Polam Hall School
Grange Road, Darlington, DL1 5PA
- Phase
- All-through
- School type
- Free schools
- Ages
- 4 to 16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- None
- Trust
- WOODARD ACADEMIES TRUST
- Headteacher
- Principal Kate Reid
- Sponsor
- Woodard Academies Trust
- Constituency
- Darlington
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 882
- Pupils on roll
- 842
- URN
- 142174
- Local authority
- Darlington
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01325463383
About this school
Polam Hall School is an all-through academy in Darlington. It teaches children aged 4 to 16 and has 842 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
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
- Expected standard
- Achievement
- Expected standard
- Attendance and behaviour
- Expected standard
- Personal development and wellbeing
- Strong standard
- Leadership and governance
- Expected standard
- 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 | 48 | 48 | 49 |
| Met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths | 58% | 63% | 59% |
| Reached the higher standard in reading, writing and maths | 10% | 8% | 6% |
| Expected standard in reading | 65% | 81% | 69% |
| Expected standard in maths | 69% | 81% | 80% |
| Expected standard in grammar, punctuation and spelling | 71% | 83% | 69% |
| Average scaled score in reading | 105.0 | 106.0 | 104.0 |
| Average scaled score in maths | 104.0 | 107.0 | 105.0 |
| Reading progress | -1.10 | - | - |
| Writing progress | -1.00 | - | - |
| Maths progress | -0.40 | - | - |
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.
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 67 | 85 | 90 |
| Attainment 8 score | 42.7 | 42.0 | 44.6 |
| Progress 8 score | -0.34 -0.70 to +0.01 | -0.05 -0.36 to +0.26 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 33% | 35.3% | 37.8% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 58% | 54.1% | 63.3% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 34% | 36.5% | 33.3% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 3.8 | 3.8 | 4.0 |
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 Polam Hall School 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 | 58% | 55.3% | 57.9% |
| 2023/24 | 63% | 56% | 58.8% |
| 2024/25 | 59% | 59.8% | 60.3% |
Department for Education KS2 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | Darlington average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 42.7 | 37.2 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 42 | 36.5 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 44.6 | 36 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 8.1% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 8.7% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 8% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 787 |
| 2023/24 | 816 |
| 2024/25 | 841 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Polam Hall School compares
Polam Hall School ranked 4th of 8 secondary schools in Darlington for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 56% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 17% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 44.6 | 8% | 29.6% | 842 | — |
| St Augustine's Catholic Primary School | — | 2.8% | 7.1% | 224 | 0.2 miles |
| Queen Elizabeth Sixth Form College | — | — | — | — | 0.5 miles |
| Skerne Park Academy | — | 8.5% | 60.6% | 248 | 0.6 miles |
| Abbey Infants' School | — | 3.9% | 3.4% | 264 | 0.6 miles |
| George Dent Nursery School | — | — | 0% | 97 | 0.7 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
-
Graded inspection report25 November 2025
- 5 October 2021
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 29.61%
- English as an additional language
- 14.3%
- Overall absence
- 7.96%
- Persistent absence
- 23.28%
Location
Nearby schools
-
St Augustine's Catholic Primary School0.2 miles
Primary · Darlington
-
Queen Elizabeth Sixth Form College0.5 miles
16 plus · Darlington
-
Skerne Park Academy0.6 miles
Primary · Darlington
-
Abbey Infants' School0.6 miles
Primary · Darlington
-
George Dent Nursery School0.7 miles
Nursery · Darlington
Other schools in Darlington
Polam Hall School ranks 22nd of the 29 ranked primary schools in Darlington, and Polam Hall School ranks 5th of the 9 ranked secondary schools in Darlington.
- Borough Road Nursery School Nursery
- George Dent Nursery School Nursery
- 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
- Gurney Pease Academy Primary
- Harrowgate Hill Primary School Primary
- Heathfield Primary School Primary
- High Coniscliffe CofE Primary School Primary
Common questions
- What year groups does Polam Hall School teach?
- Polam Hall School teaches children aged 4 to 16. It is an all-through school in Darlington.
- Who is the headteacher of Polam Hall School?
- The headteacher of Polam Hall School is Principal Kate Reid, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was Polam Hall School last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Polam Hall School, 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 Polam Hall School?
- Polam Hall School has 842 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 4 to 16.
- Is Polam Hall School full?
- Polam Hall School has capacity for 882 pupils and 842 on roll (95%), so it is close to full. Places are allocated through the local authority's admissions process, so capacity alone does not tell you whether a place is available.
- Is Polam Hall School a faith school?
- No. Polam Hall School has no designated religious character.
- Does Polam Hall School have a nursery?
- No. The schools register records Polam Hall School as having no nursery classes.
- Who runs Polam Hall School?
- Polam Hall School is part of WOODARD ACADEMIES TRUST. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- How have Polam Hall School's results changed over recent years?
- Its share of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths was 58% in 2022/23 and 59% in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Polam Hall School rank locally?
- Polam Hall School ranked 4th of 8 secondary schools in Darlington for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 56% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 17% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Polam Hall School's absence rate?
- Polam Hall School's overall absence rate is 8% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Polam Hall School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Polam Hall School'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 2 July 2026.