Options and background for Monkseaton Middle School

Background

The North East Planning Area (NEPA) comprises fourteen schools (eight First, four Middle, two High). Currently, eight of the schools are Foundation Trust schools and six are community schools. The Council is committed to ensuring that there is a sustainable, sufficient, and high-quality educational system in the planning area and has worked closely in partnership with the schools over many years to address the challenges faced.

A pre-publication consultation in 2024 regarding the future of Monkseaton High School took place for six weeks between 17 September and 30 October in accordance with DfE statutory guidance. All views expressed were listened to and carefully considered. However, during the period of pre-publication consultation, no viable alternatives to closure were put forward.

Following statutory consultation, Cabinet took the decision to approve the proposal, without modification, that Monkseaton High School will close on 31 August 2026.

Impact of the closure of Monkseaton High School on other schools in the North East Planning Area

The Cabinet Report in September 2024 said:

“Were the decision made to close Monkseaton High School, this could have wider impacts on schools in the area and that this would likely lead to other school closures in years to come and/or the need for other amendments to admission numbers at other schools.”

As part of the materials published during the statutory consultation, the Community Impact Assessment (December 2024) said:

“There will be an impact on other schools in the Borough, particularly those in the three-tier system. This has been made clear for several years through the Authority’s work with the school leaders in the North East Planning Area as ideally, the capacity and number of pupils on roll in each year group should be the same from Reception through to Year 11. However, as this is not the case, and due to the falling birth rate, there is the potential for there to be a need for consideration of other school closures in years to come and/or the need for other amendments to PANs at other schools, and as a consequence, the three-tier system would become smaller and parental choice across the borough would be reduced.”

The Council has been clear from the outset that the closure of Monkseaton High School could result in the closure of other schools. Pupil numbers moving through First and Middle Schools need to align with available places in Whitley Bay High School. This alignment has become more pressing due to a declining birth rate, which means fewer pupils are entering First Schools. As a result, many schools are operating below capacity, which is not financially or educationally sustainable.

The Council remains committed to the three-tier system but recognises that changes are necessary to ensure the long-term sustainability of schools. The Authority accepts that if the proposals are agreed, it would result in a smaller system and would reduce parental choice.

Published Admission Numbers (PANs) in the North East Planning Area

To achieve the alignment referred to above, it is proposed that the overall PANs of first schools within the NEPA are reduced by 60 places and middle schools within the NEPA by up to 138 places so that, in future, there are 390 places across each year group in the three-tier system – in First Schools, Middle Schools and the High School.

Proposals for school closures and mergers in the North East Planning Area

For the North East Planning Area, the Authority is proposing to explore the potential:

closure of Monkseaton Middle School.
merger of Langley First School and Appletree Gardens First School, with the proposal to close Langley First School site and accommodate the combined pupils on the Appletree Gardens First School site. The merged school would retain the original Appletree Gardens First School Department for Education school number and be based on the Appletree Gardens First School site.
work with Governing Bodies of Valley Gardens, Wellfield and Marden Bridge Middle Schools and Whitley Bay High School to amend their PANs to meet the needs of pupils within the catchment area.

If all of these proposals were approved, it would mean that in the future, there would be 390 places in every year group in the three-tier system. This would align the First Schools and Middle Schools with the High School and would also mean there was an appropriate number of places to better match the birth rate in the planning area, thus removing the financial risk associated with surplus places.

These proposals are based on consideration of several factors, including the building (size, capacity, condition, location, distance from other schools, school rebuilding programme, any potential, appropriate alternative use of the building), local area factors (including housing and birth rates), financial viability and pupil numbers/surplus capacity.

These proposals are necessary to stabilise the three-tier system and secure its long-term viability.

This map shows the four Middle schools (and also the other schools in the planning area).

Monkseaton Middle School (Recommendation 1)

The Council is proposing to explore the potential:

closure of Monkseaton Middle School; and
work with the Governing Bodies of Valley Gardens, Wellfield and Marden Bridge Middle Schools and Whitley Bay High School to adjust their PANs to meet the needs of pupils within the catchment area and have a consistent total PAN in every year group.

The declining birth rate and planned closure of Monkseaton High School means there is too much capacity in the three-tier system. Unfortunately, pupil numbers at Monkseaton Middle School are declining and the school is only currently 60% full. This means the financial viability of the school is at risk. The numbers on roll (NOR) as of January 2025 were 227 with the PAN being 384, meaning that there are 41% surplus places.

Low pupil numbers are due to parental choice and the school’s location to the three middle schools named above.

The Council is proposing to explore the closure of Monkseaton Middle School and work with middle school leaders to further reduce pupil admission numbers to create a clearer pathway through the three-tier system.

The school provides a high quality, mainstream provision for children with SEND and this has been carefully considered. The Authority’s SEND Support Service would work directly with children and young people with an Education Health and Care Plan which names Monkseaton Middle School, to ensure a smooth transition to another setting were the decision taken to close Monkseaton Middle School.

Reasons

Declining pupil numbers mean the school is currently only at 60% capacity.
Low pupil numbers are due to parental choice and the school’s proximity to the other middle schools named above.
It has the smallest geographic catchment area and although there are 42 homes per planned place within the catchment area, only 11% of the Middle School aged pupils that live in the catchment actually attend Monkseaton Middle School.
49% of pupils at Monkseaton Middle do not live in the North East Planning Area and 82% of pupils who attend Monkseaton Middle do not live in the catchment area.
Financial position – whilst the school has a small deficit (£0.006m as at 31/3/25) and is forecasting to remain in surplus over the next 3 years, there was an overspend of £0.117m in 2024/25. Surplus places are a major financial risk.

The suggested model would be for a total PAN of 390 in every year group. This could be achieved in the following way:

Valley Gardens Middle School – to amend PAN from 192 to 180
Wellfield Middle School – to amend PAN from 90 to 60
Marden Bridge Middle School – to keep PAN at 150, and
Whitley Bay High School – to permanently amend PAN to 390.

The Council would work with the schools in the NEPA and the Office of the Schools Adjudicator (OSA) to review their catchment areas.

Options Appraisal

Which options have been considered?

There have been several meetings held over the last few years with all Headteachers in the Monkseaton and Whitley Bay area, in groups and individually, to develop a shared understanding of the issues and to work together to develop possible options.

The consultation documentation regarding the closure of Monkseaton High School (available here ) outlined the discussions and options previously considered. The relevant options considered then are referred to below.

Option

Reasons the option was discounted

To explore moving the three-tier system to a two-tier system of education. 

One option previously explored was moving the three-tier system to a two-tier system of education. This was considered in a review of education provision in 2000 and was not considered appropriate. It was then considered again in the education review of 2013-15. Significant consultation was undertaken in October 2014 and the feedback from that was clear that the schools and local community were committed to the three-tier system. As a result, it was agreed that the council would work with the schools to “maintain and raise standards and tackle the collective financial challenge” and would “work with Headteachers and Governing Bodies across the Whitley Bay and Monkseaton group of schools to retain the three-tier system while managing places, raising standards and controlling costs.”

The option was considered again in discussions with schools in 2022/23 but again dismissed as the vast majority of school leaders and governors were clear that they and the community wanted to maintain the three-tier system. In the Cabinet Report of September 2023, the Council gave a firm commitment to the three-tier system in the Planning Area and to working together with the schools to ensure it is viable and sustainable, but in order for this to be taken forward there needed to be a firm commitment from all the schools in the Planning Area to protect the integrity of the current three-tier system and to continue to collaborate and work closely together to ensure educational and financial sustainability.

Move part of the Planning Area to a two-tier system of education

In early 2024 the Council explored an option for part of the Planning Area to become two-tier. Further modelling made it clear that this option would carry too much risk. Parental choice and the commitment to the three-tier system would be the biggest factor and it would leave the wider North East Planning Area with a split system (three-tier/two-tier) and there would still be too many surplus places in the secondary year groups. This would be further compounded by falling birth rates over the last five years, meaning there would not be the pupils to fill all the places in the future.

Bringing all NEPA schools together under one Multi Academy Trust

In late 2023, the option was also discussed with the schools to consider creating a Multi-Academy Trust, but most of the schools confirmed that this was not something they would be interested in exploring further at that point. This is not something that the Council can mandate schools to do.

To co-locate with Monkseaton High School on the Monkseaton High School site.

This option would have created a Year 5 – Year 13 provision on the Monkseaton High Site and would have meant the two schools would share revenue and premises costs and make savings on shared administration, site and management costs. However, the Monkseaton High School site is shared with Star of the Sea Primary Academy. Year 5 pupils rarely travel to school on their own. There would be increased traffic and congestion pressure on the site and the local community. The Monkseaton High School building is not designed for Year 5 and Year 6 pupils, and work would be needed on the building and external spaces to accommodate Key Stage 2 pupils. It was decided that this option was not financially viable and no agreement could be reached. The two schools had previously shared an Executive Headteacher from 2016-18. School leaders and the governing bodies at both Monkseaton High School and Monkseaton Middle School explored how they could work together on a more formal basis. Following this, the governing bodies at both schools decided against this due to the suitability of combining the sites for pupil ages and due to the financial viability.

Options specific to Middle School re-organisation

To achieve the alignment referred to above, it is proposed that the overall PANs of middle schools within the NEPA are reduced by up to 138 places so that, in future, there are 390 places across each year group in the three-tier system.

Options considered

Please refer to the data below for the relevant data used to inform this options appraisal.

Option

Reasons the option was discounted

Keep all four Middle Schools open and amend their collective PANS to 390 (currently 528)

This would not be a cost-effective structure taking into consideration staffing, management and premises costs for four sites with a reduced pupil intake.

In the current financial climate facing schools this is not something the Authority could support financially.

Close another Middle School

Wellfield Middle School

The closure of Wellfield Middle School would only reduce the overall PAN by 90 places, meaning the other schools would need to reduce their PANS by a greater amount, potentially causing them to be less financially viable.

However, there are 353 in the school and therefore only 2% surplus places, reflecting parental preference and meaning that there would be a larger number of pupils displaced. (Jan 2025 census data)

With its immediate proximity to South Wellfield First School, the site provides a one-site provision from Reception to Year 8.

Geographically, the school serves an outlying part of the planning area and therefore the closure of it would leave a much larger distance for some children to travel to school. (See Maps below)

Finally, Wellfield Middle School are in the DFE School Rebuilding Programme and feasibility for a new building is due to start in the financial year 2026/2027.

Marden Bridge Middle School

The closure of Marden Bridge Middle School would reduce the overall PAN by 150 places. However, there are 587 in the school and therefore only 2% surplus places, reflecting parental preference and meaning that there would be a larger number of pupils displaced. (Jan 2025 census data)

Geographically, the school serves a larger catchment area and therefore the closure of it would leave a larger distance for some children to travel to school. (See Maps below)

Finally, Marden Bridge Middle School are in the DFE School Rebuilding Programme and feasibility for a new building is due to start in 2027.

Valley Gardens Middle School

The closure of Valley Gardens Middle School would reduce the overall PAN by 192 places, leaving not enough places in the remaining three Middle Schools.

Also, there are 773 in the school which means they are over their capacity , reflecting parental preference and meaning that there would be a larger number of pupils displaced. (Jan 2025 census data)

Geographically, the school serves a larger catchment area, including all most of the northern section of the planning area and therefore the closure of it would leave a larger distance for some children to travel to school. (See Maps below)

This map shows each of the four Middle schools at the centre point of a circle with a 1000m radius. If Monkseaton Middle School were to be the school that closes, it shows the houses that would be further than 1000m from their nearest middle school.

This map shows each of the four Middle schools at the centre point of a circle with a 1000m radius. If Wellfield Middle School were to be the school that closes, it shows the houses that would be further than 1000m from their nearest middle school.

This map shows each of the four Middle schools at the centre point of a circle with a 1000m radius. If Valley Gardens Middle School were to be the school that closes, it shows the houses that would be further than 1000m from their nearest middle school.

This map shows each of the four Middle schools at the centre point of a circle with a 1000m radius. If Marden Bridge Middle School were to be the school that closes, it shows the houses that would be further than 1000m from their nearest middle school.

Pupil and population data is taken from January 2025 Census.

Birth rate data is taken from the last full year of data (September 2023 to August 2024, published Oct 2024).

Projections are calculated using our pupil projection methodology. This table shows the number of GP birth registrations in North Tyneside with a breakdown for each planning area in the Borough (the planning area is the geographic region of North Tyneside)

This is how it looks for North Tyneside as a whole on a graph:

This table shows as of 2024/2025:

The admissions capacity (Published Admissions Capacity)
The capacity of the school buildings (which is often higher than the admissions capacity),
The number of children at the school (as of January 2025)
Unfilled places as a percentage of the available admissions places (also known as ‘surplus places’
The number of all pupils living in the catchment area
The number and percentage of children living in the catchment area who choose to attend the school

This table shows how many pupils attended both schools in the last ten years:

This table show pupil projections for the next nine years and what the surplus would be compared to the admissions capacity of the schools (based on local birth rate data)

This table show the number and percentage of current pupils living in the catchment area who are choosing to go to Monkseaton Middle school another middle school in the North East Planning Area or another school in North Tyneside.

This table show the pupils attending any First or Middle School in the North East Planning area and where they live, by year group

These tables and charts show the forecasted pupil population without and with proposed changes