Following our Review Day held in November 2024, please see below the results of our parent feedback questionnaire and useful FAQs.

Review Day Parent Feedback and FAQs

Gosforth Group Admissions Consultation for 2026

The Gosforth Group follows the Department for Education's School Admissions Code (September 2021). As part of this Code, we consult on admissions arrangements whenever there is a change which requires consultation and at least once every seven years, even if there is no change.

Proposed changes for 2026 include amendments to the criteria used for determining admissions to Gosforth Group Academies and changes to the Published Admission Number for Great Park and Callerton Academies (following a move from temporary to permanent accommodation). There is also a proposed change to the Published Admissions Number for the Sixth Forms at Gosforth and Jesmond Park Academies to accommodate increased student numbers across Gosforth Group Academies.

This consultation process provides an opportunity for stakeholders to comment on the proposed changes. The consultation process will run for six weeks (not including school holidays) starting on Monday 25 November 2024 and closing on Monday 20 January 2025. At the end of the consultation period, responses will be considered and the final admission arrangements will be 'determined' by the Board of Trustees. The admission arrangements must be determined by 28 February 2025 and published by 15 March 2025.

Should you wish to participate in the consultation, please forward any comments regarding our proposed 2026 Admissions Policies to admissionsconsultation@gosforthgroup.org.uk

Please click below to view the consultation documents

At the end of October, Spanish A Level students had the opportunity to attend one of the public lectures offered by Newcastle University as part of their INSIGHTS programme. Francisco Ferrándiz, from the Spanish National Research Council, discussed 'Undoing the Valley of Cuelgamuros in contemporary Spain'.  The Valley of Cuelgamuros (formerly known as Valley of the Fallen or Valle de los Caídos) is Spain's most conspicuous and unresolved Francoist monument. The site incorporates the exhumations of Francisco Franco and José Antonio Primo de Rivera, founder of the Fascist party Falange, and it is central to ongoing debates about the Spanish Civil War and historical memory in the 21st century.

Not only did our students learn about a key period of Spanish history, which is part of the Year 13 A Level curriculum, but they also had the opportunity to reflect on the importance of remembering our history.

Our MFL department took a minibus of Gosforth Academy Sixth Formers and Year 11s to the Goethe Institut in Glasgow to participate in the 2024 German Career Roadshow. With Germany continuing to be one of the UK’s top trading partners, the Career Roadshow provided an ideal setting for our students to learn more about Germany's opportunities and gain insight into the importance of language skills in the UK job market. Students could choose from a varied programme of short presentations by experts from industry, cultural, and educational institutions, workshops, stalls, and other activities to illustrate the relevance of German in a career context and how it can improve job opportunities at home or abroad. The event was a great success and we returned with lots of inspiration and motivation to continue our studies inside the classroom!

Following on from the successful Italian exchange week at Gosforth Academy in September, last week Gosforth Academy hosted our German exchange from Heidelberg for the first time in collaboration with the MFL department at Great Park Academy.

After a weekend spent at our amazing host families, the exchange went on a joint trip to Dunstanburgh Castle, where students were able to get to know each other before being quizzed on their respective partners and their likes and dislikes on beach. We learned a bit about the medieval castle, the feuds and border disputes in its time and its artistic depiction in romanticism in preparation for our return visit to Heidelberg, where we will visit a medieval German castle.

The German students also explored British culture and heritage in trips to Beamish, Durham, York and Segedunum before experiencing a day at a British school and saying good-bye with a fun-filled party.

We have applied for a grant to help with the funding of this exchange via the UK-German Connection and hope that our return trip to Germany in July 2025 will once again be the most affordable trip abroad for our schools.

We would like to thank our parents and students who hosted this year’s German exchange and gave such an authentic insight into life in Britain to our guests. We are now looking forward to getting a glimpse of life in Germany and fostering our newly-forged cross-border friendships.

Today we have released revised admissions policies for September 2025 entry to Gosforth Junior High, Great Park Academy, Gosforth Academy and Jesmond Park Academy. These are now available on the schools’ websites.

Changes have been made following a small number of parental complaints to the School’s Adjudicator earlier this year, regarding the admissions process for September 2024. In particular, parents raised concerns regarding the fairness and legality of the Group’s admissions process.

The Schools’ Adjudicator subsequently completed a review of the Group’s admissions processes in the four academies and submitted reports, which included any changes which needed to be made, at the end of September.

The Schools’ Adjudicator reports confirmed that our admissions procedures are lawful and fair but highlighted the need for us to revise our policies to ensure greater transparency and clarity, especially regarding how our oversubscription criteria are applied.

We take the Schools’ Adjudicator's ruling very seriously and accept all the recommendations. We have sought legal support to ensure that our revised admissions policies are now easy to understand and transparent, whilst continuing to comply with all regulations.

We recognise and understand the frustration and concern that the lack of clarity in the admissions policies has caused, and on behalf of the Gosforth Group, I would like to apologise to those affected and thank parents for their patience whilst these changes have been made. 

We remain committed to providing equal opportunities for all families who wish to apply for a place in our academies. We will ensure that a consultation with parents on any proposed changes to the admissions policies for September 2026 will begin after the closure of the September 2025 admissions window.

Parents of children who have already completed their application for September 2025 will be notified by Newcastle City Council of the change in policy and sent further information as to how to make changes to their application if required.

Dr Alexandra Thorp, CEO Gosforth Group.