Secondary
St Aidan's Church of England Academy
Hundens Lane, Darlington, DL1 1LL
Key facts
- Phase
- Secondary
- Type
- Academy sponsor led
- Ages
- 11 to 16
- Intake
- Mixed
- Pupils
- 587 of 700 places
- Pupils per teacher
- 20.8
- Local authority
- Darlington
- Religious character
- Yes
- Trust
- NORTHERN LIGHTS LEARNING TRUST
- Diocese
- Diocese of Durham
Staffing23/24
- Teachers (FTE)
- 28.8
- All staff (FTE)
- 37.8
- Pupils per adult
- 15.8
- Pupils
- 598
Staff are counted as full-time equivalents in the November school workforce census, so the pupil figure here is that census’s own and will differ a little from the roll above, which is counted in January.
Ofsted
Last inspected June 2025
Some aspects not as strong
Still graded as at
Good
- Behaviour and attitudesGood
- Leadership and governanceGood
- Personal developmentGood
- Quality of educationGood
SafeguardingMet
An ungraded inspection, which checks whether a school remains at its previous grade rather than re-grading it. Inspected under the previous framework, which used its own four-point scale. Ofsted now publishes a report card grading several areas separately, so these grades are not directly comparable with a recent inspection’s.
Read the full Ofsted report (opens in a new tab)GCSE results
41%
3 points below the Darlington average (44% across 8 schools)
40.0
4.3 below the Darlington average (44.3 across 8 schools)
6th of 8 by our score, among the secondary schools in Darlington we can score - 9 in total, the rest without enough published data. Local and same-phase on purpose: a national table mostly measures who attends.
All published measures2024/2025
| Measure | Result |
|---|---|
| Attainment 8 | 40 |
| EBacc average point score | 3.45 |
| Entered the EBacc | 29% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 59% |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 41% |
From the Department for Education. Measures are published per year and suppressed where a cohort is too small, so some schools show fewer. There are no results for 2019/20 or 2020/21, when exams and assessments were cancelled.
Results over time4 years
Each measure on its own scale, over every year we hold.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 21/22 | 36% |
| 22/23 | 36% |
| 23/24 | 25% |
| 24/25 | 41% |
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 21/22 | -0.29 |
| 22/23 | -0.13 |
| 23/24 | -0.96 |
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 21/22 | 43.4 |
| 22/23 | 42.7 |
| 23/24 | 35.5 |
| 24/25 | 40.0 |
Hundens Lane, Darlington, DL1 1LL
Admissions
How to apply (opens in a new tab)
You apply through your council, not the school - even for academies and free schools. Applications close on 31 October, the year before starting.
Darlington admissions (opens in a new tab)
The council publishes the oversubscription criteria and last year’s offer distances, which is the closest thing to knowing your chances.
If you are refused a place (opens in a new tab)
You can appeal, and you can join a waiting list at the same time. Accept whatever offer you get first - declining it can leave you with no place at all.
This school’s own admissions (opens in a new tab)
Schools that set their own criteria - faith schools, grammars, academies - publish them on their own site.
Contact
- Principal
- Laura Porter
- Address
- Hundens Lane, Darlington, DL1 1LL
- Telephone
- 01325373770