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State secondary schools in County Durham

30 schools · North East · 2024/25 Department for Education figures

County Durham has 30 state secondaries, 11 of them with sixth forms. 94.2% of families got their first choice last year, better than most of England. Results run from 22% to 72.2% passing English and maths, a spread of 50 points, with a middle school at 42.4%, almost exactly England's 45.4%.

Of those Ofsted has graded, 3 rated Outstanding, 17 Good, 3 Requires improvement. 7 schools carry no overall grade at all — either inspected since Ofsted stopped issuing one in September 2024, or never inspected.

30 schools in County Durham. Tap one, or see the full list.
22% 72% passed English & maths

County Durham against England

State-funded schools, 2024/25

42%

Passed English & maths grade 5 or above

3.8% below England

England 45%

44.1

Attainment 8 average score

2 below England

England 46.1

24%

Persistently absent missed 10% of sessions

2.5% above England

England 21%

Getting a place

2026/27 secondary admissions round, across County Durham

94.2%

Got their first choiceof those who applied

England 84%

98.5%

Got one of their threefirst, second or third

0.2%

Got no offer at allfrom any preference

23%

Appeals upheld15 of 66 heard

These are figures for County Durham as a whole. A popular school can be much harder to get into than the average suggests, and the criteria that decide it are set by each school's own admission authority rather than centrally. How applying works

How much the choice matters here

Across County Durham's 30 schools, the share passing English and maths runs from 22% to 72%. That is a spread of 50 percentage points, about typical.

The typical council spans about 48 points. Where schools are close together the school a child gets matters less; where they are far apart it matters a great deal. The widest spreads are all selective areas, where grammar schools sit at one end and everything else at the other.

County Durham schools, subject by subject

The share reaching grade 4 or above, among schools entering at least 20 pupils. Which pupils take a subject differs a lot between schools, so read this as what happened rather than as a ranking of teaching.

mathsenglish literatureenglish languagecombined sciencehistorygeographyartphysicschemistrybiologyfrenchreligious studiesphotographyphysical educationspanishdesign technologyfood technologybusiness studies
  1. 1 St Leonard's Catholic School, Durham Durham · 224 entries 85%
  2. 2 Durham Johnston Comprehensive School Durham · 264 entries 81%
  3. 3 Tanfield School Stanley · 90 entries 80%
  4. 4 Easington Academy Peterlee · 134 entries 80%
  5. 5 Belmont Community School Durham · 141 entries 77%
  6. 6 Sedgefield Community College Stockton-on-Tees · 191 entries 76%
  7. 7 The Academy at Shotton Hall Peterlee · 194 entries 75%
  8. 8 Hermitage Academy Chester le Street · 153 entries 75%
  9. 9 St John's Catholic School & Sixth Form College Bishop Auckland · 203 entries 75%
  10. 10 Teesdale School and Sixth Form Barnard Castle · 119 entries 75%
  11. 11 St Bede's Catholic School and Sixth Form College, Lanchester Durham · 221 entries 72%
  12. 12 Woodham Academy Newton Aycliffe · 170 entries 72%
  13. 13 Whitworth Park Academy Spennymoor · 148 entries 72%
  14. 14 Wellfield School Wingate · 163 entries 69%
  15. 15 Park View School Chester le Street · 231 entries 68%
  16. 16 Parkside Academy Crook · 171 entries 67%
  17. 17 Framwellgate School Durham Durham · 204 entries 67%
  18. 18 Staindrop Academy Darlington · 78 entries 67%
  19. 19 Wolsingham School Bishop Auckland · 126 entries 67%
  20. 20 Consett Academy Consett · 249 entries 65%
  21. 21 St Bede's Catholic School and Byron Sixth Form College Peterlee · 150 entries 65%
  22. 22 King James I Academy Bishop Auckland Bishop Auckland · 143 entries 64%
  23. 23 Greenfield Academy Newton Aycliffe · 108 entries 59%
  24. 24 Seaham High School Seaham · 217 entries 59%
  25. 25 UTC South Durham Newton Aycliffe · 139 entries 55%
  26. 26 North Durham Academy Stanley · 178 entries 55%
  27. 27 Ferryhill School Ferryhill · 124 entries 54%
  28. 28 Dene Academy Peterlee · 96 entries 51%
  29. 29 Bishop Barrington Academy Bishop Auckland · 127 entries 49%
  30. 30 Durham Academy Durham · 50 entries 42%
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Every school in County Durham

Schools in neighbouring authorities are not in this list, because admissions run per authority. See bordering areas.

3 of 30 have no spare places. Sort the list, or narrow it first.

Pick up to 4 schools to see them side by side in the comparison tool, subject by subject.

Sixth form · Key stage 5·2024/25

A levels in County Durham

11 of County Durham's 11 sixth forms publish A level results. Ranked on the share reaching AAB or better in at least two of the subjects universities name, which is the measure the steepest entry requirements are written in.

Sixth form Grade AAB+

A level results only. A sixth form running mostly BTECs and other applied courses will show a dash here and can still be the right one — those are graded on their own scale, where a distinction and an A grade carry the same points and mean different things.

Bordering County Durham

Near a boundary, schools on both sides are usually in reach. Whether a child can apply is set by each school's admission criteria, not by the border.

Darlington 8 schools · 46% passed English & mathsGateshead 9 schools · 50% passed English & mathsHartlepool 5 schools · 43% passed English & mathsNorth Yorkshire 41 schools · 47% passed English & mathsNorthumberland 16 schools · 42% passed English & mathsStockton-on-Tees 13 schools · 48% passed English & mathsSunderland 18 schools · 42% passed English & mathsWestmorland and Furness 20 schools · 42% passed English & maths

What these mean

Attainment 8
The average pupil's total score across eight GCSE-equivalent subjects, with English and maths counting double. It is scored out of 90. A score of 50 is roughly equivalent to achieving a grade 5 across eight subjects.
Grades 4 and 5
GCSEs are graded from 9 down to 1. Grade 4 is a standard pass and broadly corresponds to the old grade C; grade 5 is what the government calls a strong pass. Grade 7 is broadly equivalent to an old grade A.
Persistent absence
The share of pupils who miss at least 10% of their possible sessions during the school year. This includes both authorised and unauthorised absence, so illness and other authorised reasons are included. Persistent absence has remained substantially higher than its pre-pandemic level.
First preference
The share of families who were offered the school they ranked first on their application, on national offer day in March. This figure is calculated across the relevant schools or admissions authority, so a high overall figure does not necessarily mean that every individual school is easy to get into.
Spare places
The amount of available capacity a school has compared with the number of pupils on roll. This is different from oversubscription: spare places measure whether a school has capacity, whereas oversubscription describes demand for places exceeding the number available. A school with no spare places may be popular, but a small school can also be full without receiving a large number of applications.
Average A-level grade
The average grade achieved across students' A-level entries. This is different from measures such as the proportion achieving AAB or better in two or more facilitating subjects, which are sometimes used to indicate higher attainment and university-entry performance.
Covers state-funded schools in England; independent schools are not included, and neither the list nor the subject figures above take account of them.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Key stage 4 performance and school characteristics: Department for Education, 2024/25. Inspection outcomes: Ofsted.