The 16 best-rated secondary schools in the North East, according to Ofsted and GCSE results

Most young people have big dreams and big plans for the future - and any parent would naturally want to send them to a school that nurtures that.

But not all schools are made equal, and with sometimes overlapping catchment areas, you and your child may be facing a tough choice. Especially so for secondary schools, which will usually see young people through their GCSE and A Level exams, and the university admission process.

We’re taking a look at the top-rated secondary schools around the country to help inform that decision, starting with the North East. While there are plenty of fantastic facilities on offer, we’ve chosen a selection of schools all rated as ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted - meaning the quality of education provided, student behaviour and attitudes, school leadership and management, and student safeguarding have all been found to be excellent.

On top of that, we’ve narrowed it down based on school’s ‘Progress 8’ ratings.

You can see the full Progress 8 ratings for Sunderland schools here.

These ratings are based on GCSE results and other student achievements, to determine how quickly students at each school learn and progress compared to a nationwide average.

Any score above 0 is above average, and we’ve only included schools with positive scores overall, according to official government data.

Here’s what we we found: