St Aidan's Catholic Academy
Secondary · Academy converter · Boys · Sunderland
Willowbank Road, Sunderland, SR2 7HJ
74
headline score
Ranking (England)
—
No ranked results
Ofsted
Not judged
Graded 18/02/2025
Application demand
100%
1st preference success · Not oversubscribed
Attendance
93.9%
18.6% persistently absent
At a glance
Pupils on roll
1,057
Capacity used
Over capacity106%
1,000 places
GCSE rank (England)
—
KS2 rank (England)
—
Application demand
Secondary entry · official council applications and offers
100%
1st preference success rate
187 of 187 families who put it first got an offer
192
Places offered
285
Total applications
1.5
Applications per place
| Preference (Sept 2025 entry) | Applications | Offers | Success |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st preference | 187 | 187 | ● 100% |
| 2nd preference | 73 | 5 | ● 7% |
| 3rd preference | 25 | 0 | ● 0% |
| Total | 285 | 192 | 67% |
1st preference success by year
Sunderland lets families list 3 preferences. 18 applications came from outside the council area (9 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 converter
- Phase
- Secondary
- Age range
- 11–18
- Gender
- Boys
- Religious character
- Roman Catholic
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Sixth form
- Yes
- Nursery
- No Nursery Classes
- Boarding
- No boarders
- Headteacher
- Anne-Marie Whitten
- Address
- Willowbank Road, Ashbrooke, Sunderland, SR2 7HJ
- Phone
- 01915200333
- Local authority
- Sunderland
- Ward / constituency
- Tunstall & Humbledon · Sunderland Central
- Area
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- URN
- 139538
Pupils
| Measure | School | LA | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free school meals | 21% | — | — |
| English as additional language | 23% | — | — |
| SEN support | 11% | — | — |
Local deprivation (IDACI quintile 4 of 5)
1 = least deprived area, 5 = most deprived. Context only.
Academy trust: BISHOP CHADWICK CATHOLIC EDUCATION TRUST
1,057 pupils · 1,000 places. Intake figures describe the school's community — they aren't good or bad.
Ofsted inspections
- 25
18 February 2025
Full graded inspection
Not judged overall effectivenessSixth form Good Personal development Outstanding Quality of education Outstanding Safeguarding effective Yes Behaviour and attitudes Outstanding Leadership and management Outstanding - 23
08 June 2023
Ungraded inspection
School remains Good (Improving) - S5 Next
Attendance
2024/2025 school year · 867 pupils
Attendance
93.9%
Share of sessions attended · England 91.1%
Overall absence
6.1%
Sessions missed, any reason · England 8.9%
Persistent absence
18.6%
Pupils missing 10%+ of school · England 26.7%
Severe absence
1.4%
Pupils missing 50%+ of school · England 2.3%
Unauthorised absence
1.7%
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 | 51.5 | — | — |
| Progress 8 score | 0.37 | — | 0.00 |
| Grade 5+ in English & maths | 55% | — | — |
| Grade 4+ in English & maths | 71% | — | — |
| EBacc average point score | 4.79 | — | — |
Progress 8 band
A-level results
| Measure | School | LA | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average points per entry | 30.06 | — | — |
Average grade: C (England B-)
GCSE results over time
Attainment 8 by year (2020 and 2021 exams were cancelled)
| Result | School | England (approx.) |
|---|---|---|
| Attainment 8 | 51.2 | 46 |
| Grade 5+ English & maths | 62.6% | 46% |
| Grade 4+ English & maths | 78% | 65% |
| Entering EBacc | 72.4% | 40% |
| EBacc average point score | 4.68 | 4.1 |
| Pupils in cohort | 123 | — |
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.
A-level results over time
Average points per entry by year (2020 and 2021 exams were cancelled)
| Result | School | England (approx.) |
|---|---|---|
| Average points per entry | 33.02 | 35 |
| Average grade | C+ | — |
| AAB or better (2 facilitating) | 16.2% | 17% |
| A-level students | 61 | — |
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 | 122 | 24% | 70% | 83% | |
| English Language | 122 | 16% | 66% | 82% | |
| English Literature | 119 | 24% | 73% | 84% | |
| History | 117 | 22% | 57% | 75% | |
| Religious Studies | 117 | 39% | 81% | 90% | |
| Geography | 109 | 14% | 50% | 68% | |
| Combined Science | 91 | 8% | 49% | 66% | |
| Spanish | 89 | 9% | 42% | 58% | |
| Biology | 29 | 48% | 97% | 100% | |
| Physics | 29 | 45% | 97% | 100% | |
| Chemistry | 29 | 31% | 86% | 100% | |
| Art and Design | 12 | 8% | 67% | 67% |
A level
| Subject | Entries | A* | A*–A | A*–B | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mathematics | 30 | 10% | 40% | 63% | |
| Biology | 21 | 0% | 19% | 52% | |
| Chemistry | 17 | 6% | 6% | 41% | |
| Business Studies | 12 | 0% | 17% | 58% | |
| Physics | 10 | 10% | 30% | 60% | |
| Economics | 10 | 0% | 20% | 50% | |
| Religious Studies | 9 | 0% | 0% | 33% | |
| History | 6 | 0% | 17% | 33% | |
| Geography | 6 | 17% | 33% | 50% | |
| Sociology | 6 | 0% | 17% | 67% | |
| Spanish | 4 | 0% | 0% | 0% | |
| Fine Art | 4 | 0% | 0% | 0% |
Oxbridge
Cambridge offers by year
No Cambridge offers this year
UCAS apply centre 10603: St. Aidan's Catholic Academy (formerly St Aidans School)
| Cambridge admissions1 | 2024 |
|---|---|
| Applications | ≤5 |
| Offers | 0 |
| Success rate | — |
| Accepted offers | 0 |
1 Source: University of Cambridge, applications, offers and acceptances by UCAS apply centre. To protect privacy small counts are hidden: "<3" means 0–2 (up to 2023); "≤5" means 1–5 (from 2024). Success rate is only shown when exact numbers are published (England average is about 20%).
2 Schools ranked by number of offers; this doesn't account for school size. Oxford doesn't publish per-school figures, so they aren't shown.
Where students go next
| Measure | School | LA | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Higher education (university) | 67% | — | — |
| Apprenticeships | 11% | — | — |
| Any education or training | 67% | — | — |
Oxford/Cambridge application numbers aren't published per school in official data, so university progression is shown instead.
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 Sunderland 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.