Burnside College

School overview

Burnside College is a secondary school serving Wallsend, North Tyneside, classified by the DfE as a foundation school. It has 959 pupils aged 11 to 18 on roll. At its most recent graded inspection, Ofsted rated Burnside College 'Good'. In the most recent GCSE results, pupils achieved an average Attainment 8 score of 44.2, broadly in line with the national average of 46. That marks an improvement of 2.7 points in its Attainment 8 score on the previous year. On our composite score, which combines the DfE attainment measures above, this places it in the lower half of secondary schools nationally.

30% of pupils achieved a grade 5 or above in both English and maths, well below the national average of about 45%. 57% achieved a standard pass (grade 4+) in English and maths. Competition for places is real here - 86% of first-choice applicants were offered a Year 7 place for September 2026 (247 first choices for 232 places). After Year 11, 90% of its leavers went on to education, an apprenticeship or work that they stayed in for at least two terms. Overall pupil absence was 9.9%. There are about 13.8 pupils per teacher. The school serves a community with above-average levels of disadvantage: about 38% of pupils have been eligible for free school meals in the last six years, compared with roughly 24% nationally — useful context when reading the results above. When comparing schools, it is still worth visiting in person to see whether the atmosphere and approach suit your child. This overview is generated automatically from the latest published DfE performance tables and Ofsted data; figures are rounded, and you can check the originals via the official links above.