Secondary school in Stanley, County Durham
Tanfield School
Tanfield Lea Road, Stanley, County Durham, DH9 8AY
Ofsted
Inspected under the current framework, which gives no overall grade, on 24 September 2024.
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 top 10% of state-funded secondaries in England.
Compared with the fifth of schools whose intake is middle, which is where this one sits, it is in the top 10%.
Progress 8 2023/24
Taking that range into account, pupils made more progress than similar pupils nationally. DfE bands this as well above 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
- 739
- Places
- 690
- How full
- Full — 739 pupils against 690 places
- Girls / boys
- 327 / 412
- Overall absence
- 7%
- Persistently absent
- 18%
secondary schools average 8.6%
secondary schools average 23.9% — pupils missing 10% or more of sessions
- Free school meals, last 6 years
- 33%
- English as an additional language
- 3%
- With an EHC plan
- 3%
- On SEN support
- 14%
England 25.7%
England 18.7%
England 3.5%
England 15%
What pupils do next
After GCSEs
- In education, work or training
- 85%
- Stayed in education
- 81%
- Started an apprenticeship
- 2%
- Stayed at this school's sixth form
- 17%
- No sustained destination
- 12%
- Pupils in the cohort
- 144
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 County Durham 004E, 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
- 21%
- Adults with no qualifications
- 19%
- Households owning their home
- 68%
- Households in social housing
- 15%
- Households with no car
- 21%
- Adults economically inactive
- 43%
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
- None
- Sixth form
- No
- Nursery
- No
- Boarding
- Day school
- Trust
- EDEN LEARNING TRUST
- Headteacher
- Headteacher: Steven Clough
- Local authority
- County Durham
- Ward
- Stanley
- Constituency
- North Durham
- URN
- 147894
The unique reference number used in all official school data.
Nearest secondary schools
| School | Ofsted | Attainment 8 | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| North Durham AcademyAcademy sponsor led | Good 2022 | 39.8 | 0.7 mi |
| St Bede's Catholic School and Sixth Form College, LanchesterAcademy converter | No grade | 44.9 | 3.7 mi |
| Whickham SchoolAcademy converter | No grade | 53 | 4.5 mi |
| Hermitage AcademyAcademy converter | Good 2024 | 49.1 | 4.9 mi |
| Emmanuel CollegeCity technology college | No grade | — | 5 mi |
| Consett AcademyAcademy sponsor led | Good 2023 | 44.2 | 5 mi |
| Grace CollegeAcademy converter | No grade | 42.9 | 5.4 mi |
| Delta Independent SchoolOther independent school | No grade | — | 5.4 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Applemore CollegeFoundation school | No grade | 36.7 |
| Haberdashers' Crayford AcademyAcademy sponsor led | Good 2022 | 45.2 |
| Kings Norton Girls' SchoolAcademy converter | No grade | 56.6 |
| University Academy HolbeachAcademy sponsor led | No grade | 39.9 |
| Homewood School and Sixth Form CentreAcademy converter | Good 2023 | 39.7 |
| Witchford Village CollegeAcademy converter | Good 2023 | 44.5 |
| Hollingworth AcademyAcademy converter | Good 2022 | 51.1 |
| Colne Valley High SchoolAcademy sponsor led | No grade | 42.4 |
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.