Admission to Secondary School (2026)

XP Gateshead is a secondary mainstream 11-16 academy in Felling, Gateshead, and is a member of XP SCHOOL TRUST.

The school offers an academically rigorous curriculum with deep, visceral learning experiences. There is a relentless focus on quality of work and character growth. As a result, our school culture is value-driven where students, staff and parents are expected to be courageous, respectful, committed to craftsmanship and quality, compassionate and to always show integrity. We provide an authentically tough and rewarding education for everyone.

Our class sizes are the specific size of 25 to enable us to deliver our unique curriculum based on Expeditionary Learning practices including pastoral 'crews' of 12 or 13 students. The specific size of our school is published on our website, our admissions policy and is widely publicised in marketing literature issued by the school. Our class sizes and crews are deliberately sized to ensure that we are able to deliver our highly personalised curriculum and assessment strategies.

We hold high expectations for all our stakeholders. Students are expected to be on a pathway to be able to go to university if they so wish, staff pursue a high level of continual professional development, and parents are expected to attend and be involved in Celebrations of Learning, Student-led Conferences and Passage Presentations.

The school acts fully in accordance with the School Admissions Code, the School Admissions Appeals Code and admissions law as they apply to academies.

Published Admission number (PAN)

The school has an admission number of 50 for Year 7. It will admit this number of pupils if there are sufficient applications. If fewer than 50 applications are received, all applicants will be offered a place.

Application process

The school is part of the Local Authority's co-ordinated arrangements. This requires parents to complete a common application form (CAF) which is provided by the Local Authority in which the applicant lives.

Full details of the application process are available in the Local Authority Secondary Admissions Booklet.

Inaccurate or false information on the form could result in the place being withdrawn. We engage with the Local Authority's Fair Access Protocol.

Fair Banding Assessment

Children who wish to apply for a place at the school must take a fair banding assessment to be considered for admission.

Banding will be applied to all applicants including Looked After Children, previously Looked After Children and children with an Education, Health and Care plan. All children with an Education, Health and Care plan that names the school will be admitted.

The Fair Banding Assessment is a cognitive ability, multiple choice assessment. There is no pass or fail mark.

Details of when banding assessments will take place will be published on our website. Applicants will be placed in one of 5 bands based on their assessment score. The children with the highest score will be placed in band 1 and the children with the lowest score will be placed in band 5 and so on.

The bands will correspond with the local ability range in Gateshead.

The school will apply the oversubscription criteria to determine which applicants to admit from each band. Applicants who did not take the fair banding assessment will be considered after other applicants. If the school is undersubscribed all applicants will be admitted.

We will place pupils into 5 bands so that each band represents the local ability range in our catchment area. Children whose assessment scores are in the top 20% of the local ability range would be placed into Band 1, then the following bands would be filled in the same way. The academy trust will apply the oversubscription criteria to admit 10 pupils from each band to reach our admission number of 50.

Oversubscription criteria

The academy trust will admit any pupil with an Education, Health and Care plan which names the school. Priority will then be given to children who meet the criteria set out below, in order:

1. Looked After Children and previously Looked After Children
2. 5 places (10% of our PAN of 50) will be allocated to children who have demonstrated an aptitude in Music. Parents should indicate on the application form that they wish their child to be considered for one of these places. Dates for the aptitude tests will be published on the school website and parents will be informed of the result of the test before the closing date for applications which will be published on the school website. Details of the test are set out at the end of this policy.
3. Siblings of pupils attending the school at the time the application is received.
4. Children of staff who have been recruited to fill a skill shortage
5. Children living within the designated catchment area of the school identified by random allocation.
6. Children living outside the designated catchment area of the school identified by random allocation.

Tie-break

If a tie-break is necessary, random allocation will be used to determine which child will be offered a place. The admissions authority will conduct the random allocation.

Admission of children outside their normal age group

Parents may request their child is admitted outside their normal age group. Parents who wish to do so should include a request with their application, specifying the year group to which they wish their child to be admitted and why they believe it would be in their best interests. The academy trust will make a decision on the basis of the circumstances of the case and in the child's best interests, taking into account the views of the Headteacher and any information provided by the parent.

Waiting list

The academy trust will maintain a waiting list for Year 7 until the eligible timespan of the school placement. It is open to any parent to ask for their child's name to be placed on the waiting list. The child will be placed in the appropriate band on the waiting list. In-year applicants will take a fair banding assessment when they apply and be placed in the appropriate band on the waiting list. Where a place becomes available, it will be allocated to a child from the appropriate band. For example, if a child from band 2 leaves the school, the oversubscription criteria will be applied to band 2 on the waiting list to determine which child will be offered a place. The only exception will be where there is a looked after or previously Looked After Child on the waiting list. They will be given highest priority for admission without reference to the bands.

Appeals

Applicants who are refused a place at the school will be able to appeal to an independent appeal panel. Contact the admissions authority through www.xptrust.org within 20 school days from the date of notification that their application was unsuccessful, for information on how to appeal. The appeals timetable is on www.xptrust.org.

Aptitude Test

The aptitude test will be clear, objective, and give an accurate reflection of the child's ability or aptitude, irrespective of sex, race, or disability. It is for the Admission Authority to decide the content of the test, providing that the test is a true test of aptitude or ability.

The Admission Authority will ensure that tests for aptitude are designed to test only for aptitude in the subject concerned, and not for ability. They will also ensure that tests are accessible to children with special educational needs and disabilities, having regard to the reasonable adjustments for disabled pupils required under equalities legislation.

They will take all reasonable steps to inform parents of the outcome of aptitude tests before the closing date for secondary applications on 31 October so as to allow parents time to make an informed choice of school - while making clear that this does not equate to a guarantee of a place.

Catchment Area

We intend our school to benefit Gateshead and its surrounding area so the designated catchment area of XP GATESHEAD will reflect this. The catchment area is defined as the following postcode areas DH3 1, DH 3 2, NE8, NE9, NE10, NE11, NE16, NE17, NE 21, NE 39, NE 40, NE41 8J, NE42 5N.

Please visit our website at www.xpgateshead.org (opens new window) to find out more about our school and feel free to get in touch if you have any questions etc.