Editing North East England (section)

===Secondary===
[[File:Hummersknott School, Edinburgh Drive - geograph.org.uk - 137046.jpg|thumb|[[Hummersknott School]] near Darlington]]
The North East education system consists largely of [[comprehensive school]]s, but a number of private and independent schools are found in Newcastle, Sunderland, Durham, Darlington, Stockton and in particular, Northumberland.

in 2014 a number of the regions schools were in the top 20%  of schools as measured by SSAT — the UK organisation for school improvement and collaboration — and have been awarded an SSAT Educational Outcomes Award recognising their successes. These schools are Burnside Business & Enterprise College, in Newcastle, Castle View Enterprise Academy, in Sunderland, Emmanuel College, in Gateshead, Greenfield Community College, in Newton Aycliffe, Northumberland Church of England Academy, in Ashington and The North Durham Academy in Stanley.<ref>{{cite news|first=Ruth|last=Lognonne|title=Region's schools ranked among top 20% in the country by the SSAT|publisher=The Journal|url=http://www.thejournal.co.uk/news/north-east-news/ssat-ranks-north-east-schools-7247154|date=11 June 2014|access-date=18 June 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140614132628/http://www.thejournal.co.uk/news/north-east-news/ssat-ranks-north-east-schools-7247154|archive-date=14 June 2014}}</ref> The awards, recognised high attainment and outstanding continuous improvement.

The schools in the top 20% for high attainment in GCSE exams were Burnside Business and Enterprise College and Northumberland Church of England Academy

The region's secondary school attendance is the lowest in England at around 125,000, with the next lowest in the [[East Midlands]]. [[Truancy]] at its schools is a mixed picture. It has the second highest overall rate for urban areas, after [[Yorkshire and the Humber]], but the lowest rate in England in its rural areas. Middlesbrough has the region's highest rate with 7.2% persistent truants, which is the second highest rate in England after Manchester (7.3%). Next is Newcastle upon Tyne, with 6.4%, then the former district of [[Wansbeck District|Wansbeck]], with 6.3%

At [[General Certificate of Secondary Education]] (GCSE) level, the region's performance is similar to that of other largely urban areas, although its results are generally below the national average. Middlesbrough tends to perform the worst, and to produce results well below the national average. [[Local education authority|Local education authorities]] (LEAs) in the North East have improved at GCSE in recent years. North Tyneside performed the best in 2011, followed by Gateshead, Northumberland, and Darlington. No LEA in the North-East was above the 2011 national GCSE average. South Tyneside was the lowest for the [[English Baccalaureate]], followed by Middlesbrough and Hartlepool. Gateshead and North Tyneside were the highest, and Gateshead was the only LEA above the national average for this measure.

The region's [[parochial school]]s tend to perform better at GCSE: these include [[St Thomas More Catholic School, Blaydon]]; [[Emmanuel College, Gateshead]]; [[All Saints Academy, Ingleby Barwick]]; [[EMS Hartlepool|The English Martyrs School, Hartlepool]]; [[St Bede's Catholic School, Lanchester]] and the [[Carmel College, Darlington]]. Other regional schools that perform well include [[Whitley Bay High School]], [[Marden High School]] in Cullercoats, the [[Macmillan Academy]] in Middlesbrough, [[Park View School (Chester-le-Street)|Park View School]] in Chester-le Street and the [[Hurworth School]] near Darlington. Northumberland schools have a [[Three-tier education|three-tier system]], 12 year olds go into high school instead of 11 year olds going into a secondary school.

[[Dame Allan's Schools]], [[Royal Grammar School, Newcastle|Royal Grammar School]] (NRGS), [[Barnard Castle School]] and [[Durham School]] are all members of [[The Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference]]. The [[Central Newcastle High School]] and the Royal Grammar School were named as among the nation's top 100 independent schools in 2006. Durham School is considered to be one of the oldest schools in the UK, and its Old Boys were the founding members of the original [[Newcastle Falcons]] Rugby club. [[Mowden Hall School]], a selective day and boarding [[Preparatory school (UK)|prep school]] in Northumberland, is another independent school.