The Duchess's Community High School
Taylor Drive, Alnwick, NE66 2DH
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Academy converter
- Ages
- 11 to 18
- Gender
- Mixed
- Trust
- PELE TRUST
- Headteacher
- Mr James Wilson
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Constituency
- North Northumberland
- Setting
- Larger rural: Further from a major town or city
- Capacity
- 1,651
- Pupils on roll
- 1,276
- URN
- 150196
- Local authority
- Northumberland
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01665602166
About this school
The Duchess's Community High School is a secondary academy in Alnwick. It teaches children aged 11 to 18 and has 1,276 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
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
- Requires improvement
- Personal development
- Requires improvement
- Leadership and management
- Requires improvement
- Sixth form
- Requires improvement
- Safeguarding
- Effective
This inspection took place when the school was registered as The Duchess's Community High School (URN 122362).
Exam results
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2024/25 |
|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 253 |
| Attainment 8 score | 43.2 |
| Progress 8 score | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 37.5% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 62.5% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 15% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 3.6 |
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 The Duchess's 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 | 9.2% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 9.9% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2023/24 | 1,406 |
| 2024/25 | 1,341 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How The Duchess's Community High School compares
The Duchess's Community High School ranked 10th of 16 secondary schools in Northumberland for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 50% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 8% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 43.2 | 9.9% | 18.4% | 1,276 | — |
| James Calvert Spence College | 34.9 | 10.6% | 34.7% | 567 | 6.4 miles |
| St Paul's Catholic Primary School, Alnwick | — | 5.3% | 25.6% | 197 | 0.8 miles |
| Swansfield Park Primary School | — | — | — | 383 | 0.8 miles |
| Ncea Harry Hotspur Church of England Primary School | — | 7.4% | 36.7% | 104 | 1.2 miles |
| Barndale School | — | 10.1% | 57.7% | 110 | 1.3 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)
- 18.42%
- English as an additional language
- 2.2%
- Overall absence
- 9.89%
- Persistent absence
- 29.26%
Location
Nearby schools
-
James Calvert Spence College6.4 miles
Secondary · Morpeth
-
St Paul's Catholic Primary School, Alnwick0.8 miles
Primary · Alnwick
-
Swansfield Park Primary School0.8 miles
Primary · Alnwick
-
Ncea Harry Hotspur Church of England Primary School1.2 miles
Primary · Alnwick
-
Barndale School1.3 miles
Special schools · Alnwick
Other schools in Alnwick
- Branton Primary School and Nursery Primary
- Embleton Vincent Edwards Church of England Primary School Primary
- Hipsburn Primary School Primary
- Longhoughton Church of England Primary School Primary
- Ncea Harry Hotspur Church of England Primary School Primary
- Shilbottle Primary School Primary
- St Paul's Catholic Primary School, Alnwick Primary
- Swansfield Park Primary School Primary
- Whittingham Church of England Primary School Primary
- Barndale School Special schools
Common questions
- What year groups does The Duchess's Community High School teach?
- The Duchess's Community High School teaches children aged 11 to 18. It is a secondary school in Alnwick.
- Who is the headteacher of The Duchess's Community High School?
- The headteacher of The Duchess's Community High School is Mr James Wilson, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was The Duchess's Community High School last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected The Duchess's 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 big is The Duchess's Community High School?
- The Duchess's Community High School has 1,276 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 18.
- Is The Duchess's Community High School full?
- The Duchess's Community High School has capacity for 1,651 pupils and 1,276 on roll (77%), 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 The Duchess's Community High School a faith school?
- No. The Duchess's Community High School has no designated religious character.
- Is The Duchess's Community High School a selective school?
- No. The Duchess's Community High School is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- Who runs The Duchess's Community High School?
- The Duchess's 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.
- How does The Duchess's Community High School rank locally?
- The Duchess's Community High School ranked 10th of 16 secondary schools in Northumberland for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 50% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 8% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is The Duchess's Community High School's absence rate?
- The Duchess's Community High School's overall absence rate is 9.9% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are The Duchess's Community High School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, The Duchess's 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.