Walbottle Campus


Walbottle Campus, previously 'Walbottle Campus Technology College', is a large secondary school situated in Newcastle upon Tyne. It is one of the largest secondary schools in Newcastle.

History

The school first opened in 1959 as three schools on one site, a Grammar School and two Secondary Moderns. These later merged to become the single Walbottle Campus Technology College. The vast majority of the school's students come from feeder Primary Schools which are members of the Outer West Learning Trust, of which Walbottle Campus is an Associate Member. In 2008, Walbottle Campus received a brand new state of the art building as part of the governments 'Building Schools for the Future' PFI scheme. Previously named Walbottle Campus Technology College, the government removed the funding for the 'technology college' status therefore the school was renamed Walbottle Campus.

Academisation

Following the school's Ofsted inspection in February 2019 and the Inadequate judgement, Walbottle Campus began plans to convert to Academy Status. In July 2019, Walbottle Campus received its academy order from former Secretary of State for Education Damian Hinds and talks began between Multi Academy Trusts and the board of governors.
In October 2019, Walbottle Campus began talks with the Northern Education trust, a multi-academy trust based in Ryton, Gateshead. This match has been agreed by the Department for Education and the school will convert to an academy.

Building

Walbottle Campus' new building opened in 2008 after being rebuilt as part of the governments Phase 1 PFI Newcastle Building Schools for the Future Programme. It opened alongside six other schools which were also rebuilt in the Phase 1 part of the programme. Four other schools later opened in 2011 as part of Phase 2 of the programme.
In the Ofsted Inspection of 2016, Walbottle Campus was graded 'good' after previously receiving 'requires improvement' on previous inspections.
Walbottle Campus had a ‘no notice’ inspection in February 2019. The result of the inspection was that Walbottle was judged Inadequate for all aspects of the inspection and lost their ‘Good’ Judgement.