Thank you for taking the time to view our school website; I trust that it will provide you with a flavour of what we have to offer as a school.
At Ponteland High we are committed to establishing ourselves as an excellent school; one that is the school of choice for parents. In order to make this a reality we are focused on ensuring that students are fully supported, yet challenged to push themselves beyond what they think they are capable of.
Our driving aims are to develop a school community where our students are:
Happy
Feel safe and secure at all times
Achieve exceptionally well
In recent years the school has successfully navigated its way through some major changes. We became an 11-18 secondary school from September 2019 welcoming new year groups in Y7 and Y8; this expanded the school population to approximately 1600 students. Then, in November 2020 we moved into state-of-the-art school facilities to finally have an outstanding learning environment that both our students and staff deserve.
I know that a key ingredient in our future success is in recruiting and retaining the very best staff who are committed to our school and students. Exposure to consistently high quality classroom practice is essential in supporting students’ academic success therefore we ensure that teaching staff are engaged in thoughtful reflection and collaborative training to promote continuous improvement. At the same time we know that schools are about so much more than just qualifications and we provide rich experiences that offer our students a wide range of trips and visits to enhance the curriculum as well as an array of opportunities to engage in extra-curricular activities.
The school has retained a strong commitment to learning languages as we feel this will provide our students with an advantage in later life. Our international dimension is further supported through opportunities to experience foreign visits in Europe and further afield.
I am incredibly proud of our school and know how fortunate I am to be Headteacher. We would love you to come and visit us, speak to staff and students, and get a feel for what life at Ponteland High School is really like.
Stefan McElwee (Headteacher)