Previously a voluntary aided school administered by Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle, Our Lady and St Bede RC School converted to academy status in February 2015 and was renamed Our Lady and St Bede Catholic Academy. The school is still administered by the Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle but is now independent of council control. Since the school became independent of Stockton Local Authority the progress of pupils has risen significantly. In 2016 Our Lady and St Bede was the highest performing school in the North East of England using the government's new Progress 8 measure.
In March 2002, 14-year-old student Rebecca Cooper, the captain of the Our Lady and St Bede netball team, died during a match warm-up. During the warm-up she was jogging backwards when she accidentally tripped and banged her head, resulting in a fractured skull and swelling of the brain. A coroner's report recorded a verdict of accidental death.[3][4]
