The Duchess's Community High School

School overview

The Duchess's Community High School is a secondary school serving Alnwick, Northumberland, classified by the DfE as a converter academy. It has 1,341 pupils aged 11 to 18 on roll. At its most recent graded inspection, Ofsted rated The Duchess's Community High School 'Requires improvement'. In the most recent GCSE results, pupils achieved an average Attainment 8 score of 43.2, broadly in line with the national average of 46. That marks an improvement of 0.5 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.

38% of pupils achieved a grade 5 or above in both English and maths, below the national average of about 45%. 62% achieved a standard pass (grade 4+) in English and maths. The Duchess's Community High School was not oversubscribed for September 2026: all 189 families who put it first were offered a place. After Year 11, 91% of its leavers went on to education, an apprenticeship or work that they stayed in for at least two terms. Overall pupil absence was 9.2%. There are about 14.6 pupils per teacher. If you are considering The Duchess's Community High 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.