Teesdale School and Sixth Form

What Teesdale School and Sixth Form does

Teesdale School and Sixth Form is a state-funded academy secondary school located in Barnard Castle, County Durham, serving students aged 11-18 across Key Stages 3, 4 and the Sixth Form. The school is part of the North East Learning Trust (NELT), a multi-academy trust with the Academy at Shotton Hall as the lead school, and admissions for Year 7 are coordinated via Durham County Council while Sixth Form admissions are handled directly. Enrolment comprises over 600 pupils aged 11-16, with a Sixth Form cohort of up to 100 students aged 16-18 studying A-Levels and BTEC qualifications across 15+ subjects including sciences, humanities, languages, arts and design.

The school delivers a broad curriculum across 16 GCSE subjects and a personalised Sixth Form offering that includes enrichment activities such as the Physics Olympiad, Oxbridge/Russell Group preparation, MedSoc, debating, and international trips including CERN. Achievement outcomes are strong: 49.5% of pupils achieved grade 5+ in both GCSE English and maths in 2025 (versus 41.3% county and 45.2% national averages), 100% A-Level pass rate with 50% of grades at B or above, and 100% of pupils staying in education or entering employment after Key Stage 4. The school is rated 'Outstanding' by Ofsted, the highest UK inspection grade. Digital infrastructure includes a CMS-based school website, NELT-hosted Remote Access for distance learning, EASI for internal management, and Scopay for parent payments.

Revenue is generated primarily through UK government per-pupil funding channelled via the North East Learning Trust, with supplementary income from school meals, uniform sales, and optional paid extracurricular activities and trips. As a state-funded academy there are no tuition fees for statutory education. Governance is provided by a Local Academy Council chaired by Lindsay Haggis, with Hijab Zaheer serving as Head of School and Dr Simon Henderson as Head of Sixth Form. The school is not a commercial entity and has no investment funding, M&A activity, or external shareholders.

Name

Teesdale School and Sixth Form

Legal name

Teesdale School and Sixth Form

Website

https://teesdaleschool.co.uk

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Teesdale School and Sixth Form is an Ofsted-rated 'Outstanding' state-funded academy in Barnard Castle, County Durham, serving 600+ students aged 11-18 under the North East Learning Trust.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Barnard Castle

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Technology or R&D, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. Government Education Funding: As an academy within the North East Learning Trust, the school receives per-pupil government funding to operate. Additional revenue comes from school meals, uniform sales, and optional extracurricular activities and trips.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Teesdale School and Sixth Form is a state-funded comprehensive academy in Barnard Castle, County Durham, providing secondary education for pupils aged 11-18. The school delivers a full Key Stage 3 and 4 GCSE curriculum across 16 subject areas, alongside a Sixth Form offering 15 A-Level and BTEC courses to up to 100 students aged 16-18. Educational delivery is supplemented by SEND support, a careers education programme, and an enrichment programme that includes university preparation, international trips, and work experience.

Product overview

Teesdale School and Sixth Form is a fully comprehensive academy for 11-18-year-olds in Barnard Castle, County Durham, rated 'Outstanding' by Ofsted. The school operates as part of the North East Learning Trust and provides a broad secondary education (Years 7-11) covering GCSE qualifications across core and optional subjects, complemented by a Sixth Form (Years 12-13) offering A-Level and BTEC qualifications. The digital presence includes the main school website (teesdaleschool.co.uk) serving as the primary information and communication platform, integrated with Remote Access for distance learning, EASI for internal school management, and Scopay for online payments. The Sixth Form provides personalized academic pathways to approximately 100 students with enrichment programmes including university preparation, international trips, and career development initiatives.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Secondary School Education (Years 7-11) Comprehensive secondary education for students aged 11-16 covering Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4, delivering GCSE qualifications across core subjects (English, Maths, Science) and a wide range of optional subjects including Art, Computing, Design and Technology, Drama, Geography, History, Modern Foreign Languages, Music, Physical Education, and Religious Education.
• Sixth Form (Years 12-13) Post-16 education for students aged 16-18, offering A-Level and BTEC qualifications across 15 courses including Art and Photography, Biology, Chemistry, English Language, English Literature, Geography, Health and Social Care BTEC, History, Maths, Further Maths, Physics, Product Design, Psychology, and Sociology. The Sixth Form serves up to 100 students with personalised academic pathways, enrichment activities, career support, and alumni networks.
• Sixth Form Enrichment Programme Extra-curricular and enrichment activities complementing Sixth Form academic studies, including the Physics Olympiad, climate change conferences, CERN Geneva trips, European trips, Engineering Development Trust summer schools, Oxbridge and Russell Group university preparation, MedSoc, debating competitions, and charity and volunteering opportunities.
• Careers Education Programme Comprehensive careers guidance for students including 1:1 careers interviews, university visits, CV building workshops, UCAS workshops, interview preparation, careers fairs, and work experience opportunities delivered through the Teesdale Career Development Programme.
• Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Support Dedicated support services for students with special educational needs and disabilities, including individualised learning plans, specialist resources, and partnerships with external support organisations.

Quantifiable outcome

• 49.5% of pupils achieved grade 5+ in both GCSE English and maths (well above 41.3% county and 45.2% national average)
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• North East Learning Trust (NELT)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2017Teesdale School joined the North East Learning Trust in 2017. The Trust shares ambitions for students and brings experience and expertise to help secure 'excellence for every child every day'. The Academy at Shotton Hall is the lead school within NELT (Company number 07492165). The Trust coordinates governance, admissions policies, and provides shared resources across member schools.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• United Learning: Large UK multi-academy trust operating both state and independent schools across the country. Comparable in that it runs secondary and sixth-form provision under a similar funding-plus-tuition mix, but at materially greater scale, providing a benchmark for what a consolidated school group operating model looks like.
• Oasis Community Learning: Large UK multi-academy trust operating academies across multiple regions. Comparable as a same-model state-funded secondary operator within an MAT structure, providing another reference point for trust-level governance and shared services.
• Harris Federation: Major UK multi-academy trust running a large portfolio of primary and secondary academies, several of which are rated Outstanding by Ofsted. Provides a comparable institutional template for an Outstanding-rated state secondary operation, though at significantly larger scale than Teesdale.

Direct peers

• Easington Academy: Another secondary academy within the North East Learning Trust, explicitly referenced in Teesdale's governance record (Nicola Falconer was previously Head of School there). Same operating model, funding stream, and trust-level oversight, making it a like-for-like institutional peer.
• Academy at Shotton Hall: Lead school within the North East Learning Trust (Company number 07492165) and the direct sister school to Teesdale within the same multi-academy trust. Operates a comparable secondary and sixth-form model sharing governance, admissions policy, and digital infrastructure.

Regional players

• Barnard Castle School: Independent fee-charging school located in the same town of Barnard Castle, serving the overlapping Teesdale catchment with a similar 11-18 age range. Comparable academic and pastoral positioning, but competing for the same local families from a private-fee rather than state-funded model.
• Durham Johnston Comprehensive School: High-performing state-funded comprehensive with sixth form located in Durham City within the same county and admissions authority. Competes with Teesdale for the same selective cohort of families in County Durham and is a natural academic benchmark.

Others

• Teesdale School alumni — selective university destinations (Cambridge, Oxford): Not a corporate peer but referenced here as an ecosystem signal: alumni placements at Cambridge and Oxford highlight the upper end of Teesdale's competitive set — selective institutions (and the prep schools that feed them) define where the school's highest-attaining sixth-form cohort could otherwise be lost.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/teesdaleschool
• Facebookfacebook.com/teesdaleschoolandsixthform
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/teesdale-school-and-sixth-form

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Teesdale School and Sixth Form