Northumberland

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Code: E06000057
Director of Children's Services: Audrey Kingham

Summary of Ofsted findings

Summary of Ofsted findings

Inspection of Northumberland’s local authority children’s services

These inspections focus on the effectiveness of local authority services and arrangements:

  • to help and protect children, and enable families to stay together and get the help they need
  • the experiences and progress of children in care wherever they live, including those children who return home
  • the arrangements for permanence for children who are looked after, in stable, loving homes, including adoption
  • the experiences and progress of care leavers.
Inspection type Inspection start date Overall effectiveness Impact of leaders Help and protection Children in care Care leavers
ILACS Short Inspection 20 May 2024 Outstanding Outstanding Outstanding Good Good
ILACS Standard Inspection 20 January 2020 Good Good Good Good No outcome

Data source

Area SEND inspection of Northumberland Local Area Partnership

The purpose of an area SEND inspection is to:

  • provide an independent, external evaluation of the effectiveness of the local area partnership’s arrangements for children and young people with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND)
  • where appropriate, recommend what the local area partnership should do to improve the arrangements.
Inspection outcome

Northumberland local area partnership has not yet been inspected under the current Area SEND framework.

Data source

Joint targeted area inspection of Northumberland local authority

The agencies for these inspections can include the police, children’s social care, probation services, education and relevant health services. Inspectors will also evaluate how local agencies work with education and childcare providers. The focus of these inspections is how effectively the local safeguarding partners work together at the practice and strategic levels.

Theme Inspection start date Link
There have been no JTAI inspections for this local authority.

Data source

Ofsted inspection reports and tools

Local authority inspection reports (opens in new tab)
Access to childcare dashboard (childcare deserts and oases) (opens in new tab)

Local authority context

Population 18 and under Number %
Northumberland 62,467 18.8%
National 12,869,368 22.0%

Data source

Children looked after Number Rate per 10,000
Northumberland 456 77
National 81,770 67

Data source

School-age pupils eligible for free school meals Number %
Northumberland 10,207 25.2%
National 2,085,168 26.7%

Data source

School-age pupils eligible for extra funding (pupil premium) Number %
Northumberland 11,772 29.7%
National 2,266,608 29.3%

Data source

Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) in state-funded settings Number %
Northumberland 9,713 21.4%
National 1,766,924 19.6%

Data source

School-age pupils with English as an additional language Number %
Northumberland 1,436 3.2%
National 1,806,029 21.4%

Data source

% of children in income-deprived families (IDACI) Average %
Northumberland 34.0%
National 38.0%
Back to the top of the section Data source
Health Index (children and young people) Health Index score
Northumberland 100.9
National 100.8
More details about the health index metric

Indicates the health of an area measured in three domains: Healthy People, Health Lives and Healthy Places.

A score of 100 represents health in England in 2015. A higher number means better health and a lower number means worse health.

Data source

Remit overview

Contents

Early years

Population Number in Northumberland % in Northumberland % National
Aged 0 to 5 years 16,841 5.1% 6.4%
Aged 0 2,531 0.8% 1.0%
Aged 1 2,672 0.8% 1.0%
Aged 2 2,735 0.8% 1.1%
Aged 3 2,922 0.9% 1.1%
Aged 4 2,893 0.9% 1.1%
Aged 5 3,088 0.9% 1.1%

Data source

Disadvantaged Number in Northumberland % in Northumberland % National
Early years pupil premium 893 5.3% 3.3%
Children looked after (under 1 year) 30 1.2% 0.6%
Children looked after (1 to 4 years) 68 0.6% 0.4%

Data sources:

Special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) /
Education, health and care plans (EHCP) 		Number in Northumberland % in Northumberland % National
SEN support in state-funded settings (age 2 and under) 46 0.6% 0.3%
SEN support in state-funded settings (age 3) 200 7.2% 3.6%
SEN support in state-funded settings (age 4) 343 11.5% 9.5%
SEN support in state-funded settings (age 5) 461 14.6% 12.3%
Total: SEN support in state-funded settings (age 5 and under) 1,050 6.2% 4.5%
Children with an EHCP (age 2 and under) 5 0.1% 0.0%
Children with an EHCP (age 3) 57 2.1% 0.7%
Children with an EHCP (age 4) 152 5.1% 3.5%
Children with an EHCP (age 5) 197 6.2% 4.8%
Total: Children with an EHCP (age 5 and under) 411 2.4% 1.6%

Data sources:

Funded early years places for 2-year-olds Population aged 2-years-old Number of eligible 2-year-olds % of population aged 2 % take-up of funded places
Northumberland 2,735 694 25.4% 74.5%
National 630,059 145,824 23.1% 65.2%

Data source

Funded early years places for 3-year-olds Population aged 3-years-old Number of eligible 3-year-olds % of population aged 3 % take-up of funded places
Northumberland 2,922 All 3-year olds are eligible 108.7%
National 625,948 90.6%
The 2 and 3-year-old funded places tables look different because they measure different things; funded places for 2-year-olds are only for children considered to be disadvantaged, while for 3-year-olds everyone is entitled to a funded place.
Why these numbers might look odd for the 3-year-old funded take-up table
All 3-year-olds are eligible for funded places. Values over 100% are due to falling birth rates, which reduced the overall population more than the number registered for a place. A percentage above 100% shows very high take-up. In other words, more children are registered than the population estimate suggests exist.

Data source

Children's overweight and obesity Number in Northumberland % in Northumberland % National
Children's overweight and obesity (reception-age children) 675 25.9% 23.5%

Data source

Oral health Number examined in Northumberland % examined in Northumberland % in Northumberland % National
Oral health (visible tooth decay in 5-year-olds) 1,052 33.3% 15.9% 22.4%
Back to the top of the section Data source

Schools

Population Number in Northumberland % in Northumberland1 % National1
Primary-age pupils (ages 5 to 11) 23,582 7.1% 8.2%
Secondary-age pupils (ages 12 to 16) 18,271 5.5% 6.2%

Data source

Population of looked-after-children Number in Northumberland % in Northumberland1 % National1
Ages 5 to 9 78 0.5% 0.4%
Ages 10 to 15 200 0.9% 0.7%

Data source

Pupils eligible for free schools meals Number in Northumberland % in Northumberland2 % National2
Primary 4,737 23.7% 25.3%
Secondary 4,713 24.8% 27.5%
Alternative provision 17 54.8% 64.6%
Special 740 54.0% 49.5%
Non-maintained special – – 31.0%

Data source

Pupils eligible for pupil premium Number in Northumberland % in Northumberland2 % National2
Primary 5,353 24.0% 25.1%
Secondary 4,738 27.4% 28.9%

Data source

Pupils with SEND Number in Northumberland % in Northumberland2 % National2
Primary 4,410 20.5% 18.2%
Secondary 3,569 16.4% 16.5%
Alternative provision 23 74.2% 83.4%
Special 1,471 100.0% 99.9%
Non-maintained special – – 99.7%
Independent schools 240 37.6% 24.1%

Data source

Pupils with English as an additional language Number in Northumberland % in Northumberland2 % National2
Primary 775 3.6% 23.4%
Secondary 641 2.9% 19.2%
Alternative provision 0 0.0% 7.6%
Special 20 1.4% 14.5%
Non-maintained special – – 11.0%
Back to the top of the section Data source
Attendance of all pupils up to week 4 of calendar year % in Northumberland2 % National2
Primary 94.8% 95.0%
Secondary 91.1% 91.8%
Special 84.8% 87.1%

Data source

Attendance of pupils eligible for free school meals (summer term 2024/25) % in Northumberland2 % National2
Primary 92.0% 91.9%
Secondary 83.9% 85.2%
Special 83.1% 85.1%

Data source

Attendance of pupils with SEND (summer term 2024/25) % in Northumberland2 % National2
Primary 92.8% 92.1%
Secondary 84.2% 84.3%
Special 85.0% 87.3%

Data source

Primary attainment: Year 1 phonics screening pass Number in Northumberland % in Northumberland2 % National2
All pupils 2,473 80.9% 79.8%
Pupils eligible for free school meals 423 64.7% 66.6%
Pupils with SEND 306 47.4% 43.4%
Pupils with English as an additional language 67 71.3% 79.5%
Back to the top of the section Data source
Primary attainment: Year 4 times table check (full marks) Number in Northumberland % in Northumberland2 % National2
All pupils 1,184 35.0% 36.8%
Pupils eligible for free school meals 242 26.3% 27.4%
Pupils with SEND 144 17.2% 16.5%
Pupils with English as an additional language 51 43.6% 45.2%

Data source

Primary attainment: Key stage 2 reading, writing, maths combined (met the expected standard) Number in Northumberland % in Northumberland2 % National2
All pupils 1,945 58.4% 62.6%
Pupils eligible for free school meals 378 39.2% 47.7%
Pupils with SEND 193 22.4% 23.8%
Pupils with English as an additional language 54 50.9% 66.2%

Data source

Secondary attainment: Attainment 8 Average in Northumberland2 National average2
All pupils 43.9 45.9
Pupils eligible for free school meals 30.8 35.0
Pupils with SEND 24.3 28.1

Data source

Population receiving education outside of their local authority Number outside of Northumberland % outside of Northumberland2 % National2
Primary 271 1.5% 4.1%
Secondary 438 2.4% 8.7%
Special 42 3.0% 9.0%
Back to the top of the section Data source
Children being home educated Number in Northumberland % in Northumberland1 % National1
Primary 160 0.7% 0.8%
Secondary 390 2.1% 2.5%
Total 550 1.3% 1.5%
More details about the children being home educated numbers
Local authority data in the source dataset has been rounded to the nearest 10. As a result totals may not equal the sum of their component parts.

Data source

Suspensions (from primary school) Number in Northumberland Rate per 100 pupils in Northumberland3 Rate per 100 pupils National3
Total number of suspensions 145 0.7 0.9
Total pupils with one or more suspensions 85 0.4 0.5
Pupils with one or more suspensions who are eligible for free school meals 49 1.1 (in group) 1.2 (in group)
Pupils with one or more suspensions with SEND 72 1.7 (in group) 2.4 (in group)
More details about suspensions from state-funded primary schools and totals not summing
Suspensions data on total number of pupils may not match, as a change in a pupil’s category within the same term results in them being counted separately under each category. For example, if a pupil receives multiple suspensions while classified as not having SEN, and then receives additional suspensions after being reclassified as receiving SEN support during the same term, they will be recorded as two separate enrolments in the data.

Data source

Suspensions (from secondary school) Number in Northumberland Rate per 100 pupils in Northumberland3 Rate per 100 pupils National3
Total number of suspensions 2,670 12.2 7.8
Total pupils with one or more suspensions 1,066 4.9 3.8
Pupils with one or more suspensions who are eligible for free school meals 569 11.2 (in group) 8.2 (in group)
Pupils with one or more suspensions with SEND 401 11.5 (in group) 9.1 (in group)
More details about suspensions from state-funded secondary schools and totals not summing
Suspensions data on total number of pupils may not match, as a change in a pupil’s category within the same term results in them being counted separately under each category. For example, if a pupil receives multiple suspensions while classified as not having SEN, and then receives additional suspensions after being reclassified as receiving SEN support during the same term, they will be recorded as two separate enrolments in the data.

Data source

Suspensions (from special school) Number in Northumberland Rate per 100 pupils in Northumberland3 Rate per 100 pupils National3
Total number of suspensions 113 7.9 5.1
Total pupils with one or more suspensions 61 4.3 2.9
Pupils with one or more suspensions who are eligible for free school meals 47 6.2 (in group) 4.1 (in group)
Pupils with one or more suspensions with SEND 61 4.3 (in group) 2.9 (in group)
More details about suspensions from state-funded special schools and totals not summing
Suspensions data on total number of pupils may not match, as a change in a pupil’s category within the same term results in them being counted separately under each category. For example, if a pupil receives multiple suspensions while classified as not having SEN, and then receives additional suspensions after being reclassified as receiving SEN support during the same term, they will be recorded as two separate enrolments in the data.

Data source

Back to the top of the section
Exclusions (from primary school) Number in Northumberland % in Northumberland2 % National2
Total number of pupils excluded 3 0.0% 0.0%
Pupils eligible for free school meals 2 0.0% 0.0%
Pupils with SEND 3 0.1% 0.1%

Data source

Exclusions (from secondary school) Number in Northumberland % in Northumberland2 % National2
Total number of pupils excluded 28 0.1% 0.1%
Pupils eligible for free school meals 22 0.4% 0.2%
Pupils with SEND 9 0.3% 0.3%

Data source

Exclusions (from special school) Number in Northumberland % in Northumberland2 % National2
Total number of pupils excluded 0 0.0% 0.0%
Pupils eligible for free school meals 0 0.0% 0.0%
Pupils with SEND 0 0.0% 0.0%
Back to the top of the section Data source

1. % of all children in Northumberland / England.

2. % of all pupils in state-funded settings across Northumberland / England.

3. Rate per 100 pupils in state-funded settings across Northumberland / England.

Further education and skills

Population Number in Northumberland % in Northumberland % National
Aged 16 to 18 years 10,573 3.2% 3.6%
Aged 19 to 21 years 7,662 2.3% 3.6%
Aged 22 to 24 years 8,943 2.7% 3.6%
Aged 25 years and over 252,348 76.1% 70.8%

Data source

Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET) Number in Northumberland % in Northumberland % National
16- to 17-year-olds known to LA 6,660 2.2% 2.4%
NEET 267 4.0% 3.4%
Activity not known 742 11.1% 2.2%
Total NEET or activity not known 1,009 15.1% 5.6%

Data source

16 to 18 progression to higher education or training % in Northumberland % National
Degrees (all) 68.0% 66.0%
Degrees at top third higher education institutions 30.0% 24.0%
Higher apprenticeships 2.0% 2.0%
Other study at level 4 and 5 2.0% 3.0%
Progressing to higher education or training 72.0% 70.0%
More details about the further education and skills destinations data

This data reflects the destinations of pupils based on the number on roll when they were aged 16 to 18, tracking where they progressed after completing their studies.

Degree destinations include any study at level 6 or higher such as bachelor degrees, graduate diplomas, and post-graduate degrees. The top third higher education institutions when ranked by average UCAS tariff score of entrants across their best 3 A levels.

Higher apprenticeships are those from level 4 to 7 and are equivalent to a foundation degree and above. Degree apprenticeships are available at levels 6 and 7.

Other study at level 4 or 5 destinations include those students studying qualifications such as foundation degrees, Higher National Certificates (HNCs) and Higher National Diplomas (HNDs).

Data source

Social care

Explore the findings from Ofsted's local authority inspections.

Explore population characteristics for this local authority.