Valley Gardens Middle School
Valley Gardens, Whitley Bay, NE25 9AQ
- Phase
- Middle deemed secondary
- School type
- Foundation school
- Ages
- 9 to 13
- Gender
- Mixed
- Trust
- The North Tyneside Learning Trust
- Headteacher
- Mr David Godfrey
- SEN provision
- MLD - Moderate Learning Difficulty
- Constituency
- Tynemouth
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 771
- Pupils on roll
- 768
- URN
- 108636
- Local authority
- North Tyneside
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01919176667
About this school
Valley Gardens Middle School is a foundation middle school in Whitley Bay. It teaches children aged 9 to 13 and has 768 pupils on roll.
You can read Ofsted's latest judgement for the school below. Where the Department for Education has published them, its results and pupil characteristics appear below. Numbers and a report only go so far, so visit in person 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
- Outstanding
- Behaviour and attitudes
- Outstanding
- Personal development
- Outstanding
- Leadership and management
- Outstanding
- 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 | 192 | 194 | 192 |
| Met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths | 80% | 76% | 72% |
| Reached the higher standard in reading, writing and maths | 23% | 20% | 15% |
| Expected standard in reading | 90% | 89% | 90% |
| Expected standard in maths | 83% | 87% | 85% |
| Expected standard in grammar, punctuation and spelling | 86% | 86% | 83% |
| Average scaled score in reading | 109.0 | 109.0 | 109.0 |
| Average scaled score in maths | 107.0 | 107.0 | 107.0 |
| Reading progress | +0.70 | - | - |
| Writing progress | +4.10 | - | - |
| Maths progress | -0.60 | - | - |
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 Valley Gardens Middle 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 | North Tyneside average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 80% | 55.7% | 57.9% |
| 2023/24 | 76% | 57.6% | 58.8% |
| 2024/25 | 72% | 58.1% | 60.3% |
Department for Education KS2 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 4.2% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 4.6% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 4.1% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 772 |
| 2023/24 | 766 |
| 2024/25 | 773 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Valley Gardens Middle School compares
Valley Gardens Middle School ranked 16th of 50 primary schools in North Tyneside for KS2 results in 2024/25. Its KS2 result was higher than 71% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 81% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | KS2 RWM (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 72% | 4.1% | 7% | 768 | — |
| Monkseaton Middle School | 44% | 9.8% | 37.3% | 203 | 0.6 miles |
| Wellfield Middle School | 69% | 4.5% | 15% | 345 | 0.9 miles |
| Marden Bridge Middle School | 69% | 4.8% | 22.7% | 577 | 1.0 miles |
| Whytrig Middle School | 49% | 7.9% | 35.2% | 330 | 2.8 miles |
| Seaton Sluice Middle School | 46% | 7.5% | 31.6% | 314 | 3.0 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.
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 6.99%
- English as an additional language
- 1.3%
- Overall absence
- 4.11%
- Persistent absence
- 6.2%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Monkseaton Middle School0.6 miles
Middle deemed secondary · Whitley Bay
-
Wellfield Middle School0.9 miles
Middle deemed secondary · Whitley Bay
-
Marden Bridge Middle School1.0 miles
Middle deemed secondary · Whitley Bay
-
Whytrig Middle School2.8 miles
Middle deemed secondary · Whitley Bay
-
Seaton Sluice Middle School3.0 miles
Middle deemed secondary · Whitley Bay
Other schools in Whitley Bay
Valley Gardens Middle School ranks 1st of the 7 ranked primary schools in Whitley Bay.
- Marden Bridge Middle School Middle deemed secondary
- Monkseaton Middle School Middle deemed secondary
- Seaton Sluice Middle School Middle deemed secondary
- Wellfield Middle School Middle deemed secondary
- Whytrig Middle School Middle deemed secondary
- Appletree Gardens First School Primary
- Coquet Park First School Primary
- Holywell Village First School Primary
- Langley First School Primary
- Marine Park First School Primary
- New Hartley First School Primary
- Rockcliffe First School Primary
Common questions
- What year groups does Valley Gardens Middle School teach?
- Valley Gardens Middle School teaches children aged 9 to 13. It is a middle school in Whitley Bay.
- Who is the headteacher of Valley Gardens Middle School?
- The headteacher of Valley Gardens Middle School is Mr David Godfrey, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was Valley Gardens Middle School last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Valley Gardens Middle 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 big is Valley Gardens Middle School?
- Valley Gardens Middle School has 768 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 9 to 13.
- Is Valley Gardens Middle School full?
- Valley Gardens Middle School has capacity for 771 pupils and 768 on roll (100%), so it is at or above 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 Valley Gardens Middle School a faith school?
- No. Valley Gardens Middle School has no designated religious character.
- Who runs Valley Gardens Middle School?
- Valley Gardens Middle School is part of The North Tyneside Learning Trust. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- What SEN provision does Valley Gardens Middle School have?
- The schools register lists Valley Gardens Middle School's special educational needs provision as: MLD - Moderate Learning Difficulty. Contact the school to discuss how it would support a particular child.
- How have Valley Gardens Middle School's results changed over recent years?
- Its share of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths was 80% in 2022/23 and 72% in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Valley Gardens Middle School rank locally?
- Valley Gardens Middle School ranked 16th of 50 primary schools in North Tyneside for key stage 2 results. Its KS2 result was higher than 71% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 81% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Valley Gardens Middle School's absence rate?
- Valley Gardens Middle School's overall absence rate is 4.1% in the latest published census, at or below the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Valley Gardens Middle School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Valley Gardens Middle 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.