Alternative Education Service - The Beacon Centre
Alternative Education Service - The Beacon Centre is a pupil referral unit in South Shields for boys and girls aged 4 to 16. It has 78 pupils. About 83 in every 100 pupils come from a low-income family, far more than at most schools in England. Ofsted's last grade was good, back in 2023.
Temple Park Road, South Shields, NE34 0QA0191 454 6254thebeaconcentre.netMr Dominick Gray service managerAll details
What Ofsted found
Ofsted's last full inspection was on 28 March 2023, back when it gave schools one overall grade. Read the report on Ofsted's website.
Good overall.
Getting a place
Admissions policy not published.
Each council publishes its own figures on how many families applied and how far away the last child to get a place lived. We are adding councils one at a time. If you have a link to South Tyneside council's admissions booklet, send it to us.
Who goes here
Who the school teaches, from the latest school census.
The most common needs among pupils getting extra support: emotional and mental health (73), Other difficulty or disability (2), SEN support but no specialist assessment of type of need (1), Specific learning difficulty (1).
How the mix of pupils has changed
| Census | 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils on roll | 78 | 70 | 62 | 63 | 48 | 45 |
| Pupils from low-income familiesFree school meals | 83% | 74% | 74% | 71% | 77% | 69% |
| Pupils learning EnglishEnglish as an additional language | 1% | 1% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Pupils getting extra supportSEN support | – | 81% | 87% | 94% | 90% | 78% |
| Pupils with an EHC planEducation, health and care plans | – | 13% | 11% | 6% | 10% | 22% |
What pupils do next
After GCSEs
Where the 26 pupils who left in 2022/23 were a year later.
Among pupils from low-income families it was 55%, compared with – for everyone else.
Earlier years
| Destination | 2022/23 leavers | 2021/22 leavers | 2020/21 leavers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Still in education, work or training | 54% | 33% | 39% |
| Education | 31% | 13% | 31% |
| Apprenticeship | 0% | 13% | 8% |
| Work | 23% | 7% | 0% |
| Not in education, work or training | 31% | 40% | 46% |
Staff and money
From the government's count of school staff in November 2025 and the school's published accounts.
Money
From the council school accounts, year to March 2025. The per-pupil figures are compared with other primary schools in England that report their accounts the same way.
Reserves are the money left over at the end of the year, kept back for emergencies and big projects. Being in the red year after year is a warning sign. Very large reserves can mean money sitting in the bank instead of being spent on today's pupils. Academy figures are rounded to the nearest £1,000 and include a share of any money the trust holds centrally.
The area around the school
Crime figures come from police.uk. The police record each crime at the nearest of a fixed set of map points rather than the exact spot, so “within 500 m” is only rough. House prices are from HM Land Registry sales nearby over the last two years.
Nearby schools
The closest schools, nearest first. Hover over a row to see it on the map.
| School | Type | Distance | Pupils | Ofsted | Score | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ashley Academy | Academy | 50 m | 396 | No overall grade 2025 | 37 | Compare |
| Park View School | Council | 170 m | 59 | Good 2024 | – | Compare |
| St Wilfrid's RC College | Academy | 290 m | 1,271 | No overall grade 2025 | 21 | Compare |
| Stanhope Primary School | Council | 380 m | 233 | Good 2023 | 86 | Compare |
| Mortimer Community College | Council | 540 m | 1,139 | No overall grade 2025 | 17 | Compare |
| Mortimer Primary School | Council | 570 m | 588 | Good 2024 | 26 | Compare |
| SS Peter and Paul Catholic Primary School, South Shields | Academy | 620 m | 230 | Good 2024 | 56 | Compare |
| Laygate Community School | Council | 0.7 miles | 227 | Good 2023 | 60 | Compare |
Questions parents ask
Is Alternative Education Service - The Beacon Centre a good school?
Alternative Education Service - The Beacon Centre doesn't have a score yet. Ofsted rated it good at its last inspection in March 2023.
What is Alternative Education Service - The Beacon Centre's Ofsted rating?
Ofsted rated Alternative Education Service - The Beacon Centre good at its last full inspection on 28 March 2023.
How many pupils does Alternative Education Service - The Beacon Centre have?
78 pupils aged 4 to 16 were on the roll in January 2026.
These answers come straight from the figures on this page and update when new data comes out.
Contact and details
- Address
- Temple Park Road, South Shields, NE34 0QA
- Telephone
- 0191 454 6254
- Website
- www.thebeaconcentre.net
- Service Manager
- Mr Dominick Gray
- Type of school
- Pupil referral unit (Pupil referral unit, local authority maintained schools)
- Phase
- Pupil referral unit / alternative provision, ages 4-16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Local authority
- South Tyneside
- Ward
- West Park
- Constituency
- South Shields
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Opened
- 1 April 1994
- URN
- 108666 · LAESTAB 3931100 · UKPRN 10016922
Where these figures come from
- School details: Department for Education, Get Information About Schools, refreshed daily (this page rebuilt 13 September 2026).
- Inspections: Ofsted management information, monthly; latest publication in our data 27 August 2026.
- Pupil characteristics: DfE school census, January 2026.
- Staff: DfE school workforce census, November 2025.
- Pupil premium: DfE allocations and conditions of grant, 2026 to 2027.
- Money: DfE financial benchmarking and insights tool, consistent financial reporting 2024/25.
- Neighbourhood: police.uk street-level crime, HM Land Registry price paid data, NaPTAN bus stops, English Indices of Deprivation 2025.
- All under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Full list and update calendar.