Learning at High Heworth

Our High Heworth site is for students in Years 7 to 13 (Key Stages 3, 4 and 5) who are ready for a broad, subject-based curriculum with a high level of structure and support. Since September 2025 it has been based in the former Colegate Primary School building, adapted for secondary-age students.

 

Our curriculum

Every student has a personalised timetable built around their EHCP outcomes and their plans for adult life. Students arrive with a wide range of starting points and strengths, so the curriculum doesn't follow one fixed pathway. It has a strong focus on English, reading, communication, maths and wider subject knowledge, alongside independence, relationships, physical development, emotional regulation, community participation and preparing for adulthood, built in from Year 7 rather than left until sixth form.

 

Our curriculum journey moves through three stages:

• Key Stage 3 (Years 7 to 9): building the foundations and beginning to explore

• Key Stage 4 (Years 10 and 11): applying skills, experiencing work and exploring future pathways

• Key Stage 5 (Years 12 and 13): becoming Life Ready

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Key Stage 3

Students experience a broad curriculum covering English, maths, science, humanities and RE, computing, PSHE, physical development, creativity and outdoor learning. Communication, reading, independence and personal development run across all of it rather than sitting in one subject.

 

From Key Stage 3, students also take part in a carousel of half-termly vocational tasters, giving them the chance to try different practical activities and discover their strengths well before they need to make any choices about their future.

 

Key Stage 4

English and maths move towards Functional Skills for many students, alongside options that build on the interests they've started to identify, which can include subjects such as sport and fitness, performing arts and dance, music, coding, hospitality and catering, and creativity.

 

Students also begin work experience where it's right for them, on site or with local employers and community partners, alongside volunteering, enterprise, community-based learning and travel training.

 

Sixth form: Life Ready

From September 2026, our post-16 curriculum is built around Life Ready, designed around each student's intended destination rather than simply continuing Key Stage 4. There's no automatic right to stay at High Heworth beyond Year 11; the right placement depends on each young person's needs, readiness and plans, worked out with students and families well before the end of Year 11.

 

Life Ready brings together work skills and work experience, independent living, travel training and community participation, alongside Functional Skills, PSHE and each student's own preparation for adulthood and EHCP outcomes. The balance is different for every student, depending on whether they're heading towards college, supported employment, or need more time to build independence, communication and travel skills first. Students build these skills through real activities, including our Coffee Hub, Café Under the Canopy, where they practise customer service, money handling and teamwork in a genuine working environment.

 

In the community

Students use local shops, workplaces, leisure facilities and Gateshead College sites, including the Baltic Campus, Academy for Sport and Skills Academy. Opportunities to develop work skills, through activities on site and in the community, are planned around each student's individual needs and aspirations.

 

Our facilities

Playing fields, an indoor sports hall, a fully equipped gym, outdoor learning areas and our Coffee Hub social enterprise outlet.

 

Student voice

Students help shape their own plans and are encouraged to take part in their EHCP reviews. Our College Council gives them a say in how the site is run. Ozzy, our therapy dog, is also part of life at High Heworth, spending time with students as part of our wider approach to wellbeing and positive relationships.

 

Who to contact

Co-headteacher: Julie Vincent
Deputy Headteacher: Daniel Hearne
Parent contacts/Family Liaison: James Jarvis, Phillippa Chaplin and Claire Richardson
Phone: 0191 691 3581
Email: enquiries@cedarstrust.org.uk

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