Cedars - Newcastle, Moorlands and Darwin Bases
Cedars - Newcastle, Moorlands and Darwin Bases is a pupil referral unit in Newcastle-under-Lyme for boys and girls aged 11 to 16. It has 48 pupils. About 54 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 2024.
High Street, Knutton, Newcastle-under-Lyme, ST5 6BX01782 973760cedarsnewcastle.staffs.sch.ukMr Lee McCartney headteacherAll details
What Ofsted found
A shorter visit on 26 June 2024 found nothing to change the school's grade. Read the report on Ofsted's website.
Good overall. A shorter follow-up visit found nothing to change that, although the inspectors did raise some concerns, so a full inspection will follow. The last full inspection was before September 2019, which is as far back as Ofsted's public records go, so we can't show its date or the grades for each area.
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 Staffordshire 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 (42), Specific learning difficulty (3), Moderate learning difficulty (2), language and communications needs (1).
How the mix of pupils has changed
| Census | 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils on roll | 48 | 55 | 45 | 30 | 21 | 33 |
| Pupils from low-income familiesFree school meals | 54% | 49% | 44% | 43% | 43% | 39% |
| Pupils learning EnglishEnglish as an additional language | 2% | 2% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 3% |
| Pupils getting extra supportSEN support | – | 98% | 93% | 87% | 100% | 91% |
| Pupils with an EHC planEducation, health and care plans | – | 2% | 7% | 13% | 0% | 9% |
What pupils do next
After GCSEs
Where the 17 pupils who left in 2022/23 were a year later.
Among pupils from low-income families it was 22%, compared with 63% for everyone else.
Earlier years
| Destination | 2022/23 leavers | 2021/22 leavers | 2020/21 leavers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Still in education, work or training | 41% | 60% | 31% |
| Education | 29% | 20% | 23% |
| Apprenticeship | 6% | 0% | 0% |
| Work | 6% | 40% | 8% |
| Not in education, work or training | 29% | 20% | 54% |
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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oaklands Nursery School | Local authority nursery school | 250 m | 37 | Outstanding 2023 | – | Compare |
| Ellison Primary Academy | Academy | 290 m | 329 | Good 2023 | 42 | Compare |
| Kaleidoscope School | Independent | 310 m | 41 | Not inspected | – | Compare |
| St Margaret's CofE (VC) Junior School | Church of England | 610 m | 222 | Good 2023 | 76 | Compare |
| St Wulstan's Catholic Primary School | Academy | 740 m | 457 | Not inspected | 80 | Compare |
| The Orme Academy | Academy | 750 m | 768 | Good 2024 | 32 | Compare |
| Merryfields School | Academy | 0.6 miles | 118 | Not inspected | – | Compare |
| May Bank Infants' School | Council | 0.7 miles | 173 | Good 2023 | 70 | Compare |
Questions parents ask
Is Cedars - Newcastle, Moorlands and Darwin Bases a good school?
Cedars - Newcastle, Moorlands and Darwin Bases doesn't have a score yet. Ofsted rated it good at its last inspection in June 2024.
What is Cedars - Newcastle, Moorlands and Darwin Bases's Ofsted rating?
Ofsted rated Cedars - Newcastle, Moorlands and Darwin Bases good at its last full inspection on 26 June 2024.
How many pupils does Cedars - Newcastle, Moorlands and Darwin Bases have?
48 pupils aged 11 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
- High Street, Knutton, Newcastle-under-Lyme, ST5 6BX
- Telephone
- 01782 973760
- Website
- www.cedarsnewcastle.staffs.sch.uk
- Headteacher
- Mr Lee McCartney
- Type of school
- Pupil referral unit (Pupil referral unit, local authority maintained schools)
- Phase
- Pupil referral unit / alternative provision, ages 11-16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Local authority
- Staffordshire
- Ward
- Knutton
- Constituency
- Newcastle-under-Lyme
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Opened
- 1 March 1998
- URN
- 131652 · LAESTAB 8601106 · UKPRN 10016631
- Formerly
- Wall Lane Teaching Unit
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.