70 | - | - |
| Writing progress | -5.70 | - | - |
| Maths progress | +2.40 | - | - |
Progress measures ended nationally after the 2022/23 school year, when the key stage 1 assessments they were based on were stopped. Blank progress figures in later years are not missing school data.
Trends over time
How Byker Primary School has moved over recent years against the local and national picture. Every figure is shown in the table beneath its chart.
| Year | This school | Newcastle upon Tyne average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 38% | 59.2% | 57.9% |
| 2023/24 | 63% | 60.7% | 58.8% |
| 2024/25 | 64% | 62.9% | 60.3% |
Department for Education KS2 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 8.7% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 8.7% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 8% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 455 |
| 2023/24 | 443 |
| 2024/25 | 421 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Byker Primary School compares
Byker Primary School ranked 44th of 68 primary schools in Newcastle upon Tyne for KS2 results in 2024/25. Its KS2 result was higher than 50% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 16% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | KS2 RWM (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 64% | 8% | 80.6% | 391 | — |
| St Lawrence's Catholic Primary School | 77% | 5.1% | 68.8% | 221 | 0.3 miles |
| Hotspur Primary School | 52% | 5.3% | 44.1% | 440 | 0.6 miles |
| Welbeck Academy | 65% | 5.9% | 75.1% | 459 | 0.6 miles |
| Chillingham Road Primary School | 60% | 4.8% | 43.9% | 242 | 0.7 miles |
| St Teresa's Catholic Primary School, Heaton | 70% | 4.6% | 20.5% | 208 | 0.8 miles |
Results reflect each school's cohort as much as its teaching, and free school meals share is context, not a judgement. Small gaps between neighbouring schools are rarely meaningful on their own.
Inspection history
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 80.59%
- English as an additional language
- 27.3%
- Overall absence
- 8%
- Persistent absence
- 27.75%
Location
Nearby schools
-
St Lawrence's Catholic Primary School0.3 miles
Primary · Newcastle-upon-Tyne
-
Hotspur Primary School0.6 miles
Primary · Newcastle-upon-Tyne
-
Welbeck Academy0.6 miles
Primary · Newcastle-upon-Tyne
-
Chillingham Road Primary School0.7 miles
Primary · Newcastle-upon-Tyne
-
St Teresa's Catholic Primary School, Heaton0.8 miles
Primary · Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Other schools in Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Byker Primary School ranks 60th of the 94 ranked primary schools in Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
- Amberley Primary School Primary
- Archbishop Runcie CofE First School Primary
- Archibald First School Primary
- Atkinson Road Primary Academy Primary
- Backworth Park Primary School Primary
- Balliol Primary School Primary
- Balliol Primary School Primary
- Beech Hill Primary School Primary
- Belsay Primary School Primary
- Benton Dene Primary School Primary
- Benton Park Primary School Primary
- Bridgewater Primary School Primary
Common questions
- What ages does Byker Primary School teach?
- Byker Primary School teaches children aged 2 to 11. It is a primary school in Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
- Who is the headteacher of Byker Primary School?
- The headteacher of Byker Primary School is Mrs Michelle Donnison, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- Has Byker Primary School been inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Byker Primary School, and its latest judgement is set out in the inspection section on this page, with the framework and the date it was made.
- How many pupils are at Byker Primary School?
- Byker Primary School has 391 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 2 to 11.
- Is Byker Primary School full?
- Byker Primary School has capacity for 494 pupils and 391 on roll (79%), so it has space against its published capacity. Places are allocated through the local authority's admissions process, so capacity alone does not tell you whether a place is available.
- Is Byker Primary School a faith school?
- No. Byker Primary School has no designated religious character.
- Does Byker Primary School have a nursery?
- Yes. The schools register records Byker Primary School as having nursery classes.
- How have Byker Primary School's results changed over recent years?
- Its share of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths was 38% in 2022/23 and 64% in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Byker Primary School compare with other schools in Newcastle upon Tyne?
- Byker Primary School ranked 44th of 68 primary schools in Newcastle upon Tyne for key stage 2 results. Its KS2 result was higher than 50% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 16% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Byker Primary School's absence rate?
- Byker Primary School's overall absence rate is 8% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Byker Primary School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Byker Primary School's key stage results are shown in the results section on this page, with the last three years so you can see the trend rather than a single year.
School details come from the Department for Education's Get Information About Schools register. Inspection outcomes come from Ofsted, and exam results from the Department for Education's school performance service. This page was last updated on 29 June 2026.