Duke’s Secondary School is a Church of England Academy within Northumberland Church of England Academy Trust (NCEAT), primarily serving children aged 11 to 19 from communities in and around Ashington, Newbiggin-by-the-Sea and Lynemouth. We aim to provide an inclusive and diverse education for our students within a distinctively Christian environment.

Our core values of Love, Inclusivity, Goodness, Hope and Truth underpin all that we do at Duke’s and ensures our students will develop strong moral values which will ensure they go onto be kind and caring adults. These values reflect, in action, our overall Christian vision for our school and our community, which is:

“Let your light shine before others so that they may see your good deeds and glorify your father in heaven” Matthew [5:16]

A culture of learning, success, high expectations, aspiration, challenge and inclusion pervade all aspects of Academy life. This is reflected through the curriculum, the leadership and daily practices of pupils and staff, aspiring to be compassionate global citizens with a sense of community and social responsibility.

At Duke’s Secondary School, we strive to:

• Provide a distinctively Christian inclusive and diverse learning environment which honours God. Every learner, adult and child here is enabled, nurtured and challenged to be the best they can be.
• Encourage staff and pupils to aspire to fullness of life [John 10:10] that they may achieve their full potential.
• Promote the spiritual, moral, social, cultural, personal and physical development of individuals within a Christian framework.
• Sustain a community in which everyone is respected and valued.

LIGHT Values

Our LIGHT Values are designed to help everyone to fulfil the NCEA Trust vision to ‘let their light shine’ [Matthew 5:16]

The School aims to embed our LIGHT values by providing a safe place where all can succeed through:

• An aspirational culture in which every member of the community desires to be the very best they can be.
• Ambition for every child to maximise their potential regardless of background. All learners seen and treated as individuals, with their individual learning needs met daily to ensure all succeed.
• A curriculum, with literacy and numeracy at it heart, that stretches, challenges, is relevant and provides opportunities to excel, develop skills for the world of work, and which is meaningful and purposeful.
• Every member of our community: parents, children and young people, staff and governors, setting the highest of expectations.
• Teaching that excels in all areas, leading to the very best academic and vocational outcomes for every child and young person.
• Behaviour that enables learning at the highest level to occur and which shows mutual respect for all, self-discipline and builds confidence in all.
• A culture of a healthy mind in a healthy body. All will be encouraged to participate in physical exercise and to develop a healthy lifestyle, develop team skills, and learn all aspects of healthy competition.
• A tradition that is respected and enables innovation, creativity and boldness.

The School’s Christian ethos is fundamental to all aspects of School life – where all are valued equally and included. All respected, nurtured, encouraged and enabled to achieve fullness of life.