We are delighted to be able to announce that we are planning to open Callerton Academy for the first 120 Year 7 students in September 2021. This is subject to the Gosforth Group’s funding agreement being finalised with the Department for Education.
We will open temporarily in a newly reconfigured school building in Newcastle’s Graingertown. Gosforth Group and Newcastle City Council are delighted to be able to offer bespoke transport between the location of the permanent school and the temporary city centre site. Alternatively some pupils will be entitled to a free school travel pass.
Admissions are now open and parents are cordially invited to apply for the limited number of places available. The first students will progress to GCSE in 2026 and will transfer to the Callerton Academy permanent site (in the north-west of the city on the Simonside Primary School site and adjacent land) as soon as their brand new school is completed. Progression to Jesmond Park or Gosforth Academy’s Sixth Form to pursue academic and / or vocational courses of their choice will further support them in their next steps to university, an apprenticeship or employment. From day one our students will have every opportunity to create their future!
George Snaith Chair of Gosforth Group Trustees says:
‘I am delighted to be able to announce the opening of the Callerton Academy in September 2021 to provide much needed school places for families moving into the many housing developments around our area and in the west of the City. It may still be some time before the new building is complete on the site adjacent to the new Simonside Primary school, in the meantime, excellent accommodation will be provided in a city centre site on Blandford Street. We look forward to bringing this new school into the Gosforth Group.’
Hugh Robinson, CEO of Gosforth Group says:
‘We are excited to be moving forward with opening this new school and are very impressed with the building that will be a temporary home for the new Year 7 pupils while their state-of-the-art new school is under construction. Gosforth Group systems and ways of working, supported by teaching of the highest quality, mean we expect it to be an outstanding institution from the very start.”
As the new school is not yet open, Gosforth Group are working in partnership with Newcastle City Council to ensure that the process runs smoothly. The application process will operate in parallel to the usual secondary transfers process using Newcastle’s on-line admissions portal.
This means that parents wishing to apply for a place for their child at Callerton Academy in year 7 must make an online application for the school, as well as an online application through the local authority for existing secondary schools. A dual application process is required when a new free school is opening, as offers are conditional until the funding agreement with the Department for Education is signed.
Once the school sites and plans have been finalised, and the free school funding agreements signed, then the two applications from parents will be combined to make one application.