Durham Academy Review 2026: An inclusive 11 to 16 academy in transition

A school with a clear message, every child matters, and a practical set of priorities to match. Durham Academy is an 11 to 16 state-funded secondary in Ushaw Moor, serving families across north Durham villages and the fringes of the city. It is part of Advance Learning Partnership and has a published admission number of up to 100 places in Year 7 each year, with applications coordinated through Durham County Council.

Leadership has been stable through a period of formal change. The current headteacher is Ms Alison Jobling, recorded as taking up post on 11 January 2023.

Parents considering the academy in January 2026 are weighing two things at once. First, the day-to-day offer, a comprehensive intake, a structured Key Stage 4 pathway, and a strong emphasis on personal development. Second, the pace of improvement, with published GCSE outcomes that sit below England average overall, and a significant site redevelopment now underway, with works described as running through to August 2027.

The academy presents itself as inclusive and open-access, with pupils of all backgrounds and abilities welcome. It is explicitly comprehensive in ethos rather than selective, with a commitment to supporting students while also expecting them to meet higher standards over time.

Personal development is not treated as an add-on. The academy’s Access Programme frames enrichment as something every student should experience, across trips, wider experiences, and employability preparation, rather than only as optional extras for the confident few. That matters in a school with mixed starting points, where confidence, routines, and a sense of belonging often determine whether academic interventions actually stick.

A second strand is student voice. The student council structure is formal, with democratically elected representatives from each tutor group, meeting fortnightly on a Monday morning to feed into whole-school issues. For families who want their child to be heard and to learn constructive participation, that is a tangible route rather than a vague promise.

The academy is also using wellbeing as a practical tool, not just a slogan. Its enrichment offer explicitly includes sessions with trained therapy dogs, positioned as calming and restorative. In a school context, this sort of structured, supervised activity often supports students who struggle with anxiety, attendance, or social stress, and it can sit alongside behaviour systems rather than replacing them.

Durham Academy is ranked 3,594th in England and 8th in Durham for GCSE outcomes (FindMySchool ranking, based on official data), which places it below England average overall.

The underlying GCSE indicators point in the same direction. The academy’s Attainment 8 score is 36.3, and its Progress 8 score is -0.25, suggesting students, on average, make less progress than pupils nationally with similar starting points.

Those figures do not mean individual students cannot do very well here. They do mean that families should treat structure, attendance, and consistency as the levers that matter most. In schools where progress is below average overall, the difference between a strong outcome and a weak one is often driven by whether the school can keep learning time calm, uninterrupted, and well targeted, especially through Years 10 and 11.

One important context point is inspection history. The predecessor school on this site was rated Requires Improvement following an inspection in March 2022.

Curriculum planning is published clearly, especially at Key Stage 4. All students study the core GCSEs, English Language and Literature, Maths, and Double Science, alongside four additional GCSE choices. Options listed include Art and Design, French, Geography, History, Hospitality and Catering, Sport Studies, and i-Media (introduced from September 2025).

The implication for families is straightforward. The offer supports both academic and applied routes, with enough breadth to keep doors open, while also giving students the chance to choose subjects that make sense for their strengths. Where the GCSE profile is below England average overall, clarity of pathway can be a strength, because it reduces subject mismatch and helps students build momentum.

For students who need additional scaffolding, the academy’s SEND information highlights structured literacy work, daily reading development, handwriting and fine motor sessions, and access to a learning support room, alongside homework club and nurture provision. This is the practical layer that often determines whether a student can cope with GCSE demands without falling behind early in Year 10.

Durham Academy does not have a sixth form, so the key transition is at 16. The academy signposts families to local post-16 options, grouped into sixth forms, further education colleges, and training providers, and it also describes working with post-16 providers to support smooth transitions for students, including those with SEND.

The practical question for parents is how early guidance starts and how personalised it becomes. The academy’s careers and personal development framing suggests it is aiming to build familiarity with post-16 routes rather than leaving decisions until late Year 11. Where GCSE outcomes are not yet strong overall, well-managed post-16 guidance becomes even more valuable, because it helps students land in the right environment to complete Level 3 study, vocational qualifications, or apprenticeships successfully.

Year 7 entry is coordinated through Durham County Council, with Advance Learning Partnership as the admission authority. The academy states that it offers up to 100 places in Year 7 each year and operates an open-access, fully inclusive admissions policy.

For September 2026 entry, Durham County Council’s published timetable shows applications opening on 1 September 2025 and closing on 31 October 2025, with offers made on Monday 2 March 2026. Those dates are now in the past, but they give a reliable sense of the annual rhythm, early September opening, end of October deadline, and early March offers.

Open events are handled in a pragmatic way. The academy references an open evening in September, and it also encourages families to arrange a personalised tour during the school day, typically before the summer. This tends to suit parents who want to see routines and culture in normal operation, rather than only in a staged event.

A note on capacity and demand. Published Year 7 application-to-offer figures are not presented here, so families should rely on Durham County Council’s allocations data and the academy’s oversubscription criteria within the trust admissions policy when judging how likely a place is.

Parents shortlisting should use the FindMySchoolMap Search to sense-check travel time and practical logistics for daily attendance, especially if transport would depend on a bus route or a longer walk.

Pastoral work is described as multi-layered, with a clear expectation that families contact reception to route issues to the pastoral team, including friendship concerns, uniform problems, and wellbeing worries. The parent and carer handbook frames this as an early-intervention approach rather than a wait-and-see model.

For students with SEND, the published approach includes both specialist intervention and day-to-day accessibility, with a team of learning support assistants, structured literacy and numeracy support, and nurture provision. This matters for parents deciding whether their child will be supported without being isolated from mainstream learning.

Wellbeing support is also linked to enrichment rather than only to sanctions or counselling routes. The therapy-dog sessions are the most distinctive example because they are framed as designed to reduce stress and support positive mental health. In practice, these kinds of sessions tend to work best when they sit alongside consistent classroom routines, because they help students regulate without becoming a substitute for learning.

Enrichment is organised under ACE, Access Curriculum Enrichment, and it runs across lunchtimes and after school. The academy highlights daily library clubs as part of this offer, positioning reading culture as something students can opt into repeatedly rather than as a one-off initiative.

The creative offer has some specific, named opportunities. The music development plan references choir and guitar or ukulele activity within the wider access programme, and it also points to theatre club. For a comprehensive 11 to 16, that combination matters because it provides both low-barrier participation and a route for students who want to build skill over time.

STEM enrichment also appears to have external input. A published STEM newsletter references The Altitude Foundation coding club, linked to Year 9 enrichment, which is the sort of partnership model that can make computing and digital skills feel more applied and motivating for students who do not naturally identify as academic.

Beyond clubs, transition activity is used as a practical bridge into secondary school life. The academy describes projects with feeder primary schools spanning science experiments, sport events, maths problem solving, and creative art. For anxious Year 6 pupils, that kind of early familiarity can reduce the social and organisational shock of Year 7.

The academy publishes a detailed school-day schedule with registration at 08:30 and lessons running through to 15:00. Elsewhere, it notes an earlier finish on Monday and Friday, and a later finish Tuesday to Thursday, so families should confirm the current pattern for clubs and transport planning.

Home-to-school transport is framed through Durham County Council’s policy. The academy notes the standard free-transport eligibility rule of over three miles to the nearest suitable school, and it describes distance calculation using a Geographic Information System based on recognised datasets.

There is no published before-school or after-school wraparound childcare model in the way primary schools often provide. For working families, the practical question becomes which clubs run on which days, and how transport aligns with finish times and enrichment.

• Outcomes are below average overall. The GCSE ranking sits in the lower-performing band nationally, and the Progress 8 score is negative, so families should ask detailed questions about classroom routines, attendance expectations, and how learning time is protected through Years 10 and 11.

• A school in physical transition. A significant redevelopment is underway, with works described as running through to August 2027. Building programmes can bring disruption as well as better facilities, so it is sensible to ask how noise, movement around site, and access to specialist rooms are being managed year to year.

• Confirm the weekly finish-time pattern. The academy publishes both a detailed timetable and a separate statement about different finish times by day. That matters for transport, clubs, and family logistics.

• Post-16 choices need active planning. With no sixth form, every student transitions at 16. Families should engage early with careers guidance and consider post-16 routes well before Year 11 to avoid rushed decisions.

Durham Academy is best understood as an inclusive, comprehensive secondary that is working to raise consistency and outcomes, while also investing in personal development and a broad Key Stage 4 offer. It will suit families who want an open-access school, are ready to engage with routines around attendance and learning habits, and value structured support for students who need extra scaffolding. The decision hinges on improvement confidence, ask how behaviour in lessons is managed, how intervention is targeted, and how the academy is using the redevelopment to strengthen teaching and learning over the next two years. Families interested in this option should use the Saved Schools feature to track open events, admissions timelines, and alternatives nearby as part of a realistic shortlist.