Dene Academy
Peterlee, SR8 5RL · County Durham local authority
Peterlee’s School Grade C better than 28% of towns in England
What stands out about Dene Academy
- Its own letter, C−: GCSE results better than 21% of England’s secondary schools
- 33% get grade 5 or above in English and maths, 15 points below England’s schools
- 63% of pupils are eligible for free school meals (more than England’s 30%)
- Ofsted: Good, November 2023 (shown, not graded)
- Every family who put it first got a place for September 2026 (101 of 101)
- Progress 8 of +0.33 in 2023/24, the last year DfE published it: pupils did better at GCSE than pupils nationally with the same results at 11
- Homes in its postcode sector (SR8 5) sold for a median £89,950; Peterlee’s is £99,500
Results
DfE · GCSEs 2025/26, provisional · 104 pupilsEach bar is a group of England’s 3,224 graded secondary schools. The schools Dene beats are shaded green.
Attainment 8 41.2
Average grade across 8 GCSEs ×10 · higher than 24% of schools · County Durham avg 47.4
Grade 5+ in English and maths 33%
A strong pass · higher than 19% of schools · County Durham avg 46%
Attainment 8, three years
The mark is England’s average that year
Progress 8, 2023/24
+0.33: above average. How pupils did at GCSE against pupils nationally with the same results at 11. Not published since 2023/24 (no Key Stage 2 tests in 2020 and 2021).
Disadvantaged pupils, 2025/26
Attainment 8 for the 61 pupils DfE counts as disadvantaged (free school meals in the last 6 years, or looked after) and the rest, beside England’s schools
England’s figures are of its graded mainstream state schools, each school counted once; grammar schools are included, which is why the right-hand tail is long. Small cohorts are suppressed.
How hard is it to get a place at Dene Academy?
Every family who put it first got a place for September 2026.
Years when some first choices missed out: 2025 (1). The council runs the coordinated admissions; each school’s rules (siblings, distance, faith) decide who gets in. DfE doesn’t publish the furthest distance offered, so check the council’s admissions booklet for that. Advance Learning Partnership sets the admissions rules. Apply through County Durham council’s coordinated admissions.
Outline = places offered · green = families who put it first · striped = more first choices than places
100% got their first choice
Peterlee and County Durham, side by side
2025/26All 29 graded secondaries in County Durham. Schools with more pupils on free school meals usually score lower, so a school above the crowd for its free school meals is doing better than its intake predicts. Peterlee’s schools are coloured by their letter.
Show as a table
| School | Letter | Free school meals | Attainment 8 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Teesdale School and Sixth Form | A | 17% | 57 |
| St Leonard's Catholic School, Durham | A | 15% | 56.5 |
| Durham Johnston Comprehensive School | A | 16% | 56.3 |
| The Academy at Shotton Hall | A− | 35% | 55 |
| Tanfield School | A− | 32% | 54.4 |
| Sedgefield Community College | A− | 25% | 52.4 |
| Wolsingham School | B+ | 31% | 52 |
| Whitworth Park Academy | B+ | 38% | 51.3 |
| Easington Academy | B+ | 39% | 51 |
| Woodham Academy | B | 38% | 50.5 |
| Hermitage Academy | B+ | 31% | 50.1 |
| Framwellgate School Durham | B | 26% | 48.9 |
| Belmont Community School | B | 35% | 48.6 |
| Seaham High School | B | 42% | 47.8 |
| Staindrop Academy | B | 31% | 47.7 |
| Wellfield School | B | 44% | 47.3 |
| Consett Academy | B− | 34% | 47.2 |
| Park View School | B− | 26% | 46.8 |
| St Bede's Catholic School and Sixth Form College, Lanchester | B− | 22% | 45.8 |
| St John's Catholic School & Sixth Form College | C+ | 30% | 43.8 |
| King James I Academy Bishop Auckland | C− | 51% | 43.1 |
| St Bede's Catholic School and Byron Sixth Form College | C | 39% | 42.1 |
| Parkside Academy | C | 44% | 42 |
| Dene Academy | C− | 63% | 41.2 |
| North Durham Academy | D | 51% | 39.9 |
| Ferryhill School | D | 50% | 39.7 |
| Bishop Barrington Academy | D | 52% | 39 |
| Durham Academy | C− | 59% | 39 |
| Greenfield Academy | D | 62% | 37.7 |
Who goes here
DfE school census, January 2025641 pupils. SEN support is extra help in school for a special educational need; an EHC plan is the council’s legal plan for pupils who need more.
Girls and boys
Dene Academy’s letter
Its own results against England’s schools, not the town’s School Grade.
How school letters are worked out
Each school’s measure is compared with every graded school in England of the same phase: for primaries, the share of pupils meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (DfE’s three-year average); for secondaries, Attainment 8 and the share with grade 5 or above in English and maths, each turned into a z-score against England’s schools and averaged. The letter comes from the share of those schools it beats, in the same bands as every grade on the site. The same method gives U.S. schools their letters, against their own state.
Graded: England’s open mainstream state schools with published results (grammar schools included, which select by test). Not graded: special schools, alternative provision, nurseries, 16–19 colleges, UTCs and studio schools, Welsh schools. Ofsted plays no part.
Ofsted inspections
Shown, not graded: Ofsted is never part of a letter or the School Grade.
Graded inspection: Good, November 2023.
Living near Dene Academy
For families thinking of moving: what homes cost around the school, and the other schools close by.
Home prices in SR8 5, the school’s postcode sector
Peterlee property prices →Median sale price each year, 2010 to 2025
By type, the 36 months to August 2026
Homes in SR8 5 sell for a little under Peterlee’s typical price. HM Land Registry Price Paid, standard sales. Catchments aren’t published, so the postcode sector stands in for “around the school”.
Schools within 1.6 miles
15 state schoolsLocation
Directions ↗Peterlee, SR8 5RL
Dene Academy: common questions
Is Dene Academy a good school?
By its published results, below average: its GCSE results are better than 21% of England’s secondary schools (its letter is C−), with an Attainment 8 of 41.2 and 33% getting grade 5 or above in English and maths, against 47.3 and 47% for England’s schools. Ofsted: Good, November 2023.
How hard is it to get into Dene Academy?
For September 2026, 101 families put Dene Academy first and all of them were offered a place; 104 places were offered in all.
What is Dene Academy’s Ofsted rating?
Its latest inspection outcome is Good (November 2023).
How much do houses cost near Dene Academy?
Homes in its postcode sector, SR8 5, sold for a median £89,950 over the 36 months to August 2026 (203 sales).
Sources: DfE Get Information about Schools (16 October 2026), Key Stage 2 performance tables (2023–2025, three-year average) and Key Stage 4 (2025/26, provisional); Ofsted state-funded school inspections as at 30 September 2026. All under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Also: DfE Key Stage 4 performance, schools data (2023/24 and 2024/25 final, 2025/26 provisional) and Key Stage 2 performance tables 2024/25 by subject; DfE school census, January 2025; DfE school-level applications and offers, September 2019 to 2026 entry; HM Land Registry Price Paid by postcode sector, 2010 to August 2026.
A school’s letter is our own summary of its published results against England’s schools of the same phase; Peterlee’s School Grade is a separate grade, built from the results of the schools in and around the town against other towns. Map: © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026 (ONS boundaries). Northern Ireland: Source: NISRA; contains Land & Property Services data and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland information, © Crown copyright, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Scotland: contains National Records of Scotland data, Registers of Scotland data and SEPA data, © Crown copyright / © SEPA 2025, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.