A recent Ofsted inspection of Kenton School in Newcastle has highlighted the school’s quality sixth form provision, strong personal development programme and commitment to behaviour, attendance and SEND provision, whilst also identifying areas for improvement.
Ofsted visited Kenton School, which is part of the Northern Leaders Trust, for a Section 5 graded inspection on 4-5 March 2025.
Kenton School is a secondary school in the Kenton area of Newcastle with over 1800 pupils at the school.
The recent Ofsted report recognises Kenton as a school which values all pupils, has a positive staff culture, a rigorous approach to attendance and clear expectations for pupil behaviour. Inspectors also noted that “The school has high aspirations for what pupils can achieve” and has recently implemented “more ambitious programmes of study”.
Julie Roberts, Acting Principal of Kenton School said “We are pleased that Ofsted has recognised the hard work we have put into creating a positive, safe environment for our pupils where they are supported to attend, succeed and prepare for life after school. We are particularly proud of our comprehensive personal development programme which provides students with education around healthy relationships, equality and diversity and physical and mental health.”
The report also highlights the school’s strength in providing pupils who arrive at Kenton with low levels of literacy with extra support in phonics and reading. The school’s positive work with children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) is also praised as staff identify pupils’ needs with “speed and precision” enabling these children to “achieve well”. Inspectors also noted that with the considerable resource employed to address previously high levels of absence, and specific strategies to support pupils with anxiety, levels of absence at the school have begun to fall.
The report, which states that Kenton School has a “clear vision to provide pupils with a high-quality education,” identifies the following areas for improvement:
- Quality of education: although teachers have secure subject knowledge and structure lessons well, they sometimes do not check pupils’ understanding before moving on, which can lead to gaps in knowledge.
- Behaviour and attitudes: A significant minority of pupils do not meet the expectations for behaviour, sometimes disrupting learning; the school must continue to tackle this and reduce the number of suspensions.
- Attendance: with high levels of absence amongst disadvantaged pupils, the school should build on its current rigorous attendance strategy to reduce absence further.
Mrs Roberts added “We work in a context which presents significant challenges, particularly in regard to attendance and pupils’ social, emotional and mental health needs, so we will continue to work with our community, striving to ensure all students have the opportunity to succeed. Through our improvement strategy, we are already taking steps to address the areas for improvement identified by Ofsted.”
Kenton School is part of the Northern Leaders Trust which is recognised in the report as “providing additional leadership capacity” to support the school’s improvement efforts.
Lee Kirtley, CEO of Northern Leaders Trust, said “The trust and the school are committed to working together to ensure that all pupils at Kenton School receive a high-quality education. We recognise that we are still on a journey of improvement, but we have a thorough, robust improvement plan in place which addresses the areas of improvement highlighted at the recent inspection.
“I am hugely grateful to the team at Kenton, the trust’s central team, the trust board and the school governors who play a vital role as we evolve and improve together.”
The Ofsted report can be found here.
1 May 2025
