Venerable Bede Church of England Academy
Tunstall Bank, Sunderland, SR2 0SX
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Academy converter
- Ages
- 11 to 16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- Church of England
- Trust
- NORTHERN LIGHTS LEARNING TRUST
- Headteacher
- Mr Jordan Bedford
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Diocese
- Diocese of Durham
- Sponsor
- Northern Lights Learning Trust
- Constituency
- Sunderland Central
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 900
- Pupils on roll
- 738
- URN
- 139184
- Local authority
- Sunderland
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01915239745
About this school
Venerable Bede Church of England Academy is a Church of England secondary academy in Sunderland. It teaches children aged 11 to 16 and has 738 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
- Inadequate
- Behaviour and attitudes
- Requires improvement
- Personal development
- Requires improvement
- Leadership and management
- Requires improvement
- Safeguarding
- Effective
Ofsted placed the school in a category of concern: serious weaknesses.
Exam results
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 175 | 177 | 178 |
| Attainment 8 score | 41.9 | 37.6 | 44.1 |
| Progress 8 score | -1.00 -1.21 to -0.79 | -1.04 -1.25 to -0.83 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 35% | 21.5% | 38.8% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 59% | 42.9% | 60.7% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 39% | 36.2% | 44.4% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 3.7 | 3.4 | 3.9 |
Progress 8 is paused nationally for the 2024/25 and 2025/26 school years. Those pupils sat no key stage 2 tests during the Covid pandemic, so there is no starting point to measure progress from. A blank figure here is not missing school data.
Trends over time
How Venerable Bede Church of England Academy has moved over recent years against the local and national picture. Every figure is shown in the table beneath its chart.
| Year | This school | Sunderland average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 41.9 | 37.6 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 37.6 | 38.2 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 44.1 | 38.3 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 12.5% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 13.3% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 12.7% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 892 |
| 2023/24 | 889 |
| 2024/25 | 843 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Venerable Bede Church of England Academy compares
Venerable Bede Church of England Academy ranked 9th of 18 secondary schools in Sunderland for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 53% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 3% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 44.1 | 12.7% | 32.3% | 738 | — |
| Southmoor Academy | 49 | 8.2% | 33.3% | 1,398 | 1.2 miles |
| St Aidan's Catholic Academy | 51.2 | 6.1% | 19.5% | 1,057 | 1.3 miles |
| Farringdon Community Academy | 44.6 | 11.6% | 45.2% | 712 | 1.5 miles |
| Thornhill Academy | 41.4 | 12.2% | 46.1% | 526 | 1.6 miles |
| St Anthony's Girls' Catholic Academy | 50.7 | 6.8% | 21.1% | 1,297 | 1.8 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)
- 32.27%
- English as an additional language
- 2.1%
- Overall absence
- 12.72%
- Persistent absence
- 32.91%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Southmoor Academy1.2 miles
Secondary · Sunderland
-
St Aidan's Catholic Academy1.3 miles
Secondary · Sunderland
-
Farringdon Community Academy1.5 miles
Secondary · Sunderland
-
Thornhill Academy1.6 miles
Secondary · Sunderland
-
St Anthony's Girls' Catholic Academy1.8 miles
Secondary · Sunderland
Other schools in Sunderland
Venerable Bede Church of England Academy ranks 8th of the 13 ranked secondary schools in Sunderland.
- Castle View Enterprise Academy Secondary
- Farringdon Community Academy Secondary
- Monkwearmouth Academy Secondary
- Red House Academy Secondary
- Sandhill View Academy Secondary
- Southmoor Academy Secondary
- St Aidan's Catholic Academy Secondary
- St Anthony's Girls' Catholic Academy Secondary
- Thornhill Academy Secondary
- Whitburn Church of England Academy Secondary
- Hylton Red House Nursery School Nursery
- Mill Hill Nursery School Nursery
Common questions
- What year groups does Venerable Bede Church of England Academy teach?
- Venerable Bede Church of England Academy teaches children aged 11 to 16. It is a secondary school in Sunderland.
- Who is the headteacher of Venerable Bede Church of England Academy?
- The headteacher of Venerable Bede Church of England Academy is Mr Jordan Bedford, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was Venerable Bede Church of England Academy last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Venerable Bede Church of England Academy, 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 Venerable Bede Church of England Academy?
- Venerable Bede Church of England Academy has 738 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 16.
- Is Venerable Bede Church of England Academy full?
- Venerable Bede Church of England Academy has capacity for 900 pupils and 738 on roll (82%), 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 Venerable Bede Church of England Academy a faith school?
- Yes. Venerable Bede Church of England Academy is designated Church of England, in the Diocese of Durham.
- Is Venerable Bede Church of England Academy a selective school?
- No. Venerable Bede Church of England Academy is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- Who runs Venerable Bede Church of England Academy?
- Venerable Bede Church of England Academy is part of NORTHERN LIGHTS LEARNING TRUST. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- How have Venerable Bede Church of England Academy's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 41.9 in 2022/23 and 44.1 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Venerable Bede Church of England Academy rank locally?
- Venerable Bede Church of England Academy ranked 9th of 18 secondary schools in Sunderland for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 53% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 3% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Venerable Bede Church of England Academy's absence rate?
- Venerable Bede Church of England Academy's overall absence rate is 12.7% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Venerable Bede Church of England Academy's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Venerable Bede Church of England Academy'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 1 July 2026.