Longfield Academy
Longfield Road, Darlington, DL3 0HT
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Academy sponsor led
- Ages
- 11 to 16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- None
- Trust
- NORTHERN ARCH LEARNING PARTNERSHIP
- Headteacher
- Mrs Angela Sweeten
- Sponsor
- Swift Academies
- Constituency
- Darlington
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 900
- Pupils on roll
- 660
- URN
- 145577
- Local authority
- Darlington
About this school
Longfield Academy is a secondary academy in Darlington. It teaches children aged 11 to 16 and has 660 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 did not give an overall grade. Between September 2024 and September 2025 inspections graded each area of a school's work without a single overall judgement, ahead of the move to report cards. How Ofsted report cards work
- Quality of education
- Good
- Behaviour and attitudes
- Good
- Personal development
- Good
- Leadership and management
- Good
- Safeguarding
- Effective
Exam results
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 155 | 172 | 149 |
| Attainment 8 score | 46.5 | 43.6 | 42.8 |
| Progress 8 score | -0.09 -0.31 to +0.14 | -0.47 -0.69 to -0.25 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 39% | 41.9% | 44.3% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 62% | 66.3% | 59.7% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 17% | 15.1% | 24.2% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 3.8 | 3.5 | 3.6 |
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 Longfield 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 | 46.5 | 37.2 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 43.6 | 36.5 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 42.8 | 36 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 9.6% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 9.8% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 10% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 819 |
| 2023/24 | 793 |
| 2024/25 | 721 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Longfield Academy compares
Longfield Academy ranked 5th of 8 secondary schools in Darlington for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 48% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 8% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 42.8 | 10% | 37.2% | 660 | — |
| Haughton Academy | 38 | 9.3% | 44.4% | 854 | 1.2 miles |
| St Aidan's Church of England Academy | 40 | 11.4% | 45.5% | 587 | 1.8 miles |
| Wyvern Academy | 37.7 | 9.4% | 45.7% | 464 | 1.9 miles |
| Carmel College | 53.5 | 5.9% | 19.2% | 1,367 | 2.1 miles |
| Hummersknott Academy | 47.8 | 7.7% | 23% | 1,215 | 2.5 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)
- 37.17%
- English as an additional language
- 8.6%
- Overall absence
- 10.01%
- Persistent absence
- 32.86%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Haughton Academy1.2 miles
Secondary · Darlington
-
St Aidan's Church of England Academy1.8 miles
Secondary · Darlington
-
Wyvern Academy1.9 miles
Secondary · Darlington
-
Carmel College2.1 miles
Secondary · Darlington
-
Hummersknott Academy2.5 miles
Secondary · Darlington
Other schools in Darlington
Longfield Academy ranks 6th of the 9 ranked secondary schools in Darlington.
- Carmel College Secondary
- Haughton Academy Secondary
- Hummersknott Academy Secondary
- Hurworth School Secondary
- St Aidan's Church of England Academy Secondary
- Staindrop Academy Secondary
- Wyvern Academy Secondary
- Borough Road Nursery School Nursery
- George Dent Nursery School Nursery
- Abbey Infants' School Primary
- Abbey Junior School Primary
- Corporation Road Community Primary School Primary
Common questions
- What year groups does Longfield Academy teach?
- Longfield Academy teaches children aged 11 to 16. It is a secondary school in Darlington.
- Who is the headteacher of Longfield Academy?
- The headteacher of Longfield Academy is Mrs Angela Sweeten, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was Longfield Academy last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Longfield 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 Longfield Academy?
- Longfield Academy has 660 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 16.
- Is Longfield Academy full?
- Longfield Academy has capacity for 900 pupils and 660 on roll (73%), 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 Longfield Academy a faith school?
- No. Longfield Academy has no designated religious character.
- Who runs Longfield Academy?
- Longfield Academy is part of NORTHERN ARCH LEARNING PARTNERSHIP. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- How have Longfield Academy's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 46.5 in 2022/23 and 42.8 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Longfield Academy rank locally?
- Longfield Academy ranked 5th of 8 secondary schools in Darlington for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 48% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 8% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Longfield Academy's absence rate?
- Longfield Academy's overall absence rate is 10% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Longfield Academy's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Longfield 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 2 July 2026.