St Aidan's Church of England Academy
Secondary · Academy sponsor led · Mixed · Darlington
Hundens Lane, Darlington, DL1 1LL
51
headline score
Ranking (England)
—
No ranked results
Ofsted
Good
Graded 07/01/2020
Application demand
100%
1st preference success · Not oversubscribed
Attendance
88.6%
35.5% persistently absent
At a glance
Pupils on roll
587
Capacity used
Has space84%
700 places
GCSE rank (England)
—
KS2 rank (England)
—
Application demand
Secondary entry · official council applications and offers
100%
1st preference success rate
109 of 109 families who put it first got an offer
116
Places offered
169
Total applications
1.5
Applications per place
| Preference (Sept 2025 entry) | Applications | Offers | Success |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st preference | 109 | 109 | ● 100% |
| 2nd preference | 37 | 2 | ● 5% |
| 3rd preference | 23 | 0 | ● 0% |
| Total | 169 | 111 | 66% |
1st preference success by year
Darlington lets families list 3 preferences. 1 applications came from outside the council area (0 offered). Source: Department for Education, school-level applications and offers. Offers are made on each school's admissions criteria (e.g. siblings, distance, faith), so check the school's policy.
Details
- Type
- Academy sponsor led
- Phase
- Secondary
- Age range
- 11–16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- Church of England
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Sixth form
- No
- Boarding
- No boarders
- Headteacher
- Laura Porter
- Address
- Hundens Lane, Darlington, DL1 1LL
- Phone
- 01325373770
- Local authority
- Darlington
- Ward / constituency
- Stephenson · Darlington
- Area
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- URN
- 135314
Pupils
| Measure | School | LA | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free school meals | 45% | — | — |
| English as additional language | 11% | — | — |
| SEN support | 7% | — | — |
Local deprivation (IDACI quintile 5 of 5)
1 = least deprived area, 5 = most deprived. Context only.
Academy trust: NORTHERN LIGHTS LEARNING TRUST
587 pupils · 700 places. Intake figures describe the school's community — they aren't good or bad.
Ofsted inspections
- 25
11 June 2025
Ungraded inspection
Some aspects not as strong - 20
07 January 2020
Full graded inspection
Good overall effectivenessPersonal development Good Quality of education Good Safeguarding effective Yes Behaviour and attitudes Good Leadership and management Good
Attendance
2024/2025 school year · 639 pupils
Attendance
88.6%
Share of sessions attended · England 91.1%
Overall absence
11.4%
Sessions missed, any reason · England 8.9%
Persistent absence
35.5%
Pupils missing 10%+ of school · England 26.7%
Severe absence
6.0%
Pupils missing 50%+ of school · England 2.3%
Unauthorised absence
6.0%
Absences the school didn't approve
Persistent absence by year
Source: Department for Education, pupil absence by school (pupils aged 5–15). Lower absence is better. England figures are approximate 2023/24 averages.
GCSE results
| Measure | School | LA | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Attainment 8 score | 35.5 | — | — |
| Progress 8 score | -0.96 | — | 0.00 |
| Grade 5+ in English & maths | 25% | — | — |
| Grade 4+ in English & maths | 48% | — | — |
| EBacc average point score | 2.97 | — | — |
Progress 8 band
GCSE results over time
Attainment 8 by year (2020 and 2021 exams were cancelled)
| Result | School | England (approx.) |
|---|---|---|
| Attainment 8 | 40 | 46 |
| Grade 5+ English & maths | 40.9% | 46% |
| Grade 4+ English & maths | 59.1% | 65% |
| Entering EBacc | 29.1% | 40% |
| EBacc average point score | 3.45 | 4.1 |
| Pupils in cohort | 110 | — |
How different pupils progress (GCSE, 2023/2024)
Progress 8 by group. 0 is the national average; above 0 means pupils do better than similar children elsewhere.
Results by subject
Official DfE exam results for summer 2025. Green, amber and red compare against typical results in England; subjects with fewer than 5 entries aren't rated.
GCSE
Grade 4 is a standard pass, 5 a strong pass, 7 equals the old A.
| Subject | Entries | Grade 7+ | Grade 5+ | Grade 4+ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mathematics | 109 | 14% | 52% | 70% | |
| English Language | 109 | 9% | 36% | 52% | |
| Combined Science | 106 | 11% | 41% | 58% | |
| English Literature | 106 | 13% | 43% | 63% | |
| Religious Studies | 105 | 10% | 39% | 50% | |
| Geography | 55 | 7% | 22% | 33% | |
| History | 50 | 18% | 42% | 48% | |
| Art and Design | 35 | 11% | 29% | 89% | |
| Physical Education | 34 | 0% | 24% | 32% | |
| French | 29 | 7% | 21% | 52% | |
| Italian | 1 | 0% | 0% | 0% | |
| Spanish | 1 | 0% | 0% | 0% |
House prices near the school
Typical sold prices (Land Registry) within 1 km, last 12 months.
Loading prices…
Key application dates
National deadlines in England. Apply through Darlington council, not the school.
| Entry | Deadline | Offer day |
|---|---|---|
| Year 7 (secondary) | 31 October | 1 March (or next working day) |
Admissions policy: Non-selective. Check the school's own admissions rules on its website.
Source: Get Information About Schools and the DfE school and college performance tables (2023-2024); Oxbridge figures from the University of Cambridge's admissions by UCAS apply centre (Oxford doesn't publish per-school figures). Read the method.