SF School Facts UK

Secondary school in Bedlington, Northumberland

St Benet Biscop Catholic Academy

Ridge Terrace, Bedlington, Northumberland, NE22 6ED

Ofsted Good · 2023 Sixth form Roman Catholic
School website 01670822795

Ofsted

Goodas at 17 January 2023

Graded Good at its last graded inspection, on 17 January 2023.

Ofsted stopped awarding single-word overall grades in September 2024. This grade is 3 years old and will not be updated — the school keeps it until its next inspection, which will not produce a replacement grade.

Read the Ofsted report

GCSE results 2024/25

Attainment 8 score

41.3 England 47

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

Grade 5+ in English & maths

31% England 46.2%

Grade 4+ in English & maths

56% England 66.2%

EBacc average point score

3.4 England 4.2

Entered the EBacc

11% England 40.8%

On Attainment 8 this school is in the lower half of state-funded secondaries in England.

Compared with the fifth of schools whose intake is middle, which is where this one sits, it is in the lower half.

Progress 8 2023/24

-0.17confidence interval -0.37 to 0.03

Taking that range into account, progress was not statistically different from the national average. DfE bands this as 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
C+
Average points per entry
32

England average 32.3

A level students
63

Pupils

Pupils on roll
994
Places
1140
How full
87% full — 994 of 1140 places taken
Girls / boys
542 / 452
Overall absence
11%

secondary schools average 8.6%

Persistently absent
30%

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

Free school meals, last 6 years
31%

England 25.7%

English as an additional language
6%

England 18.7%

With an EHC plan
2%

England 3.5%

On SEN support
14%

England 15%

What pupils do next

After GCSEs

In education, work or training
94%

England 91.4%

Stayed in education
86%

England 85.4%

Started an apprenticeship
5%

England 3.5%

Stayed at this school's sixth form
40%
No sustained destination
4%

England 5.8%

Pupils in the cohort
201

After sixth form

Went to university
44%

England 50%

In education, work or training
93%

England 84.3%

Started an apprenticeship
21%

England 6.5%

Students in the cohort
61

Going on to university 2021/22 leavers

Went to a top third university

23% 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
64%

England 65.3%

Students in the cohort
61

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 Northumberland 021F, 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
22%

England 33.8%

Adults with no qualifications
26%

England 18.3%

Households owning their home
56%

England 62.7%

Households in social housing
23%

England 17%

Households with no car
27%

England 21.9%

Adults economically inactive
44%

England 39.9%

School details

Type
Academy converter
Phase
Secondary
Ages
Ages 11–18
Gender
Mixed
Admissions
Non-selective
Religious character
Roman Catholic
Sixth form
Yes
Nursery
No
Boarding
Day school
Trust
BISHOP BEWICK CATHOLIC EDUCATION TRUST
Headteacher
Headteacher: Suzanne Lewis-Dale
Local authority
Northumberland
Ward
Bedlington West
Constituency
Blyth and Ashington
URN
141814

The unique reference number used in all official school data.

Nearest secondary schools

SchoolOfstedAttainment 8Distance
Bedlington AcademyAcademy sponsor led Good 2022 47.4 1.7 mi
The Blyth AcademyAcademy sponsor led No grade 49.2 2.3 mi
Ashington AcademyAcademy sponsor led Good 2022 47.1 3.3 mi
Bede AcademyAcademy sponsor led Good 2024 48.9 3.5 mi
NCEA Duke's Secondary SchoolAcademy sponsor led Requires improvement 2023 32 3.8 mi
Cramlington Learning VillageAcademy converter Good 2022 46.7 3.9 mi
The King Edward VI SchoolAcademy converter No grade 52.2 4.5 mi
Morpeth Chantry Middle SchoolAcademy converter No grade 4.6 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
Valentines High SchoolCommunity school No grade 59.3
Calderstones SchoolCommunity school Good 2023 46.1
Aylsham High SchoolFoundation school Good 2024 45
Audenshaw SchoolAcademy converter Good 2023 45.5
Kingstone High SchoolAcademy converter Good 2024 42.3
Immanuel CollegeAcademy converter Good 2024 41.9
Robert Barclay AcademyAcademy sponsor led Good 2023 44.2
Patchway Community SchoolAcademy converter No grade 37

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.