Dame Allan's Schools

Dame Allan's Schools was founded in 1705 by Dame Eleanor Allan, a Newcastle widow, who endowed a charity school for forty boys and forty girls of the city. The foundation has continued unbroken since, making Dame Allan's one of the oldest schools in north-east England. It operates an Anglican Diamond Model: the Junior School (ages 3-11) is co-educational; the Senior Boys' School and Senior Girls' School (11-16) operate as single-sex schools sharing a campus and many activities; and the Sixth Form (16-18) is fully co-educational. Total enrolment is approximately 1,250. The Principal is Will Scott, and the Head of Junior School is Geoff Laidler.

The school is a member of the HMC and the GSA — an unusual dual membership reflecting the Diamond structure. Recent academic results have placed Dame Allan's consistently in the top tier of north-east independent schools: in 2025, 47.6% of A-Level grades were awarded at A* or A, nearly 80% at A*-B, and over a quarter of GCSE grades at the highest level 9.

The alumni list runs deep in broadcasting, drama and academia. Ian La Frenais, the BAFTA-winning writer who created The Likely Lads, Auf Wiedersehen Pet and Porridge with the late Dick Clement, was educated at Dame Allan's. The BBC Radio 1 presenter Vick Hope, the Doctor Who actress Varada Sethu (who plays the companion Belinda in the 2024-25 series) and the Vera actor David Leon are recent alumni. In music: Sir David Lumsden, the former Principal of the Royal Academy of Music. In journalism: Sebastian Payne, formerly of the Financial Times and now of The Spectator. In academia: Myra Curtis, former Principal of Newnham College, Cambridge; Edward Hinds FRS, Professor of Physics at Imperial; and Keith Wrightson, the Randolph W. Townsend Professor of History at Yale.

Dame Allan's operates a substantial bursary programme intended to maintain Dame Eleanor Allan's 1705 foundation principle of educational access regardless of family means.