John Spence Community High School
Preston Road, North Shields, NE29 9PU
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Academy converter
- Ages
- 11 to 16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- None
- Trust
- PELE TRUST
- Headteacher
- Jonathan Heath
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- SEN provision
- MLD - Moderate Learning Difficulty
- Constituency
- Tynemouth
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 885
- Pupils on roll
- 872
- URN
- 150195
- Local authority
- North Tyneside
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01912961432
About this school
John Spence Community High School is a secondary academy in North Shields. It teaches children aged 11 to 16 and has 872 pupils on roll.
Ofsted has inspected John Spence Community High School, and its latest judgement is set out 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
Overall judgement at the last full inspection
This inspection took place under the previous framework, which gave a single overall grade. Ofsted now publishes report cards instead, so newer inspections of other schools will look different. How Ofsted report cards work
- Quality of education
- Requires improvement
- Behaviour and attitudes
- Good
- Personal development
- Good
- Leadership and management
- Requires improvement
- Safeguarding
- Effective
This inspection took place when the school was registered as John Spence Community High School (URN 108644).
Exam results
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2024/25 |
|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 154 |
| Attainment 8 score | 41.0 |
| Progress 8 score | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 28.6% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 50% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 6.5% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 3.5 |
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 John Spence Community High 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 | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | — | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 11.1% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 9.5% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2023/24 | 852 |
| 2024/25 | 812 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How John Spence Community High School compares
John Spence Community High School ranked 11th of 12 secondary schools in North Tyneside for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 41% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 9% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 41 | 9.5% | 49.1% | 872 | — |
| Marden High School | 55.1 | 5.5% | 16.4% | 1,014 | 0.5 miles |
| Monkseaton High School | 41 | 12.7% | 31.1% | 155 | 0.8 miles |
| St Thomas More Catholic High School | 49.6 | 8.8% | 24.8% | 1,660 | 1.0 miles |
| Norham High School | 42.7 | 8% | 63.2% | 498 | 1.4 miles |
| Whitley Bay High School | 54.2 | 6.7% | 9.7% | 1,797 | 1.9 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)
- 49.14%
- English as an additional language
- 4.6%
- Overall absence
- 9.52%
- Persistent absence
- 25.09%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Marden High School0.5 miles
Secondary · North Shields
-
Monkseaton High School0.8 miles
Secondary · Whitley Bay
-
St Thomas More Catholic High School1.0 miles
Secondary · North Shields
-
Norham High School1.4 miles
Secondary · North Shields
-
Whitley Bay High School1.9 miles
Secondary · Whitley Bay
Other schools in North Shields
John Spence Community High School ranks 5th of the 5 ranked secondary schools in North Shields.
- Marden High School Secondary
- Norham High School Secondary
- St Thomas More Catholic High School Secondary
- Sir James Knott Memorial Nursery School Nursery
- Christ Church CofE Primary School Primary
- Collingwood Primary School Primary
- Cullercoats Primary School Primary
- Monkhouse Primary School Primary
- New York Primary School Primary
- Percy Main Primary School Primary
- Preston Grange Primary School Primary
- Riverside Primary School Primary
Common questions
- What ages does John Spence Community High School teach?
- John Spence Community High School teaches children aged 11 to 16. It is a secondary school in North Shields.
- Who is the headteacher of John Spence Community High School?
- The headteacher of John Spence Community High School is Jonathan Heath, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- Has John Spence Community High School been inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected John Spence Community High 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 John Spence Community High School?
- John Spence Community High School has 872 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 16.
- Is John Spence Community High School full?
- John Spence Community High School has capacity for 885 pupils and 872 on roll (99%), so it is close to full. Places are allocated through the local authority's admissions process, so capacity alone does not tell you whether a place is available.
- Is John Spence Community High School a faith school?
- No. John Spence Community High School has no designated religious character.
- Is John Spence Community High School a selective school?
- No. John Spence Community High School is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- Is John Spence Community High School part of an academy trust?
- John Spence Community High School is part of PELE TRUST. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- What SEN provision does John Spence Community High School have?
- The schools register lists John Spence Community High School's special educational needs provision as: MLD - Moderate Learning Difficulty. Contact the school to discuss how it would support a particular child.
- How does John Spence Community High School compare with other schools in North Tyneside?
- John Spence Community High School ranked 11th of 12 secondary schools in North Tyneside for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 41% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 9% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is John Spence Community High School's absence rate?
- John Spence Community High School's overall absence rate is 9.5% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are John Spence Community High School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, John Spence Community High 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.