The school was previously granted specialist status as a Technology College, later also as an Arts College.[3] In March 2018, Walker Technology College converted to academy status and was renamed Walker Riverside Academy, sponsored by the Tyne Coast Academies Trust. It continues to offer technology a specialism.
Walker Riverside Academy offers GCSEs and BTECs as programmes of study for pupils, while students in the sixth form have the option to study from a range of A-levels and further BTECs.
Walker is one of eleven schools to be rebuilt in the government's phase 2 PFI scheme of Newcastle Building Schools for the Future programme.[citation needed]