Gurney Pease Academy
Dodsworth Street, Darlington, DL1 2NG
- Phase
- Primary
- School type
- Academy converter
- Ages
- 2 to 11
- Gender
- Mixed
- Trust
- THE EDUCATION VILLAGE ACADEMY TRUST
- Chief Executive
- Mrs Joanne Davison
- Nursery provision
- Has Nursery Classes
- Constituency
- Darlington
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 274
- Pupils on roll
- 191
- URN
- 138362
- Local authority
- Darlington
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01325380790
About this school
Gurney Pease Academy is a primary academy in Darlington. It teaches children aged 2 to 11 and has 191 pupils on roll.
You can read Ofsted's latest judgement for the school below. Where the Department for Education has published them, its results and pupil characteristics appear below. Numbers and a report only go so far, so visit in person before you apply.
Ofsted judgement
Ofsted no longer gives schools a single overall grade. Each area of the school's work is graded on a five-point scale, and safeguarding is judged separately.
- Inclusion
- Expected standard
- Curriculum and teaching
- Needs attention
- Achievement
- Needs attention
- Attendance and behaviour
- Expected standard
- Personal development and wellbeing
- Expected standard
- Leadership and governance
- Needs attention
- Early years
- Expected standard
- Safeguarding
- Met
Exam results
Key stage 2 (end of primary school)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 2 | 27 | 30 | 30 |
| Met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths | 56% | 40% | 73% |
| Reached the higher standard in reading, writing and maths | 0% | 0% | 7% |
| Expected standard in reading | 70% | 43% | 80% |
| Expected standard in maths | 56% | 50% | 77% |
| Expected standard in grammar, punctuation and spelling | 67% | 63% | 77% |
| Average scaled score in reading | 102.0 | 99.0 | 105.0 |
| Average scaled score in maths | 100.0 | 100.0 | 104.0 |
| Reading progress | -2.40 | - | - |
| Writing progress | +2.00 | - | - |
| Maths progress | -3.40 | - | - |
Progress measures ended nationally after the 2022/23 school year, when the key stage 1 assessments they were based on were stopped. Blank progress figures in later years are not missing school data.
Trends over time
How Gurney Pease Academy has moved over recent years against the local and national picture. Every figure is shown in the table beneath its chart.
| Year | This school | Darlington average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 56% | 55.3% | 57.9% |
| 2023/24 | 40% | 56% | 58.8% |
| 2024/25 | 73% | 59.8% | 60.3% |
Department for Education KS2 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 8.1% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 7.9% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 7.3% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 214 |
| 2023/24 | 215 |
| 2024/25 | 197 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Gurney Pease Academy compares
Gurney Pease Academy ranked 9th of 28 primary schools in Darlington for KS2 results in 2024/25. Its KS2 result was higher than 73% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 23% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | KS2 RWM (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 73% | 7.3% | 54.7% | 191 | — |
| Northwood Primary School | 56% | 7.4% | 45% | 429 | 0.4 miles |
| Springfield Academy | 79% | 5.2% | 42.1% | 236 | 0.6 miles |
| Corporation Road Community Primary School | 71% | 5.7% | 43.9% | 282 | 0.7 miles |
| St Bede's Catholic Primary School | 64% | 4.2% | 15.4% | 322 | 0.8 miles |
| Heathfield Primary School | 68% | 5.7% | 30.7% | 439 | 0.8 miles |
Results reflect each school's cohort as much as its teaching, and free school meals share is context, not a judgement. Small gaps between neighbouring schools are rarely meaningful on their own.
Inspection history
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 54.65%
- English as an additional language
- 10.2%
- Overall absence
- 7.28%
- Persistent absence
- 22.36%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Northwood Primary School0.4 miles
Primary · Darlington
-
Springfield Academy0.6 miles
Primary · Darlington
-
Corporation Road Community Primary School0.7 miles
Primary · Darlington
-
St Bede's Catholic Primary School0.8 miles
Primary · Darlington
-
Heathfield Primary School0.8 miles
Primary · Darlington
Other schools in Darlington
Gurney Pease Academy ranks 11th of the 29 ranked primary schools in Darlington.
- Abbey Infants' School Primary
- Abbey Junior School Primary
- Corporation Road Community Primary School Primary
- Croft Church of England Primary School Primary
- Firthmoor Primary School Primary
- Gainford Church of England Primary School and Preschool Primary
- Harrowgate Hill Primary School Primary
- Heathfield Primary School Primary
- High Coniscliffe CofE Primary School Primary
- Holy Family Catholic Primary School Primary
- Hurworth Primary School Primary
- Ingleton CofE Primary School Primary
Common questions
- What year groups does Gurney Pease Academy teach?
- Gurney Pease Academy teaches children aged 2 to 11. It is a primary school in Darlington.
- Who is the chief executive of Gurney Pease Academy?
- The chief executive of Gurney Pease Academy is Mrs Joanne Davison, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was Gurney Pease Academy last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Gurney Pease Academy, and its latest judgement is set out in the inspection section on this page, with the framework and the date it was made.
- How big is Gurney Pease Academy?
- Gurney Pease Academy has 191 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 2 to 11.
- Is Gurney Pease Academy full?
- Gurney Pease Academy has capacity for 274 pupils and 191 on roll (70%), so it has space against its published capacity. Places are allocated through the local authority's admissions process, so capacity alone does not tell you whether a place is available.
- Is Gurney Pease Academy a faith school?
- No. Gurney Pease Academy has no designated religious character.
- Does Gurney Pease Academy have a nursery?
- Yes. The schools register records Gurney Pease Academy as having nursery classes.
- Who runs Gurney Pease Academy?
- Gurney Pease Academy is part of THE EDUCATION VILLAGE ACADEMY TRUST. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- How have Gurney Pease Academy's results changed over recent years?
- Its share of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths was 56% in 2022/23 and 73% in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Gurney Pease Academy rank locally?
- Gurney Pease Academy ranked 9th of 28 primary schools in Darlington for key stage 2 results. Its KS2 result was higher than 73% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 23% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Gurney Pease Academy's absence rate?
- Gurney Pease Academy's overall absence rate is 7.3% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Gurney Pease Academy's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Gurney Pease Academy's key stage results are shown in the results section on this page, with the last three years so you can see the trend rather than a single year.
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. This page was last updated on 1 July 2026.