SF School Facts UK

Girls secondary school in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Newcastle upon Tyne

Sacred Heart Catholic High School

Fenham Hall Drive, Fenham, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Tyne and Wear, NE4 9YH

Sixth form Roman Catholic Girls Full
School website 01912747373

Ofsted

Inspected under the current framework, which gives no overall grade, on 3 December 2024.

Inspections since September 2024 do not give an overall grade, so there is no one-word judgement to report. The full report sets out what inspectors found.

Read the Ofsted report

GCSE results 2024/25

Attainment 8 score

52.1 England 47

The average grade across eight GCSEs, doubling English and maths. 50 is roughly a grade 5 average.

Grade 5+ in English & maths

54% England 46.2%

Grade 4+ in English & maths

77% England 66.2%

EBacc average point score

4.4 England 4.2

Entered the EBacc

36% England 40.8%

On Attainment 8 this school is in the top quarter of state-funded secondaries in England.

Compared with the fifth of schools whose intake is second most disadvantaged, which is where this one sits, it is in the top 10%.

Progress 8 2023/24

0.54confidence interval 0.35 to 0.73

Taking that range into account, pupils made more progress than similar pupils nationally. DfE bands this as well above average.

Progress 8 measures how far pupils moved between the end of primary and their GCSEs, which makes it far fairer than raw attainment. It is shown for 2023/24 because it could not be calculated for 2024/25: that year group would have sat their key stage 2 tests in summer 2020, when the tests were cancelled, so there is no starting point to measure from. Every school in England is affected, not just this one.

A levels 2024/25

Average grade per entry
B-
Average points per entry
35.4

England average 32.3

A level students
123

Pupils

Pupils on roll
1424
Places
1405
How full
Full — 1424 pupils against 1405 places
Overall absence
10%

secondary schools average 8.6%

Persistently absent
26%

secondary schools average 23.9% — pupils missing 10% or more of sessions

Free school meals, last 6 years
38%

England 25.7%

English as an additional language
22%

England 18.7%

With an EHC plan
2%

England 3.5%

On SEN support
15%

England 15%

What pupils do next

After GCSEs

In education, work or training
96%

England 91.4%

Stayed in education
92%

England 85.4%

Started an apprenticeship
1%

England 3.5%

Stayed at this school's sixth form
62%
No sustained destination
3%

England 5.8%

Pupils in the cohort
224

After sixth form

Went to university
61%

England 50%

In education, work or training
90%

England 84.3%

Started an apprenticeship
7%

England 6.5%

Students in the cohort
142

Going on to university 2021/22 leavers

Went to a top third university

28% England 20.9%

The third of higher education providers whose entrants hold the highest average entry qualifications. It is the closest thing in the public data to "did they get into a competitive university", and it separates schools far more sharply than the headline progression rate does.

Went on to a degree
83%

England 65.3%

Students in the cohort
146

These follow an earlier group of leavers than the figures above, and count anyone reaching higher education within two years rather than the term after leaving, so they are not directly comparable with them.

A destination counts only if it lasted at least six months, which is why these figures lag the exam results by a year, and why the university figures track leavers from 2021/22. Small cohorts move these percentages a long way — check the cohort size before reading much into a gap.

The neighbourhood around the school

Census 2021 figures for Newcastle upon Tyne 019D, the statistical neighbourhood the school sits in — roughly 1,500 residents. It describes the area, not the pupils, who may travel in from further away.

Adults with a degree
31%

England 33.8%

Adults with no qualifications
22%

England 18.3%

Households owning their home
48%

England 62.7%

Households in social housing
21%

England 17%

Households with no car
38%

England 21.9%

Adults economically inactive
40%

England 39.9%

School details

Type
Academy converter
Phase
Secondary
Ages
Ages 11–18
Gender
Girls
Admissions
Non-selective
Religious character
Roman Catholic
Sixth form
Yes
Nursery
No
Boarding
Day school
Trust
BISHOP BEWICK CATHOLIC EDUCATION TRUST
Headteacher
Headteacher: Suzanne Howell
Local authority
Newcastle upon Tyne
Ward
Wingrove
Constituency
Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West
URN
137708

The unique reference number used in all official school data.

Nearest secondary schools

SchoolOfstedAttainment 8Distance
Dame Allan's SchoolsOther independent school No grade 0.3 mi
St Cuthbert's High SchoolAcademy converter Good 2024 49 0.7 mi
Bahr AcademyOther independent school No grade 1.1 mi
Excelsior AcademyAcademy sponsor led Requires improvement 2024 33.4 1.4 mi
Kenton SchoolAcademy converter No grade 38.7 1.5 mi
Westfield SchoolOther independent school No grade 1.7 mi
Studio WestStudio schools No grade 30.9 1.8 mi
Newcastle High School for Girls GDSTOther independent school No grade 2 mi

Schools with a similar intake

State-funded secondary schools nationally whose share of disadvantaged pupils is closest to this school's. This is the fairest like-for-like comparison the published data supports.

SchoolOfstedAttainment 8
Samuel King's SchoolFoundation school Good 2022 30.2
Landau Forte Academy, AmingtonAcademy sponsor led Good 2022 40
Herne Bay High SchoolAcademy converter Good 2022 36.8
Minsthorpe Community CollegeAcademy converter Good 2023 41.3
Batley Girls' High SchoolAcademy converter No grade 46.9
St George's Catholic SchoolAcademy converter No grade 55.9
The Lenham SchoolAcademy sponsor led No grade 37
Sir Jonathan North Girls' CollegeAcademy converter No grade 52.6

Where these figures come from

  • School details, address and pupil numbers — Get Information About Schools, the DfE register, as at 14 August 2026.
  • Exam results — DfE performance tables, 2024/25, and 2023/24 for Progress 8.
  • Free school meals, EAL and SEN — school census, 2024/25.
  • Ofsted — Ofsted management information, latest inspections as at 30 June 2026.
  • Neighbourhood figures — ONS Census 2021, lower layer super output area.

All published under the Open Government Licence v3.0. If something here looks wrong, the school's own website is the authority on admissions and open days.