St Thomas More Catholic High SchoolJohn Spence Community High School

Inspection, results, pupils and attendance side by side in North Shields.

Summary of the comparison

St Thomas More Catholic High School and John Spence Community High School are secondary schools in North Shields.

  • St Thomas More Catholic High School scores 61 out of 100 (grade C, average) and John Spence Community High School scores 45 out of 100 (grade D, below average). St Thomas More Catholic High School is ahead on our composite score.

  • St Thomas More Catholic High School was judged Good and John Spence Community High School was judged Requires improvement.

  • On GCSE Attainment 8, the latest published figures are 49.6 for St Thomas More Catholic High School and 41.0 for John Spence Community High School.

  • GCSE Attainment 8 has fallen at St Thomas More Catholic High School (54.1 in 2021-22, 49.6 in 2024-25).

Side-by-side comparison

St Thomas More Catholic High School versus John Spence Community High School compared on inspection, results, pupils and attendance.
Measure North ShieldsSt Thomas More Catholic High SchoolNorth ShieldsJohn Spence Community High SchoolEngland average
Overview
Our scoreC61/100Stronger figureD45/100
Local ranking5th of 15 in North Tyneside Stronger figure15th of 15 in North Tyneside
InspectionOfsted: GoodStronger figureOfsted: Requires improvement
School typeAcademy converter Academy converter
PhaseSecondary Secondary
Age range11-18 11-16
GenderMixed Mixed
Pupils on roll1,622 812
Capacity1,650 885
LocationNorth Shields, NE29 8LF North Shields, NE29 9PU
GCSE results
Attainment 849.6 Stronger figure41.0 46.0
Grade 5+ in English & maths46.1% Stronger figure28.6% 45.4%
Grade 4+ in English & maths68.5% Stronger figure50.0% 64.8%
Entering EBacc46.9% Stronger figure6.5% 40.5%
EBacc average point score4.38 Stronger figure3.46 4.09
Cohort254 154
A-level results
A-level entries113 Not reported
A-level average points35.2 Not reported35.0
A-level average gradeB- Not reported
Best 3 A-levels points36.6 Not reported35.8
AAB+ incl. facilitating subjects19.7% Not reported17.5%
Pupils
Pupils in the census1,622 812
Free school meals (ever 6)24.8% 49.1%
English as an additional language8.3% 4.6%
SEN support11.2% 15.6%
SEN with an EHC plan2.0% 4.3%
Attendance
Overall absence8.8% Stronger figure9.5% 6.2%
Persistent absence22.5% Stronger figure25.1% 15.8%

marks the stronger figure on measures with a clear direction. Rows describing a school's intake, such as free school meals, English as an additional language and SEN, carry no marker: they describe who a school serves, not how well it serves them.

Historical trends

Each solid line is one school; the dashed line is the national average.

GCSE Attainment 8

Overall absence

Free school meal eligibility (ever 6)

Pupils on roll

Ethnicity over time

One panel per school: the largest groups across this comparison, one colour per group, on a shared scale.

St Thomas More Catholic High School

John Spence Community High School

Full profiles: St Thomas More Catholic High School · John Spence Community High School