NCEA Duke's Secondary School

School overview

NCEA Duke's Secondary School is a secondary school serving Ashington, Northumberland, classified by the DfE as a sponsor-led academy with a Church of England religious character. It has 1,045 pupils aged 11 to 19 on roll. At its most recent graded inspection, Ofsted rated NCEA Duke's Secondary School 'Requires improvement'. In the most recent GCSE results, pupils achieved an average Attainment 8 score of 32.0, well below the national average of 46. That is down 2.0 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.

21% of pupils achieved a grade 5 or above in both English and maths, well below the national average of about 45%. 42% achieved a standard pass (grade 4+) in English and maths. Competition for places is real here - 99% of first-choice applicants were offered a Year 7 place for September 2026 (171 first choices for 170 places). After Year 11, 89% of its leavers went on to education, an apprenticeship or work that they stayed in for at least two terms. Overall pupil absence was 13.0%. There are about 15.2 pupils per teacher. The school serves a community with above-average levels of disadvantage: about 50% 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. If you are considering NCEA Duke's Secondary School, it may be worth asking how leaders have responded to Ofsted's findings and what has changed since the inspection. 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.