Wellfield Middle School is located in

Whitley Bay Whitley Bay is a seaside town in the North Tyneside borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It formerly governed as part of Northumberland and has been part of Tyne and Wear since 1974. It is part of the wider Tyneside built-up area, being around e ...

North Tyneside North Tyneside is a metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear, England. It forms part of the greater Tyneside conurbation. North Tyneside Council is headquartered at Cobalt Park, Wallsend. North Tyneside is bordered ...

, serving the areas of Wellfield,

Earsdon Earsdon is a village in the borough of North Tyneside in the county of Tyne and Wear, England. It sits on the border of Northumberland, which it is historically part of, and is approximately two miles from Whitley Bay. The village had a populati ...

and

Monkseaton Monkseaton is an area of Whitley Bay, North Tyneside, in the North East of England. Historically in Northumberland, it is in the north-east of the borough, from the North Sea coast and north of the River Tyne at North Shields. to the north of ...

. In 2015 it had about 360 pupils on its roll from the ages of 9 up to 13.

History

Prior to 1972, there was a primary school in Wellfield. With

Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land ...

's creation of a three-tier education system, the school was divided into a

First School Three-tier education refers to those structures of schooling, which exist in some parts of England, where pupils are taught in three distinct school types as they progress through the education system. Terminology In a three-tier local educ ...

(South Wellfield First School) and a

Middle school A middle school (also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school) is an educational stage which exists in some countries, providing education between primary school and secondary school. ...

(originally called South Wellfield Middle School). In 1993, South Wellfield Middle School and other schools were threatened with closure by

North Tyneside Council North Tyneside Council is the local authority of North Tyneside in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a metropolitan district council, one of five in Tyne and Wear and one of 36 in the metropolitan counties of England, and provides the majority of lo ...

with a view to reducing surplus places. After a campaign by staff, parents, and pupils to keep the school open, the school successfully applied in 1994 to become one of the few

grant-maintained school Grant-maintained schools or GM schools were state schools in England and Wales between 1988 and 1998 that had opted out of local government control, being funded directly by a grant from central government. Some of these schools had selective ad ...

s in North East England. Following this success, the school changed its name in September 1994 to Wellfield Middle School (Grant-Maintained). When grant-maintained status was abolished, it became known simply as Wellfield Middle School.

SATs

Pupils at Wellfield complete their KS2 SAT tests in Year 6. Wellfield, along with all other schools in England, have their results published on the DfES website.

Famous Former Pupils

* Laura Spence, the schoolgirl from Whitley Bay who became the center of a major political row in 2000 when Chancellor of the Exchequer

Gordon Brown James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in Tony B ...

criticized the decision made by

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to th ...

not to award her a place to study

medicine Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pr ...

References

External links

Wellfield Middle School Official Website
{{Coord, 55, 02, 28.6, N, 1, 29, 30.4, W, display=title, region:GB_scale:5000 Middle schools in the Metropolitan Borough of North Tyneside Whitley Bay Community schools in the Metropolitan Borough of North Tyneside