Christ's College
Pennywell Road, Sunderland, SR4 8PG
- Phase
- All-through
- School type
- Free schools
- Ages
- 4 to 18
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- None
- Trust
- EMMANUEL SCHOOLS FOUNDATION
- Principal
- Mrs Julie Normanton
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Religious ethos
- Christian
- Sponsor
- Emmanuel Schools Foundation
- Constituency
- Houghton and Sunderland South
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 860
- Pupils on roll
- 796
- URN
- 138567
- Local authority
- Sunderland
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01915344444
About this school
Christ's College is an all-through academy in Sunderland. It teaches children aged 4 to 18 and has 796 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. Seeing a school for yourself shows what no page can, so arrange a visit before you apply.
Ofsted judgement
Overall judgement at the last full inspection
This inspection took place under the previous framework, which gave a single overall grade. Ofsted now publishes report cards instead, so newer inspections of other schools will look different. How Ofsted report cards work
- Quality of education
- Good
- Behaviour and attitudes
- Good
- Personal development
- Good
- Leadership and management
- Good
- Early years
- Good
- Safeguarding
- Effective
Exam results
Key stage 2 (end of primary school)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 2 | 60 | 51 | 60 |
| Met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths | 53% | 51% | 63% |
| Reached the higher standard in reading, writing and maths | 5% | 8% | 8% |
| Expected standard in reading | 68% | 59% | 78% |
| Expected standard in maths | 70% | 63% | 73% |
| Expected standard in grammar, punctuation and spelling | 75% | 61% | 68% |
| Average scaled score in reading | 103.0 | 102.0 | 105.0 |
| Average scaled score in maths | 103.0 | 101.0 | 103.0 |
| Reading progress | 0.00 | - | - |
| Writing progress | +3.20 | - | - |
| Maths progress | +0.50 | - | - |
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.
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 58 | 72 | 72 |
| Attainment 8 score | 41.6 | 39.9 | 43.2 |
| Progress 8 score | -0.56 -0.95 to -0.17 | -0.68 -1.03 to -0.32 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 38% | 34.7% | 43.1% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 55% | 58.3% | 65.3% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 43% | 33.3% | 43.1% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 3.7 | 3.5 | 3.8 |
Progress 8 is paused nationally for the 2024/25 and 2025/26 school years. Those pupils sat no key stage 2 tests during the Covid pandemic, so there is no starting point to measure progress from. A blank figure here is not missing school data.
Trends over time
How Christ's College has moved over recent years against the local and national picture. Every figure is shown in the table beneath its chart.
| Year | This school | Sunderland average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 53% | 60.4% | 57.9% |
| 2023/24 | 51% | 63.1% | 58.8% |
| 2024/25 | 63% | 63% | 60.3% |
Department for Education KS2 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | Sunderland average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 41.6 | 37.6 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 39.9 | 38.2 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 43.2 | 38.3 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 9.7% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 9.5% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 7.4% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 698 |
| 2023/24 | 761 |
| 2024/25 | 778 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Christ's College compares
Christ's College ranked 11th of 18 secondary schools in Sunderland for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 50% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 22% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 43.2 | 7.4% | 33% | 796 | — |
| Academy 360 | 31.7 | 11.4% | 64.5% | 854 | 0.3 miles |
| Kings Priory School | 57.1 | 4.6% | 10.7% | 1,549 | 8.5 miles |
| Excelsior Academy | 33.4 | 10.3% | 72.7% | 1,339 | 11.4 miles |
| Broadway Junior School | — | 5.7% | 49.6% | 227 | 0.3 miles |
| St Cuthbert's Catholic Primary School, Sunderland | — | 5.2% | 24.4% | 240 | 0.3 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.
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 33.03%
- English as an additional language
- 6.6%
- Overall absence
- 7.35%
- Persistent absence
- 25.32%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Academy 3600.3 miles
All-through · Sunderland
-
Kings Priory School8.5 miles
All-through · North Shields
-
Excelsior Academy11.4 miles
All-through · Newcastle-upon-Tyne
-
Broadway Junior School0.3 miles
Primary · Sunderland
-
St Cuthbert's Catholic Primary School, Sunderland0.3 miles
Primary · Sunderland
Other schools in Sunderland
Christ's College ranks 30th of the 43 ranked primary schools in Sunderland, and Christ's College ranks 9th of the 13 ranked secondary schools in Sunderland.
- Academy 360 All-through
- Hylton Red House Nursery School Nursery
- Mill Hill Nursery School Nursery
- Pennywell Early Years Centre Nursery
- Barnes Infant Academy Primary
- Barnes Junior School Primary
- Benedict Biscop Church of England Academy Primary
- Bexhill Academy Primary
- Broadway Junior School Primary
- Castletown Primary School Primary
- Cleadon Church of England Academy Primary
- Dame Dorothy Primary School Primary
Common questions
- What year groups does Christ's College teach?
- Christ's College teaches children aged 4 to 18. It is an all-through school in Sunderland.
- Who is the principal of Christ's College?
- The principal of Christ's College is Mrs Julie Normanton, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was Christ's College last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Christ's College, 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 Christ's College?
- Christ's College has 796 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 4 to 18.
- Is Christ's College full?
- Christ's College has capacity for 860 pupils and 796 on roll (93%), 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 Christ's College a faith school?
- No. Christ's College has no designated religious character.
- Is Christ's College a selective school?
- No. Christ's College is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- Does Christ's College have a nursery?
- No. The schools register records Christ's College as having no nursery classes.
- Who runs Christ's College?
- Christ's College is part of EMMANUEL SCHOOLS FOUNDATION. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- How have Christ's College's results changed over recent years?
- Its share of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths was 53% in 2022/23 and 63% in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Christ's College rank locally?
- Christ's College ranked 11th of 18 secondary schools in Sunderland for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 50% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 22% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Christ's College's absence rate?
- Christ's College's overall absence rate is 7.4% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Christ's College's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Christ's College'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.