Secondary school in Darlington
St Aidan's Church of England Academy
Hundens Lane, Darlington, County Durham, DL1 1LL
Ofsted
Some aspects judged not as strong as at the last graded inspection, on 11 June 2025.
Inspections since September 2024 do not give an overall grade, so there is no one-word judgement to report. The full report sets out what inspectors found.
GCSE results 2024/25
Attainment 8 score
The average grade across eight GCSEs, doubling English and maths. 50 is roughly a grade 5 average.
Grade 5+ in English & maths
Grade 4+ in English & maths
EBacc average point score
Entered the EBacc
On Attainment 8 this school is in the bottom quarter of state-funded secondaries in England.
Compared with the fifth of schools whose intake is second most disadvantaged, which is where this one sits, it is in the lower half.
Progress 8 2023/24
Taking that range into account, pupils made less progress than similar pupils nationally. DfE bands this as well below average.
Progress 8 measures how far pupils moved between the end of primary and their GCSEs, which makes it far fairer than raw attainment. It is shown for 2023/24 because it could not be calculated for 2024/25: that year group would have sat their key stage 2 tests in summer 2020, when the tests were cancelled, so there is no starting point to measure from. Every school in England is affected, not just this one.
Pupils
- Pupils on roll
- 587
- Places
- 700
- How full
- 84% full — 587 of 700 places taken
- Girls / boys
- 279 / 308
- Overall absence
- 11%
- Persistently absent
- 36%
secondary schools average 8.6%
secondary schools average 23.9% — pupils missing 10% or more of sessions
- Free school meals, last 6 years
- 45%
- English as an additional language
- 13%
- With an EHC plan
- 3%
- On SEN support
- 11%
England 25.7%
England 18.7%
England 3.5%
England 15%
What pupils do next
After GCSEs
- In education, work or training
- 90%
- Stayed in education
- 80%
- Started an apprenticeship
- 2%
- Stayed at this school's sixth form
- 3%
- No sustained destination
- 7%
- Pupils in the cohort
- 86
England 91.4%
England 85.4%
England 3.5%
England 5.8%
A destination counts only if it lasted at least six months, which is why these figures lag the exam results by a year. Small cohorts move these percentages a long way — check the cohort size before reading much into a gap.
The neighbourhood around the school
Census 2021 figures for Darlington 009C, the statistical neighbourhood the school sits in — roughly 1,500 residents. It describes the area, not the pupils, who may travel in from further away.
- Adults with a degree
- 23%
- Adults with no qualifications
- 24%
- Households owning their home
- 54%
- Households in social housing
- 29%
- Households with no car
- 28%
- Adults economically inactive
- 38%
England 33.8%
England 18.3%
England 62.7%
England 17%
England 21.9%
England 39.9%
School details
- Type
- Academy sponsor led
- Phase
- Secondary
- Ages
- Ages 11–16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Admissions
- Non-selective
- Religious character
- Church of England
- Sixth form
- No
- Nursery
- No
- Boarding
- Day school
- Trust
- NORTHERN LIGHTS LEARNING TRUST
- Headteacher
- Principal: Laura Porter
- Local authority
- Darlington
- Ward
- Stephenson
- Constituency
- Darlington
- URN
- 135314
The unique reference number used in all official school data.
Nearest secondary schools
| School | Ofsted | Attainment 8 | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Haughton AcademyAcademy converter | No grade | 38 | 1 mi |
| Polam Hall SchoolFree schools | No grade | 44.6 | 1.2 mi |
| Longfield AcademyAcademy sponsor led | No grade | 42.8 | 1.8 mi |
| Carmel CollegeAcademy converter | No grade | 53.5 | 2.2 mi |
| Hummersknott AcademyAcademy converter | No grade | 47.8 | 2.5 mi |
| Wyvern AcademyAcademy sponsor led | Good 2023 | 37.7 | 2.7 mi |
| Hurworth SchoolAcademy converter | Good 2022 | 49.1 | 2.9 mi |
| UTC South DurhamUniversity technical college | Good 2024 | 39.2 | 5.2 mi |
Schools with a similar intake
State-funded secondary schools nationally whose share of disadvantaged pupils is closest to this school's. This is the fairest like-for-like comparison the published data supports.
| School | Ofsted | Attainment 8 |
|---|---|---|
| Madeley AcademyAcademy sponsor led | Good 2022 | 47.2 |
| Bedford AcademyAcademy sponsor led | Good 2023 | 42.8 |
| Willenhall E-ACT AcademyAcademy sponsor led | No grade | 34.7 |
| Outwood Academy ShaftonAcademy sponsor led | No grade | 42 |
| The Cornerstone AcademyAcademy sponsor led | Good 2022 | 41 |
| Winifred Holtby AcademyAcademy converter | Good 2023 | 36.4 |
| Thomas Middlecott AcademyAcademy sponsor led | No grade | 32.1 |
| Tupton Hall SchoolAcademy sponsor led | Good 2022 | 41.1 |
Where these figures come from
- School details, address and pupil numbers — Get Information About Schools, the DfE register, as at 14 August 2026.
- Exam results — DfE performance tables, 2024/25, and 2023/24 for Progress 8.
- Free school meals, EAL and SEN — school census, 2024/25.
- Ofsted — Ofsted management information, latest inspections as at 30 June 2026.
- Neighbourhood figures — ONS Census 2021, lower layer super output area.
All published under the Open Government Licence v3.0. If something here looks wrong, the school's own website is the authority on admissions and open days.