Secondary
Venerable Bede Church of England Academy
Tunstall Bank, Sunderland, SR2 0SX
Key facts
- Phase
- Secondary
- Type
- Academy converter
- Ages
- 11 to 16
- Intake
- Mixed
- Pupils
- 738 of 900 places
- Pupils per teacher
- 17.4
- Local authority
- Sunderland
- Religious character
- Yes
- Trust
- NORTHERN LIGHTS LEARNING TRUST
- Diocese
- Diocese of Durham
Staffing23/24
- Teachers (FTE)
- 51.0
- All staff (FTE)
- 61.7
- Pupils per adult
- 14.4
- Pupils
- 889
Staff are counted as full-time equivalents in the November school workforce census, so the pupil figure here is that census’s own and will differ a little from the roll above, which is counted in January.
Ofsted
Last inspected January 2025
- Behaviour and attitudesRequires improvement
- Leadership and governanceRequires improvement
- Personal developmentRequires improvement
- Quality of educationInadequate
Inspected under the previous framework, which used its own four-point scale. Ofsted now publishes a report card grading several areas separately, so these grades are not directly comparable with a recent inspection’s.
SafeguardingMet
Read the full Ofsted report (opens in a new tab)Earlier inspections1
November 2021
Ungraded inspection
Good
Read the report (opens in a new tab)
GCSE results
39%
5 points below the Sunderland average (44% across 17 schools)
44.1
0.9 below the Sunderland average (45.0 across 17 schools)
16th of 17 by our score, among the secondary schools in Sunderland we can score - 21 in total, the rest without enough published data. Local and same-phase on purpose: a national table mostly measures who attends.
All published measures2024/2025
| Measure | Result |
|---|---|
| Attainment 8 | 44.1 |
| EBacc average point score | 3.9 |
| Entered the EBacc | 44% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 61% |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 39% |
From the Department for Education. Measures are published per year and suppressed where a cohort is too small, so some schools show fewer. There are no results for 2019/20 or 2020/21, when exams and assessments were cancelled.
Results over time4 years
Each measure on its own scale, over every year we hold.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 21/22 | 37% |
| 22/23 | 35% |
| 23/24 | 22% |
| 24/25 | 39% |
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 21/22 | -0.72 |
| 22/23 | -1.00 |
| 23/24 | -1.04 |
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 21/22 | 44.8 |
| 22/23 | 41.9 |
| 23/24 | 37.6 |
| 24/25 | 44.1 |
Tunstall Bank, Sunderland, SR2 0SX
Admissions
How to apply (opens in a new tab)
You apply through your council, not the school - even for academies and free schools. Applications close on 31 October, the year before starting.
Sunderland admissions (opens in a new tab)
The council publishes the oversubscription criteria and last year’s offer distances, which is the closest thing to knowing your chances.
If you are refused a place (opens in a new tab)
You can appeal, and you can join a waiting list at the same time. Accept whatever offer you get first - declining it can leave you with no place at all.
This school’s own admissions (opens in a new tab)
Schools that set their own criteria - faith schools, grammars, academies - publish them on their own site.
Contact
- Headteacher
- Jordan Bedford
- Address
- Tunstall Bank, Sunderland, SR2 0SX
- Telephone
- 01915239745