Bishop Barrington Academy

About Bishop Barrington Academy

Bishop Barrington Academy’s headline Progress 8 score of -0.27 sits just below the County Durham local authority average of -0.21, placing it in the ‘below average’ national banding. That gap is modest — roughly one-tenth of a grade per subject — but it means the school ranks 23rd out of 31 secondary schools in the area, putting it in the bottom quarter of its local authority. More telling is the breakdown: pupils’ progress in maths (-0.84) and the EBacc subjects (-0.67) is notably weaker than in English (-0.46), while the ‘open’ element of Progress 8 (which covers non-core qualifications) actually comes out positive at +0.6. This suggests the school’s strongest results are in the broader curriculum rather than the core academic pillars. With 51.2 per cent of pupils eligible for free school meals — well above the national average — the context is a challenging one, and the school’s overall attainment 8 score of 41.8 reflects that intake.

In its most recent Ofsted inspection, carried out in June 2024, the school was rated Good across every category: overall effectiveness, quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, and leadership and management. That’s a clear improvement from its previous inspection in 2017, when it was judged to require improvement in both overall effectiveness and leadership. At GCSE level, 47.5 per cent of pupils achieved a grade 4 or above in both English and maths (the basics 94 measure), though that drops to 20.1 per cent when you raise the bar to grade 5 or above. EBacc entry is low at just 5.8 per cent, and only 3.6 per cent of pupils achieved the EBacc at grade 4 or above. The school’s EBacc average point score of 3.17 is modest, but the positive open Progress 8 score hints at strengths in vocational or creative qualifications that aren’t captured by the EBacc measure.

The school is heavily oversubscribed: for 136 places in 2025/26, it received 328 applications, with 120 first-preference applications and 118 offers made to first-preference families — an oversubscription ratio of 2.41. Facilities are generous for a state secondary, including a swimming pool, theatre, sports hall, astro turf, music rooms, and art studios, plus a sixth form centre (though the school itself only runs to Year 11). Sports on offer include hockey, netball, swimming, and football, while clubs range from coding and debate to Young Enterprise and science club. SEND provision is broad, covering autistic spectrum disorder, speech and language needs, dyslexia, and social, emotional and mental health support. This is a school that suits families looking for a genuinely inclusive, well-equipped secondary with improving Ofsted grades, but who are realistic about academic outcomes that sit slightly below the local average.

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