St Bede's Catholic School and Byron Sixth Form College
Secondary · Academy converter · Mixed · County Durham
Westway, Peterlee, SR8 1DE
63
headline score
Ranking (England)
—
No ranked results
Ofsted
School remains Good
No graded inspection
Application demand
98%
1st preference success · Not oversubscribed
Attendance
90.5%
28.8% persistently absent
At a glance
Pupils on roll
891
Capacity used
Has space81%
1,100 places
GCSE rank (England)
—
KS2 rank (England)
—
Application demand
Secondary entry · official council applications and offers
98%
1st preference success rate
116 of 118 families who put it first got an offer
119
Places offered
327
Total applications
2.7
Applications per place
| Preference (Sept 2025 entry) | Applications | Offers | Success |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st preference | 118 | 116 | ● 98% |
| 2nd preference | 140 | 3 | ● 2% |
| 3rd preference | 69 | 0 | ● 0% |
| Total | 327 | 119 | 36% |
1st preference success by year
County Durham lets families list 3 preferences. 8 applications came from outside the council area (7 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
- Mixed
- Religious character
- Roman Catholic
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Sixth form
- Yes
- Nursery
- No Nursery Classes
- Boarding
- No boarders
- Headteacher
- Frances Cessford
- Address
- Westway, Peterlee, SR8 1DE
- Phone
- 01915876220
- Local authority
- County Durham
- Ward / constituency
- Peterlee · Easington
- Area
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- URN
- 148304
Pupils
| Measure | School | LA | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free school meals | 39% | — | — |
| English as additional language | 5% | — | — |
| SEN support | 15% | — | — |
Local deprivation (IDACI quintile 5 of 5)
1 = least deprived area, 5 = most deprived. Context only.
Academy trust: BISHOP CHADWICK CATHOLIC EDUCATION TRUST
891 pupils · 1,100 places. Intake figures describe the school's community — they aren't good or bad.
Ofsted inspections
- 23
14 June 2023
Ungraded inspection
School remains Good
Attendance
2024/2025 school year · 927 pupils
Attendance
90.5%
Share of sessions attended · England 91.1%
Overall absence
9.5%
Sessions missed, any reason · England 8.9%
Persistent absence
28.8%
Pupils missing 10%+ of school · England 26.7%
Severe absence
3.8%
Pupils missing 50%+ of school · England 2.3%
Unauthorised absence
2.9%
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 | 44.0 | — | — |
| Progress 8 score | -0.22 | — | 0.00 |
| Grade 5+ in English & maths | 41% | — | — |
| Grade 4+ in English & maths | 66% | — | — |
| EBacc average point score | 3.91 | — | — |
Progress 8 band
A-level results
| Measure | School | LA | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average points per entry | 30.41 | — | — |
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 | 44.5 | 46 |
| Grade 5+ English & maths | 42.1% | 46% |
| Grade 4+ English & maths | 60.5% | 65% |
| Entering EBacc | 48% | 40% |
| EBacc average point score | 3.92 | 4.1 |
| Pupils in cohort | 152 | — |
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 | 28.57 | 35 |
| Average grade | C | — |
| AAB or better (2 facilitating) | 20% | 17% |
| A-level students | 26 | — |
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 | 150 | 20% | 47% | 69% | |
| English Language | 150 | 13% | 52% | 65% | |
| Religious Studies | 150 | 28% | 57% | 69% | |
| English Literature | 150 | 13% | 40% | 63% | |
| Combined Science | 122 | 2% | 18% | 44% | |
| Geography | 87 | 17% | 43% | 53% | |
| Spanish | 73 | 8% | 49% | 71% | |
| History | 67 | 15% | 40% | 51% | |
| Biology | 28 | 32% | 93% | 100% | |
| Physics | 28 | 29% | 86% | 100% | |
| Chemistry | 28 | 21% | 86% | 100% | |
| Art and Design | 26 | 23% | 69% | 73% |
A level
| Subject | Entries | A* | A*–A | A*–B | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Geography | 8 | 0% | 38% | 50% | |
| Psychology | 8 | 0% | 0% | 0% | |
| Mathematics | 8 | 0% | 13% | 38% | |
| Biology | 6 | 0% | 0% | 17% | |
| English Literature | 6 | 17% | 33% | 33% | |
| Design and Technology (Product Design) | 6 | 0% | 0% | 17% | |
| History | 5 | 0% | 0% | 0% | |
| Fine Art | 4 | 0% | 0% | 0% | |
| Chemistry | 4 | 0% | 0% | 0% | |
| Physics | 3 | 0% | 0% | 0% | |
| Spanish | 3 | 0% | 0% | 0% | |
| Religious Studies | 3 | 0% | 0% | 0% |
Oxbridge
Cambridge offers by year
Ranked #361 of 1,824 UK schools with Cambridge offers2
UCAS apply centre 18008: St Bede's Catholic School and Byron Sixth Form College
| Cambridge admissions1 | 2023 |
|---|---|
| Applications | <3 |
| Offers | <3 |
| Success rate | — |
| Accepted offers | <3 |
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) | 80% | — | — |
| Apprenticeships | 6% | — | — |
| Any education or training | 82% | — | — |
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 County Durham 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.