Why Choose Us

I would like to offer you a very warm welcome to George Stephenson High School.
Many of you have already taken the opportunity to visit our school at our Open Day. If you have not yet had a tour round the school during the school day you would be welcome at any time. Please contact me direct by emailing or asking to speak to my PA, Lucy Docherty, to arrange a suitable time for a visit.

Our school has a really positive ethos, with very strong pastoral and academic guidance and a real emphasis on learning in everything we do. I genuinely believe the support, care and welfare of our students is second to none. This school is and will always be a fully inclusive school which puts the students at the very centre of all that it does. We want it to be a school that is always a happy, safe and enjoyable place to be. Further to that we want the school to be at the very heart of the local community and to become the school of choice of all who live here.

Importantly, examination results at all key stages have improved significantly over the last few years. This year we have just celebrated the best set of A-Level results (on every measure) that the school has ever had.

This year we have just celebrated the best set of GCSE results, on every measure, that the school has ever had. An outstanding 67% of our students achieved 5+A*- C passes including English and Maths and an outstanding 32% of all grades were at A/A*. 81% of all grades were A*- C, and 88% of our students achieved 5+A*- C passes. Fifteen students, over 10% of the year group, achieved 10 or more A/A* grades.  These represent our best ever results and continue a clear improving trend.

Raw exam scores are important but they do not necessarily reveal whether children are fulfilling their potential. The pupil progress figure for schools is known as a school's "Contextual Value Added"� or "CVA". The figure is centred on 1000 so anything above this means that the school is adding value. Our "CVA" for the last three years has been both high and improving. In 2008 it was 1007, in 2009 it was 1014 and we are delighted to report that last year it was 1027.6. This is the highest CVA score across the whole of North Tyneside and puts us in the top 9% of all schools nationally. This figure confirms how well the young people are achieving at our school as it measures the progress that they make in the school in their first five years here. We are especially proud of these value added scores for the last three years. Put simply, these scores mean that children here make more progress in their first five years at the school, than children of similar ability in other schools right across the country. In 2010 we were in the top 9% of schools nationally on progress measures and we fully expect the 2011 results to rank us even higher when the league tables are published later this year.
 
Our Sixth Form students also achieved excellent A-Level results this year. Our pass rate at A-Level this year is 99.3%, with 70% of all results achieved being A* to C grades. Our Average Points Score per student is 724, equalling our best ever APS last year. Only two other schools in North Tyneside have achieved higher than us this year and we are well above the Local Authority average. They are a fantastic set of results, broadly matching last year's which were the best results the school has ever achieved. The vast majority of our students are now going to go on to their first or second choice university place and we would also like to wish them every success in the future.

I hope that you will find the information on this website helpful as you consider your choice of secondary school for your child. I hope you will take the opportunity to both visit the school and decide to join us as it continues to go from strength to strength.

Ian D Wilkinson

Headteacher