Whitley Lodge First School
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Whitley Lodge First School is a council school in Whitley Bay for boys and girls aged 3 to 9. It has 250 pupils, 20 more than it has places for. About 7 in every 100 pupils come from a low-income family, far fewer than at most schools in England. We give it 93 out of 100. That puts it well above schools like it, ahead of 86% of the 50 schools most like it. Ofsted visited in May 2026 and gave it a report card, which is below.
Woodburn Drive, Whitley Bay, NE26 3HW0191 607 6575whitleylodgeschool.org.ukMrs Jennifer Palmer headteacherAll details
What Ofsted found
Ofsted visited on 12 May 2026. Instead of one overall word, it now gives a grade for each part of school life. Read the full report on Ofsted's website.
Ofsted says these new grades can't be lined up against the old one-word grades.
Earlier inspections (1)
| Date | Type | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| 15 June 2022 | Ungraded | School remains Good |
Results
No published results yet for this school.
Getting a place
Admissions policy not published.
Fewer than one place in twenty is empty, so in most years more families apply than there are places. Living close by, or already having a child here, makes a real difference. Pupil numbers have fallen by 7% since 2021/22, so places are getting easier to find.
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 North Tyneside council's admissions booklet, send it to us.
Who goes here
Who a school teaches matters. That is why our score compares it with schools that take in a similar mix of children, not with every school in the country.
Infant classes (Reception to Year 2) average 23.3 pupils (England 25.5); junior classes (Years 3 to 6) average 29.0 (England 27.3).
The most common needs among pupils getting extra support: language and communications needs (13), Specific learning difficulty (7), Autistic spectrum disorder (3), emotional and mental health (3), Other difficulty or disability (1).
How the mix of pupils has changed
| Census | 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils on roll | 250 | 259 | 266 | 278 | 276 | 284 |
| Pupils from low-income familiesFree school meals | 6% | 7% | 7% | 4% | 5% | 4% |
| Pupils learning EnglishEnglish as an additional language | 1% | 2% | 2% | 1% | 1% | 1% |
| Pupils getting extra supportSEN support | – | 4% | 6% | 4% | 4% | 1% |
| Pupils with an EHC planEducation, health and care plans | – | 2% | 3% | 3% | 3% | 2% |
Attendance and behaviour
In 2024/25 pupils were in school 97.6% of the time. Across similar schools in England it was 94.8%.
Attendance year by year
| Measure | 2024/25 | 2023/24 | 2022/23 | 2021/22 | 2020/21 | 2018/19 | England |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sessions missedOverall absence | 2.4% | 4.4% | 4.3% | 3.1% | 1.8% | 3.3% | 5.2% |
| Missed with permissionAuthorised absence | 1.5% | 3.4% | 3.4% | 2.5% | 1.7% | 2.5% | – |
| Missed without permissionUnauthorised absence | 0.9% | 1.0% | 0.9% | 0.6% | 0.1% | 0.9% | – |
| Pupils missing a lot of schoolPersistent absence | 0.6% | 7.0% | 5.8% | 2.1% | 1.6% | 4.3% | 12.8% |
| SuspensionsSuspension rate | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | – | – |
| Permanent exclusionsPermanent exclusions | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – |
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 primary schools, nearest first. Hover over a row to see it on the map.
| School | Type | Distance | Pupils | Ofsted | Score | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coquet Park First School | Council | 720 m | 169 | No overall grade 2025 | 99 | Compare |
| Southridge First School | Council | 800 m | 321 | Good 2022 | 84 | Compare |
| Valley Gardens Middle School | Foundation | 0.6 miles | 768 | No overall grade 2024 | 94 | Compare |
| Marine Park First School | Council | 0.9 miles | 476 | Good 2022 | 81 | Compare |
| Monkseaton Coastal School | Foundation | 1.2 miles | 203 | Good 2021 | 11 | Compare |
| Appletree Gardens First School | Foundation | 1.3 miles | 292 | Good 2024 | 37 | Compare |
| Marden Bridge Middle School | Foundation | 1.3 miles | 577 | Not inspected | 55 | Compare |
| Langley First School | Council | 1.4 miles | 295 | Good 2022 | 58 | Compare |
Compared with schools like it
Our score compares Whitley Lodge First School with the 49 schools in England whose pupils are most like its own. We match on family income, how many children are learning English, special needs, the neighbourhood, the size of the school and how it admits pupils. Those 49 schools are dotted all over the country, so we don't list them. What matters is where this school sits among them.
How the score was worked out
The score is out of 100. A 93 means that once everything below is added up, this school comes out ahead of 93% of primary schools in England. Results bounce around from year to year, especially in small schools, so we also show a likely range: 84 to 98. Every part is judged against schools with a similar mix of pupils. For small schools we pull each part towards the group average, so one unusual year can't swing the score too far.
| What we looked at | How much it counts | Against schools like it | Effect on the score | Based on |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Results over three years | 0% | no data | – | |
| Ofsted inspection | 20% | above | +0.50 | Ofsted report card, 0.3 years old |
| Progress pupils make | 0% | no data | – | |
| Direction of travel over five years | 10% | below | -0.09 | results and attendance falling year on year |
| Attendance and behaviour | 10% | well above | +0.43 | 2024/25; 181 pupils |
| Results, allowing for the mix of pupils | 0% | no data | – | |
| What parents say | 0% | no data | – |
Worked out on 13 September 2026 (method v1). Read how the score works, including every weight and the checks we run. Think a number is wrong? Tell us.
Questions parents ask
Is Whitley Lodge First School a good school?
Yes, going by the figures. Whitley Lodge First School scores 93 out of 100. That is well above schools that take in a similar mix of pupils, and ahead of 86% of the 50 schools most like it in England. The score could fairly be anywhere from 84 to 98, so a few points either way between schools doesn't mean much. Its results have been slipping over the last five years.
What is Whitley Lodge First School's Ofsted rating?
Ofsted no longer gives schools one overall grade. When it visited on 12 May 2026 it rated teaching as strong, achievement as strong, behaviour and attendance as strong, leadership as strong.
How many pupils does Whitley Lodge First School have?
250 pupils aged 3 to 9 were on the roll in January 2026. It has 230 places, so it is 109% full.
Is Whitley Lodge First School oversubscribed?
Often. Fewer than one place in twenty was empty in 2024/25, so popular year groups fill up.
What is attendance like at Whitley Lodge First School?
Pupils were in school 97.6% of the time in 2024/25. Similar schools in England managed 94.8%. 1% of pupils missed at least a tenth of the year.
How big are the classes at Whitley Lodge First School?
The average class had 25.8 pupils in January 2026. Across England it was 25.4. 13% of classes had more than 30 pupils.
These answers come straight from the figures on this page and update when new data comes out.
Contact and details
- Address
- Woodburn Drive, Whitley Bay, NE26 3HW
- Telephone
- 0191 607 6575
- Website
- www.whitleylodgeschool.org.uk
- Headteacher
- Mrs Jennifer Palmer
- Type of school
- Council school (Community school, local authority maintained schools)
- Phase
- Primary school, ages 3-9, with nursery
- Gender
- Mixed
- Local authority
- North Tyneside
- Ward
- St Mary's
- Constituency
- Tynemouth
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- URN
- 108600 · LAESTAB 3922074 · UKPRN 10077804
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.
- Attendance: DfE pupil absence in schools in England, 2024/25 full year.
- Pupil characteristics: DfE school census, January 2026.
- Staff: DfE school workforce census, November 2025.
- Class sizes: DfE schools, pupils and their characteristics, January 2026.
- 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.