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Discover our useful links and additional resources within this section. If you require any information, please contact our Academy Enquiries email address.
Northern Education Trust held NET Fest 2026 at the magnificent Glasshouse International Centre for Music in Gateshead on Tuesday, 20 October 2026. Hundreds of students from our 18 North East region academies showcased their talents through singing, dancing, and performing in front of a packed live audience. You can watch a short highlight video of the event below.
Please see below a letter regarding free school meals (FSM) accompanied by some frequently asked questions. Further below is a link to the NET FSM recheck form and local authority application forms.
Please follow this link to fill out the FSM recheck form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf9iL9E7OG5WPybzsr4DHts9PtMPrrFkLrACTxVnlBbBJR1Ag/viewform
Sunderland
https://www.togetherforchildren.org.uk/article/21204/Free-School-Meals
https://emsonline.sunderland.gov.uk/CitizenPortal/en
Please see below a letter from the chief executive regarding proposals to review the school day from September 2027.
Please see below a letter from the Prime Minister regarding the government’s latest campaign to support children’s health and learning.
If your child is eligible for free school meals, and you claim for them, your child’s academy receives extra funding called ‘pupil premium’.
Pupil premium is funding from the government that is given to academies to help students to reach their full potential, regardless of their background or financial situation. Academies receive £1,515 for primary students and £1,075 for secondary students who are registered for free school meals. The funding has to be used by the academy to enhance the individual learning of the qualifying student, and can be used in many ways including:
Students who are registered for free school meals do not have to eat them and cannot be identified as being registered for free school meals in anyway within the academy. However, the academy cannot claim the extra funding unless the student is registered.
Your child is eligible for free school meals, and therefore pupil premium funding for the academy if you access:
Register your child for free school meals using the application form below (or link to appropriate website), to ensure the academy receives the relevant funding it is entitled to. Academy staff are happy to support with any applications.
Please complete your application by 19 September 2025.
If you need any support with the application, please contact the academy and a member of staff will be happy to help.
Students at Northern Education Trust Farringdon Community Academy, one of 17 secondary academies sponsored by the trust, have achieved some of their best ever GCSE results. The academy has also secured a significant number of strong passes (Grade 5) in English and maths.
An amazing 69% students overall achieved a pass in English and maths. 49% of students achieved a strong pass in English and maths.
There were some outstanding individual successes:
Jordan Bedford, Principal of Farringdon Community Academy, thanked the students and staff for their efforts and commitment, saying: “I’m delighted that the hard work and commitment of our students has been rewarded with these excellent results. It makes their effort and dedication worthwhile, and I’d like to thank the staff for their continued passion for ensuring our students succeed.”
Dean Buckley, Associate Senior Executive Principal added his praise, saying: “Students and staff are to be congratulated for these results, and should be very proud of what they’ve accomplished. They have all worked extremely hard to achieve at these levels, and the results reflect the dedication and commitment they have shown. We’re delighted with these results, which are testimony to the vision of the trust to enhance the life chances of the young people in our care. My thanks and congratulations go to all students and staff for their incredible efforts. My thanks also go to the parents, carers, governors and the trust board for their continued support – our students and staff couldn’t succeed without your help.”
Jane Wilson, Chief Executive of Northern Education Trust, said “These results reflect the hard work and commitment of the staff and students within the academy. The year on year improvement demonstrates the ongoing quality of education provided by the academy, and the exceptional desire of the students to succeed. We aim to enhance the life chances of the children and young people in our care, and these results are the culmination of their incredible efforts and dedication, allowing them to progress to the next stage of their lives with confidence in their abilities to succeed. We are extremely proud of our students and wish them every success with their futures.”
Northern Education Trust is delighted to have raised a magnificent £22,680 for the Rainbow Trust children’s charity, through various fund-raising events by all our academies, such as colour fun-runs, quizzes and school fairs.
Rainbow Trust provides emotional and practical support to families who are caring for a seriously ill child. Their Family Support Workers are a lifeline for a family as they try to navigate the world of hospital appointments and treatments, whilst trying to keep family life as normal as possible. They can spend time with the siblings of the poorly child, allowing parents to concentrate on their seriously ill child, safe in the knowledge that siblings are being looked after by someone they can trust. The Family Support Worker can also give parents a much-needed break, looking after their poorly child while the parents spend valuable time with their other children, or even take some time out to just sit and enjoy a quite cuppa.
The donation of £22,680 will allow Rainbow Trust to support around 11 families for an entire year.
Katherine Burgess, Corporate and Community Fundraising Manager for the Rainbow Trust said: “We are so thankful for the support of Northern Education Trust, and thanks to your kind gift, we can continue to provide the best care and support to families so that they do not have to face childhood illness alone.”
For more information about the Rainbow Trust, look here – https://www.rainbowtrust.org.uk/
NET Staff College has been successful with its application to deliver the Teaching Internships Programme June/July 2025.
The aim of the internship programme is to give undergraduates the opportunity to experience teaching maths, physics, chemistry, computing or modern foreign languages before they commit to it as a career. This programme is part of the Get into Teaching service, supporting prospective teachers through their journey into the profession.
The programme is open across England to potential teachers in maths, physics, chemistry, computing and modern foreign languages.
It is an exciting opportunity for undergraduates, in any year of their degree, to experience time in an academy. These students may not have considered the teaching route; however, this programme gives them an opportunity to gain a greater insight and experience first-hand academy life. Interns will be offered a structure of activities to gain a deep experience of teaching, with access to one-to-one mentors and various opportunities to network with qualified subject specialists. The programme will also include measures to encourage and support interns to apply for teacher training.
As previously stated, this programme is only for specific subject areas within a secondary setting. It is a three-week placement that could be across more than one academy, depending on geographical location. Please note interns will receive a payment of £1,275 (£425 per week).
For more information please visit: NET Staff College website: https://nsc.northerneducationtrust.org/teaching-internships-programme/
