Schools in the County Durham local authority
County Durham has 280 schools listed on OfferDay across 30 towns.
10 nursery schools · 208 primary schools · 30 secondary schools · 5 sixth forms and colleges · 21 special and alternative provision schools · 5 independent schools · 1 other establishment
About schools in County Durham
County Durham lists 280 schools, most of them primary schools. Its 30 secondary schools are where families compare options once a child finishes primary. Older students can carry on at five sixth forms and colleges.
Ofsted inspects every school listed here. Its newer reports judge a school across several areas rather than giving one overall grade, while older reports still carry the previous single grade, so read the framework and the date on each page before you set two schools side by side. Where results have been published you will also find key stage 2 scores for the primary schools and Attainment 8 for the secondary schools. An inspection or a results table captures a school at one past moment, so use this page to draw up a shortlist and then visit.
- Key stage 2, 2024/25
- 62%
- of pupils reached the expected standard in reading, writing and maths, across the 191 schools with published results
- Key stage 4, 2024/25
- 44.7
- average Attainment 8 score, across the 35 schools with published results
Top schools in County Durham
Ranked by the latest published results; primary and secondary schools are measured differently and never compared with each other.
Primary
- 1 St Joseph's Catholic Primary School, Gilesgate 100%
- 2 New Seaham Academy 94%
- 3 Bullion Lane Primary School 94%
- 4 Thornhill Primary School 93%
- 5 Ingleton CofE Primary School 89%
- 6 Cockfield Primary School 88%
- 7 Sacriston Academy 88%
- 8 Framwellgate Moor Primary School 87%
Secondary
- 1 St Leonard's Catholic School, Durham 57.7
- 2 Tanfield School 57.5
- 3 Durham Johnston Comprehensive School 55.2
- 4 Belmont Community School 53.4
- 5 The Academy at Shotton Hall 52.2
- 6 Easington Academy 51.8
- 7 Sedgefield Community College 51.5
- 8 Whitworth Park Academy 50.4
Schools by town
The count beside each town is the number of its schools under County Durham.
Schools not listed under a town
These schools have no town recorded in the national register.
-
Durham Cathedral Schools Foundation
Other independent school · Ages 3 to 18
-
Open Air Education
Other independent school · Ages 4 to 14
Common questions about schools in County Durham
- How many schools does County Durham have?
- OfferDay lists 280 schools in County Durham, including 208 primary schools and 30 secondary schools.
- Who inspects schools in County Durham?
- Every school in County Durham is inspected by Ofsted. Newer reports grade several areas of a school separately on a report card, while older reports carry a single overall grade, so check the framework and the date on each page before you compare two schools.
- How are schools in County Durham ranked?
- OfferDay ranks schools in County Durham where the Department for Education has published results, by key stage 2 scores for primary schools and Attainment 8 for secondary schools. The ranking links are near the top of this page. A results table only captures one part of a school, so use it to draw up a shortlist and then visit.
- How many towns are in the County Durham local authority?
- OfferDay groups the County Durham schools across 30 towns, listed in the schools-by-town section on this page. Any school with no town recorded in the national register is listed separately, grouped by phase, so every school in the local authority is reachable.
School details come from the Department for Education's Get Information About Schools register. Inspection outcomes come from Ofsted, and exam results from the Department for Education's school performance service. Information on this page was last updated on 24 July 2026.