St Leonard's Catholic School, Durham

Academy converter·Secondary school County Durham·DH1 4NG
Composite score
72.1
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#331
National rank
#2
In North East
#1
In County Durham
Top 10%
Nationally

Performance (KS4 GCSE)

Attainment 8 score
57.7
National avg ≈ 46
Progress 8 score
—
% achieving 9–5 in English & Maths
59%
% achieving 9–4 in English & Maths
80%
% EBacc grade 5+
25%
EBacc average points score
5.01

Ofsted judgements

Legacy framework · Read full report ↗

Quality of education
Outstanding
Behaviour and attitudes
Outstanding
Personal development
Outstanding
Leadership and management
Outstanding
Safeguarding effective?
Yes
Sixth form provision
Outstanding

Getting a place

Offered a place after putting it first
95%
215 first choices, 222 places
First choices per place
0.97
fewer first choices than places
Applications naming the school
538
any preference, for 222 places
Applications from another council area
3%
First preferences per place, last five years▲ 0.05
00.511.5
1 per place
1.0220220.9220230.8520240.9220250.972026

Red dashed line = one first choice per place. How to read this

We do not have a checked cut-off distance for St Leonard's Catholic School, Durham yet. County Durham does publish allocation figures and we are working through them council by council — we only show a distance once we have found it in the council’s own document.

Application figures: DfE, school level applications and offers (2026 intake).

School profile

Age range
11–18
Pupils on roll
1,260
Gender
Mixed
Religious character
Roman Catholic
Admissions
Non-Selective

Pupil background

% FSM ever-6
14.3%
Typical secondary: 27.5%
% EAL
7.3%
Typical secondary: 12.0%

Special educational needs

% SEN support
7.2%
Typical secondary: 13.7%
% with an EHC plan
1.4%
Typical secondary: 2.9%

Attendance

Overall absence
8.1%
Typical secondary: 8.9%
Persistently absent
21.4%
Typical secondary: 25.7%

Staffing & funding

Pupils per teacher
16.4
Typical secondary: 16.7
Spend per pupil
£7,734
Typical secondary: £7,815

“Typical” = the median secondary school in England. What this means

What pupils do next

The share of this school's Year 11 leavers in education, training or employment for at least two terms afterwards.

In education, training or work
96%
236 pupils tracked
Stayed in education
89%
Apprenticeship
5%
Employment
2%

DfE, KS4 destination measures.

Nearby secondary schools

Location

St Leonard's Catholic School, Durham at a glance

Located in County Durham, St Leonard's Catholic School, Durham is a secondary school, classified by the DfE as a converter academy with a Roman Catholic religious character. The school educates roughly 1,260 pupils aged 11 to 18. The school's average Attainment 8 score in the latest GCSE results was 57.7 — well above the national average (national average: 46). Its Attainment 8 score has risen by 0.5 points year on year. On our composite score, which combines the DfE attainment measures above, this places it among the top 10% of secondary schools in England.

59% of pupils achieved a grade 5 or above in both English and maths, well above the national average of about 45%. 80% achieved a standard pass (grade 4+) in English and maths. 95% of the families who made St Leonard's Catholic School, Durham their first choice were offered a Year 7 place for September 2026, even though the school made at least as many offers as it had first choices - the rest withdrew, moved or fell outside a priority group. After Year 11, 96% of its leavers went on to education, an apprenticeship or work that they stayed in for at least two terms. Overall pupil absence was 8.1%. There are about 16.4 pupils per teacher. St Leonard's Catholic School, Durham does not currently have a recent graded Ofsted judgement on record (often the case for newer or recently converted schools), so it is worth asking when its next inspection is expected. This overview is generated automatically from the latest published DfE performance tables and Ofsted data; figures are rounded, and you can check the originals via the official links above.

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