Benfield School
Benfield Road, Walkergate, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, NE6 4NU
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Academy converter
- Ages
- 11 to 16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Trust
- NEAT ACADEMY TRUST
- Headteacher
- Mr Anthony Martin
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Sponsor
- NEAT Academy Trust
- SEN provision
- ASD - Autistic Spectrum Disorder, PD - Physical Disability
- Constituency
- Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 1,035
- Pupils on roll
- 819
- URN
- 144271
- Local authority
- Newcastle upon Tyne
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01912656091
About this school
Benfield School is a secondary academy in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. It teaches children aged 11 to 16 and has 819 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
- Requires improvement
- Behaviour and attitudes
- Requires improvement
- Personal development
- Good
- Leadership and management
- Requires improvement
- Safeguarding
- Effective
Exam results
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 175 | 194 | 183 |
| Attainment 8 score | 33.2 | 32.7 | 33.5 |
| Progress 8 score | -1.15 -1.37 to -0.92 | -1.09 -1.30 to -0.89 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 22% | 26.3% | 24% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 41% | 48.5% | 43.2% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 11% | 19.1% | 27.9% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 2.9 | 3.0 | 3.1 |
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 Benfield 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 | 33.2 | 38.3 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 32.7 | 38 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 33.5 | 38 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 19% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 14.1% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 14.3% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 979 |
| 2023/24 | 969 |
| 2024/25 | 920 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Benfield School compares
Benfield School ranked 10th of 12 secondary schools in Newcastle upon Tyne for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 25% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 2% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 33.5 | 14.3% | 68.3% | 819 | — |
| Walker Riverside Academy | 35.5 | 12.1% | 68.1% | 1,101 | 0.8 miles |
| Jesmond Park Academy | 51.4 | 8.1% | 36.9% | 2,092 | 1.2 miles |
| Burnside College | 44.2 | 9% | 37.7% | 995 | 1.6 miles |
| St Mary's Catholic School | 58.9 | 6.9% | 24.4% | 1,462 | 1.8 miles |
| Longbenton High School | 41.7 | 10.3% | 33.1% | 995 | 2.1 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)
- 68.26%
- English as an additional language
- 37.6%
- Overall absence
- 14.26%
- Persistent absence
- 37.23%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Walker Riverside Academy0.8 miles
Secondary · Newcastle-upon-Tyne
-
Jesmond Park Academy1.2 miles
Secondary · Newcastle-upon-Tyne
-
Burnside College1.6 miles
Secondary · Wallsend
-
St Mary's Catholic School1.8 miles
Secondary · Newcastle-upon-Tyne
-
Longbenton High School2.1 miles
Secondary · Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Other schools in Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Benfield School ranks 13th of the 15 ranked secondary schools in Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
- Callerton Academy Secondary
- George Stephenson High School Secondary
- Gosforth Academy Secondary
- Jesmond Park Academy Secondary
- Kenton School Secondary
- Longbenton High School Secondary
- North Gosforth Academy Secondary
- Sacred Heart Catholic High School Secondary
- St Cuthbert's High School Secondary
- St Mary's Catholic School Secondary
- Studio West Secondary
- Walbottle Academy Secondary
Common questions
- What year groups does Benfield School teach?
- Benfield School teaches children aged 11 to 16. It is a secondary school in Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
- Who is the headteacher of Benfield School?
- The headteacher of Benfield School is Mr Anthony Martin, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was Benfield School last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Benfield 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 Benfield School?
- Benfield School has 819 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 16.
- Is Benfield School full?
- Benfield School has capacity for 1,035 pupils and 819 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 Benfield School a faith school?
- No. Benfield School has no designated religious character.
- Is Benfield School a selective school?
- No. Benfield School is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- Who runs Benfield School?
- Benfield School is part of NEAT ACADEMY TRUST. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- What SEN provision does Benfield School have?
- The schools register lists Benfield School's special educational needs provision as: ASD - Autistic Spectrum Disorder; PD - Physical Disability. Contact the school to discuss how it would support a particular child.
- How have Benfield School's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 33.2 in 2022/23 and 33.5 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Benfield School rank locally?
- Benfield School ranked 10th of 12 secondary schools in Newcastle upon Tyne for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 25% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 2% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Benfield School's absence rate?
- Benfield School's overall absence rate is 14.3% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Benfield School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Benfield 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 10 July 2026.