Dene Academy
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Dene Academy is a converter academy in Peterlee for boys and girls aged 11 to 16. It has 638 pupils and room for 818. About 62 in every 100 pupils come from a low-income family, far more than at most schools in England. We give it 47 out of 100. That puts it in line with schools like it, ahead of 100% of the 50 schools most like it. Ofsted's last grade was good, back in 2023.
Manor Way, Peterlee, SR8 5RL0191 554 6000deneacademy.org.ukMr David Nelson head teacherAll details
What Ofsted found
Ofsted's last full inspection was on 22 November 2023, back when it gave schools one overall grade. Read the report on Ofsted's website.
Good overall.
Results
GCSE results, summer 2025
96 pupils sat their GCSEs. Here is how they did against every state secondary in England.
All GCSE measures, year by year
| Measure | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2019† | 2018† | County Durham | England |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of Year 11 | 96 | 130 | 124 | 139 | 115 | 113 | – | – |
| Average GCSE scoreAttainment 8 | 41.4 | 40.2 | 39.8 | 45.7 | 46.5 | 41.4 | 44.2 | 46.8 |
| Progress from age 11Progress 8 | – | +0.33 | -0.29 | -0.11 | +0.26 | +0.02 | – | – |
| Strong pass in English and mathsGrade 5+ in English and maths | 33% | 29% | 25% | 31% | 38% | 27% | 41% | 46% |
| Standard pass in English and mathsGrade 4+ in English and maths | 52% | 56% | 43% | 60% | 66% | 53% | 61% | 66% |
| Core subjects scoreEBacc average point score | 3.40 | 3.25 | 3.01 | 3.58 | 3.70 | 3.24 | 3.75 | 4.15 |
| Taking the core subjectsEBacc entry | 28% | 30% | 27% | 31% | 26% | 25% | 32% | 41% |
| Average GCSE score: low-income pupilsAttainment 8, disadvantaged | 36.8 | 37.1 | 33.3 | 42.1 | 42.1 | 34.7 | – | – |
| Average GCSE score: other pupilsAttainment 8, non-disadvantaged | 47.4 | 44.4 | 49.7 | 48.7 | 50.6 | 48.8 | – | – |
| Average GCSE score: pupils who started behindAttainment 8, low prior attainers | – | 32.1 | 26.7 | 32.4 | 23.5 | 25.4 | – | – |
| Average GCSE score: pupils who started aheadAttainment 8, high prior attainers | – | – | 54.4 | 67.2 | 57.3 | 56.2 | – | – |
† These results are for Dene Community School, the school this one replaced in September 2019. Same building and the same children. It got a new registration number, usually because it joined an academy trust.
Subjects
Results came out for 12 GCSE subjects in 2025. Each figure is the share of pupils who got a grade 5 or better, next to the average for state secondaries in England.
Strongest subjects
Subjects that did worse than the England average: Geography (14% here, 51% across England), English Language (37% here, 54% across England), Combined Science (21% here, 36% across England), Mathematics (39% here, 53% across England).
The small number is how many pupils sat each subject. Subjects with fewer than six pupils aren't published.
Every subject against England, 2025
| Subject | Entries | Grades 9 to 7 | Grades 9 to 5 | Grades 9 to 4 | England 9 to 5 | Rank in England |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mathematics | 96 | 9% | 39% | 57% | 53% | 2,542 of 3,211 |
| English Literature | 96 | 6% | 43% | 63% | 58% | 2,554 of 3,202 |
| English Language | 96 | 8% | 37% | 51% | 54% | 2,756 of 3,210 |
| Art and Design | 88 | 22% | 73% | 86% | 58% | 750 of 2,818 |
| Combined Science | 76 | 4% | 21% | 29% | 36% | 2,543 of 3,084 |
| Geography | 63 | 10% | 14% | 27% | 51% | 3,058 of 3,116 |
| History | 30 | 20% | 43% | 50% | 52% | 2,025 of 3,126 |
| French | 27 | 30% | 59% | 74% | 60% | 1,104 of 1,974 |
| Statistics | 19 | 26% | 90% | 95% | 51% | – |
| Physics | 19 | 11% | 79% | 100% | 82% | – |
| Chemistry | 19 | 26% | 68% | 100% | 81% | – |
| Biology | 19 | 16% | 95% | 95% | 82% | – |
In combined science each pupil gets two grades and we count the lower one. Rankings only include state secondaries where 20 or more pupils sat the subject.
Does every child do well here?
A good school does well by every child, not just on average. Each row compares two groups of pupils here. The grey marks show the same two groups across England. 2 of the 3 gaps are smaller than the gap across England. When a group has fewer than about ten pupils, its figures jump around a lot from year to year.
At GCSE, 2025
Low-income means the child has had free school meals at some point in the last six years. A group's figure isn't published when it has fewer than six pupils.
Getting a place
Open to all. There is no entrance test.
446 places were empty (41% of the total), so almost everyone who applies gets in. Pupil numbers have stayed about the same since 2021/22.
In 2026 every child who applied got a place, so how far away you live didn't matter. That could change if the school gets more popular.
We measure in a straight line from the middle of your postcode to the school. The council measures its own way, and the cut-off changes every year. Use this as a rough guide, and read the council's admissions booklet before you apply.
How places were given out for September 2026. Every child who applied got a place (117 offers for 140 places).
| Entry | Places | Applied at all | Got a place | How far the last child lived | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 Secondary | 140 | 195 | 117 | – all offered | LA |
Who goes here
Who a school teaches matters. That is why our score compares it with schools that take in a similar mix of children, not with every school in the country.
The most common needs among pupils getting extra support: Other difficulty or disability (104), emotional and mental health (48), Autistic spectrum disorder (31), Physical disability (3), Specific learning difficulty (3), Vision impairment (2).
How the mix of pupils has changed
| Census | 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils on roll | 638 | 641 | 635 | 621 | 612 | 626 |
| Pupils from low-income familiesFree school meals | 63% | 60% | 59% | 59% | 53% | 50% |
| Pupils learning EnglishEnglish as an additional language | 5% | 4% | 3% | 2% | 2% | 2% |
| Pupils getting extra supportSEN support | – | 23% | 25% | 29% | 29% | 24% |
| Pupils with an EHC planEducation, health and care plans | – | 4% | 4% | 2% | 1% | 1% |
Attendance and behaviour
In 2024/25 pupils were in school 89.7% of the time. Across similar schools in England it was 91.4%.
Attendance year by year
| Measure | 2024/25 | 2023/24 | 2022/23 | 2021/22 | 2020/21 | 2018/19† | England |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sessions missedOverall absence | 10.3% | 12.3% | 12.8% | 12.0% | 7.8% | 6.5% | 8.6% |
| Missed with permissionAuthorised absence | 5.8% | 7.0% | 7.3% | 4.3% | 3.4% | 2.2% | – |
| Missed without permissionUnauthorised absence | 4.5% | 5.3% | 5.6% | 7.7% | 4.4% | 4.3% | – |
| Pupils missing a lot of schoolPersistent absence | 29.9% | 37.2% | 42.3% | 39.8% | 23.9% | 16.4% | 23.9% |
| SuspensionsSuspension rate | 25.3 | 18.6 | 17.2 | 14.1 | 11.0 | – | – |
| Permanent exclusionsPermanent exclusions | 7 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | – | – |
† These attendance figures are for Dene Community School, the school this one replaced in September 2019. Same building and the same children. It got a new registration number, usually because it joined an academy trust.
What pupils do next
After GCSEs
Where the 124 pupils who left in 2022/23 were a year later.
Earlier years
| Destination | 2022/23 leavers | 2021/22 leavers | 2020/21 leavers | 2019/20 leavers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Still in education, work or training | 85% | 88% | 88% | 91% |
| Education | 78% | 76% | 79% | 82% |
| Apprenticeship | 5% | 7% | 3% | 4% |
| Work | 2% | 5% | 7% | 5% |
| Not in education, work or training | 11% | 11% | 9% | 9% |
Staff and money
From the government's count of school staff in November 2025 and the school's published accounts.
Money
From the academy accounts return, year to August 2025. The per-pupil figures are compared with other secondary schools in England that report their accounts the same way.
Reserves are the money left over at the end of the year, kept back for emergencies and big projects. Being in the red year after year is a warning sign. Very large reserves can mean money sitting in the bank instead of being spent on today's pupils. Academy figures are rounded to the nearest £1,000 and include a share of any money the trust holds centrally.
The area around the school
Crime figures come from police.uk. The police record each crime at the nearest of a fixed set of map points rather than the exact spot, so “within 500 m” is only rough. House prices are from HM Land Registry sales nearby over the last two years.
Nearby schools
The closest secondary schools, nearest first. Hover over a row to see it on the map.
| School | Type | Distance | Pupils | Ofsted | Score | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| St Bede's Catholic School and Byron Sixth Form College | Academy | 1.2 miles | 891 | Good 2023 | 28 | Compare |
| The Academy at Shotton Hall | Academy | 1.5 miles | 1,202 | Outstanding 2024 | 88 | Compare |
| Easington Academy | Academy | 2.2 miles | 769 | No overall grade 2025 | 62 | Compare |
| Wellfield School | Academy | 3.0 miles | 862 | Not inspected | 52 | Compare |
| St Hild's Church of England School | Academy | 4.8 miles | 581 | Requires improvement 2024 | 2 | Compare |
Compared with schools like it
Our score compares Dene Academy with the 50 schools in England whose pupils are most like its own. We match on family income, how many children are learning English, special needs, the neighbourhood, the size of the school and how it admits pupils. Those 50 schools are dotted all over the country, so we don't list them. What matters is where this school sits among them.
No school with a similar mix of pupils within 25 km scores clearly higher.
How the score was worked out
The score is out of 100. A 47 means that once everything below is added up, this school comes out ahead of 47% of secondary schools in England. Results bounce around from year to year, especially in small schools, so we also show a likely range: 36 to 59. Every part is judged against schools with a similar mix of pupils. For small schools we pull each part towards the group average, so one unusual year can't swing the score too far.
| What we looked at | How much it counts | Against schools like it | Effect on the score | Based on |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Results over three years | 20% | below | -0.21 | 2025, 2024 and 2023 results; 96 pupils |
| Ofsted inspection | 20% | in line | +0.02 | Ofsted grade, 2.8 years old |
| Progress pupils make | 20% | in line | -0.01 | DfE progress measure; 96 pupils |
| Direction of travel over five years | 10% | in line | +0.01 | results and attendance falling year on year |
| Attendance and behaviour | 10% | below | -0.07 | 2024/25; 678 pupils |
| Results, allowing for the mix of pupils | 10% | well above | +0.28 | Attainment relative to schools with a similar intake; 96 pupils |
| What pupils do next | 5% | well below | -0.07 | 124 pupils |
| What parents say | 0% | no data | – |
Worked out on 13 September 2026 (method v1). Read how the score works, including every weight and the checks we run. Think a number is wrong? Tell us.
Questions parents ask
Is Dene Academy a good school?
It is about average. Dene Academy scores 47 out of 100. That is in line with schools that take in a similar mix of pupils, and ahead of 100% of the 50 schools most like it in England. The score could fairly be anywhere from 36 to 59, so a few points either way between schools doesn't mean much.
What is Dene Academy's Ofsted rating?
Ofsted rated Dene Academy good at its last full inspection on 22 November 2023.
How good are Dene Academy's GCSE results?
In summer 2025, 33% of pupils got a grade 5 or better in both English and maths. Across England it was 46%. Its Attainment 8 score, which is the average grade across a pupil's best eight subjects times ten, was 41.4, against 46.8 for England. In each subject, pupils here finished about half a grade ahead of children across England who started secondary school at the same level.
How many pupils does Dene Academy have?
638 pupils aged 11 to 16 were on the roll in January 2026. It has 818 places, so it is 78% full.
Is Dene Academy oversubscribed?
Probably not. 446 places were empty in 2024/25 (41% of the total), so most families who apply get a place.
What is attendance like at Dene Academy?
Pupils were in school 89.7% of the time in 2024/25. Similar schools in England managed 91.4%. 30% of pupils missed at least a tenth of the year.
How big are the classes at Dene Academy?
The average class had 19.9 pupils in January 2026. Across England it was 22.8. 3% of classes had more than 30 pupils.
Does Dene Academy have a sixth form?
No. Pupils leave after Year 11 for a sixth form elsewhere, a college or an apprenticeship; 85% of 2022/23 leavers were still in education, work or training six months on.
These answers come straight from the figures on this page and update when new data comes out.
Contact and details
- Address
- Manor Way, Peterlee, SR8 5RL
- Telephone
- 0191 554 6000
- Website
- www.deneacademy.org.uk
- Head Teacher
- Mr David Nelson
- Type of school
- Converter academy (Academy converter, academies)
- Phase
- Secondary school, ages 11-16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Multi-academy trust
- Advance Learning Partnership (23 schools)
- Local authority
- County Durham
- Ward
- Horden & Dene House
- Constituency
- Easington
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Opened
- 1 September 2019 (academy converter)
- URN
- 147122 · LAESTAB 8404214 · UKPRN 10084234
- Formerly
- Dene Community School
Recent changes
- New KS4 results for 2024/25
Where these figures come from
- School details: Department for Education, Get Information About Schools, refreshed daily (this page rebuilt 13 September 2026).
- Inspections: Ofsted management information, monthly; latest publication in our data 27 August 2026.
- GCSE results: DfE key stage 4 performance tables, 2024/25 final.
- Attendance: DfE pupil absence in schools in England, 2024/25 full year.
- Pupil characteristics: DfE school census, January 2026.
- Staff: DfE school workforce census, November 2025.
- Class sizes: DfE schools, pupils and their characteristics, January 2026.
- Pupil premium: DfE allocations and conditions of grant, 2026 to 2027.
- Money: DfE financial benchmarking and insights tool, academy accounts return 2024/25.
- Admissions outcomes: County Durham council's published allocation statistics (source), entry years 2026.
- Neighbourhood: police.uk street-level crime, HM Land Registry price paid data, NaPTAN bus stops, English Indices of Deprivation 2025.
- All under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Full list and update calendar.