School profile
Venerable Bede Church of England Academy
Tunstall Bank, Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, SR2 0SX
Overview
Venerable Bede Church of England Academy is a state-funded school (academy converter) in Sunderland, North East, for pupils aged 11–16. This summary is generated only from official structured fields.
School details
- Official establishment type
- Academy converter
- Establishment group
- Academies
- Phase of education
- Secondary
- Age range
- Ages 11–16
- Gender of entry
- Mixed
- Boarding
- No boarders
- Sixth form
- No
- Religious character
- Church of England
- School capacity
- 900
- Pupils on roll
- 738
- URN
- 139184
Admissions
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Local authority
- Sunderland
- Academy trust or group
- NORTHERN LIGHTS LEARNING TRUST
Contact the school or your local authority for catchment and application deadlines.
School places
DfE school capacity survey · May 2025 (2024/25)
- Capacity at survey date
- 951
- Pupils on roll
- 828
- Unfilled places at survey date
- 123
A dated snapshot from the Department for Education school capacity survey, separate from the school details above. Unfilled places at the survey date do not mean places are currently available for admission. About this data
Official admissions data
Applications & demand
Preferences expressed by families through coordinated admissions, shown over time.
2026/27 admissions · Year 7
- First preferences
- 57
- Total preferences
- 140
- Offers made
- 64
Times the school was named as a family's first preference.
All recorded preference positions for this school.
Offers recorded through coordinated admissions, not physical capacity.
First preferences compared with offers
0.89 first preferences per offer
57 first preferences and 64 offers were recorded for 2026/27.
What does this mean?
This is the Department for Education's own published comparison of first preferences with total offers recorded. It indicates the level of requests made through coordinated admissions. Offers are not necessarily the school's maximum capacity, admissions arrangements vary between local authorities, the figure is not a measure of school quality, and it should not be used on its own to judge the likelihood of gaining a place.
First preferences over time
Latest five available admissions years. Missing years are not estimated.
Admissions history
| Admissions year | First preferences | Total preferences | Offers made |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026/27 | 57 | 140 | 64 |
| 2025/26 | 106 | 191 | 114 |
| 2024/25 | 124 | 202 | 130 |
| 2023/24 | 151 | 238 | 169 |
| 2022/23 | 174 | 261 | 176 |
Source: Department for Education · Applications and offers data.
Official performance data
School performance
Official Department for Education results for this school. Results are shown for the academic year they relate to.
Secondary
2024/25 results
Attainment 8 score
- School
- 44.1
- England
- 47.1
Pupils included: 178
Grade 5 or above in English & maths
- School
- 38.8%
- England
- 46.5%
Pupils included: 178
Grade 4 or above in English & maths
- School
- 60.7%
- England
- 66.4%
Pupils included: 178
Entering the EBacc
- School
- 44.4%
- England
- 41.5%
Pupils included: 178
Progress 8 was not published for 2024/25.
Source: Department for Education · School performance data.
Official inspection data
Ofsted inspections
Inspection information published by Ofsted, shown in Ofsted's own words.
Ofsted inspection
Inspected 21 January 2025 · Published 10 March 2025
Original education inspection framework (September 2024 to November 2025)
Ofsted did not give schools an overall effectiveness grade during this inspection period. The judgements Ofsted did publish are shown below.
- Quality of education
- Inadequate
- Behaviour and attitudes
- Requires improvement
- Personal development
- Requires improvement
- Effectiveness of leadership and management
- Requires improvement
- Safeguarding was effective
- Yes
Ofsted recorded this school in a category of concern: Serious weaknesses. The official report explains what this means and what happens next.
Other recent inspection activity
These visits do not carry a graded judgement and do not replace the inspection above.
Schools with Serious Weaknesses Visit 2
Inspected 11 March 2026 · Published 6 May 2026
Outcome: Leaders and governors/trustees are taking effective action to improve the school but continued work is needed to remove the serious weaknesses designation
Ungraded inspection
Inspected 5 November 2021 · Published 12 December 2021
Outcome: School remains Good
Ofsted changed how it inspects and reports on schools in November 2025. Judgements from the previous and current frameworks use different systems and should not be directly compared.
School Nest shows the inspection information Ofsted currently publishes for this school. It is not a complete record of every inspection the school has ever had.
Source: Ofsted · Inspections and outcomes. Official Ofsted page for this school
Location
- Address
- Tunstall Bank, Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, SR2 0SX
- Local authority
- Sunderland
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