Endeavour Academy Durham
Endeavour Academy Durham is a free schools alternative provision in Peterlee for boys and girls aged 14 to 19. It has 50 pupils and every place is taken. About 64 in every 100 pupils come from a low-income family, far more than at most schools in England. Ofsted's last grade was good, back in 2024.
Willerby Grove, Peterlee, SR8 2RN0191 518 5595endeavouracademy.co.ukHeadteacher Kerrie Whelan headteacherAll details
What Ofsted found
A shorter visit on 26 June 2024 found nothing to change the school's grade. Read the report on Ofsted's website.
Good overall. A shorter follow-up visit found nothing to change that. The last full inspection was before September 2019, which is as far back as Ofsted's public records go, so we can't show its date or the grades for each area.
Results
GCSE results, summer 2017
36 pupils sat their GCSEs. Here is how they did against every state secondary in England.
All GCSE measures, year by year
| Measure | 2017 | 2016 | County Durham | England |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of Year 11 | 36 | 31 | – | – |
| Average GCSE scoreAttainment 8 | 31.0 | 40.3 | 44.6 | 48.0 |
| Progress from age 11Progress 8 | -0.76 | -0.62 | -0.21 | +0.05 |
| Strong pass in English and mathsGrade 5+ in English and maths | 6% | – | 37% | 45% |
| Standard pass in English and mathsGrade 4+ in English and maths | 19% | – | 58% | 67% |
| Taking the core subjectsEBacc entry | 0% | 0% | 31% | 40% |
| Average GCSE score: low-income pupilsAttainment 8, disadvantaged | 30.9 | 39.8 | – | – |
| Average GCSE score: other pupilsAttainment 8, non-disadvantaged | 31.2 | 41.2 | – | – |
| Average GCSE score: pupils who started behindAttainment 8, low prior attainers | 24.0 | 28.3 | – | – |
A level and sixth-form results, 2017
47 students finished sixth-form courses.
All sixth-form measures, year by year
| Measure | 2017 | 2016 |
|---|---|---|
| Students | 47 | 41 |
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. 1 of the 2 gaps is 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, 2017
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
Admissions policy not published.
197 places were empty (66% of the total), so almost everyone who applies gets in.
Each council publishes its own figures on how many families applied and how far away the last child to get a place lived. We are adding councils one at a time. If you have a link to County Durham council's admissions booklet, send it to us.
Who goes here
Who the school teaches, from the latest school census.
The most common needs among pupils getting extra support: emotional and mental health (45), Autistic spectrum disorder (4), Moderate learning difficulty (1).
How the mix of pupils has changed
| Census | 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils on roll | 50 | 50 | 49 | 51 | 49 | 48 |
| Pupils from low-income familiesFree school meals | 64% | 64% | 57% | 59% | 49% | 54% |
| Pupils learning EnglishEnglish as an additional language | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Pupils getting extra supportSEN support | – | 74% | 78% | 75% | 78% | 77% |
| Pupils with an EHC planEducation, health and care plans | – | 26% | 22% | 26% | 23% | 23% |
Attendance and behaviour
In 2015/16 pupils were in school 91.4% of the time. Across similar schools in England it was 96.1%.
Attendance year by year
| Measure | 2015/16 | England |
|---|---|---|
| Sessions missedOverall absence | 8.6% | 3.9% |
| Pupils missing a lot of schoolPersistent absence | 26.1% | 8.1% |
| SuspensionsSuspension rate | 21.5 | – |
| Permanent exclusionsPermanent exclusions | 2 | – |
What pupils do next
After GCSEs
Where the 28 pupils who left in 2022/23 were a year later.
Among pupils from low-income families it was 50%, compared with 88% for everyone else.
Earlier years
| Destination | 2022/23 leavers | 2021/22 leavers | 2020/21 leavers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Still in education, work or training | 61% | 67% | 68% |
| Education | 61% | 53% | 61% |
| Apprenticeship | 0% | 3% | 3% |
| Work | 0% | 10% | 3% |
| Not in education, work or training | 29% | 27% | 19% |
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 primary 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 schools, nearest first. Hover over a row to see it on the map.
| School | Type | Distance | Pupils | Ofsted | Score | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| East Durham College | Further education | 0 m | – | Not inspected | – | Compare |
| St Bede's Catholic School and Byron Sixth Form College | Academy | 470 m | 891 | Good 2023 | 28 | Compare |
| Howletch Lane Primary School | Council | 480 m | 382 | No overall grade 2024 | 5 | Compare |
| Our Lady of the Rosary Catholic Primary School | Academy | 530 m | 191 | Good 2023 | 77 | Compare |
| Acre Rigg Infant School | Council | 580 m | 252 | Report card 2026 | 32 | Compare |
| Acre Rigg Academy | Academy | 590 m | 257 | Good 2023 | 15 | Compare |
| Shotton Hall Primary School | Council | 0.8 miles | 350 | Not inspected | 68 | Compare |
| The Academy at Shotton Hall | Academy | 0.8 miles | 1,202 | Outstanding 2024 | 88 | Compare |
Questions parents ask
Is Endeavour Academy Durham a good school?
Endeavour Academy Durham doesn't have a score yet. Ofsted rated it good at its last inspection in June 2024.
What is Endeavour Academy Durham's Ofsted rating?
Ofsted rated Endeavour Academy Durham good at its last full inspection on 26 June 2024.
How good are Endeavour Academy Durham's GCSE results?
In summer 2017, 6% of pupils got a grade 5 or better in both English and maths. Across England it was 45%. Its Attainment 8 score, which is the average grade across a pupil's best eight subjects times ten, was 31.0, against 48.0 for England. In each subject, pupils here finished most of a grade behind children across England who started secondary school at the same level.
How many pupils does Endeavour Academy Durham have?
50 pupils aged 14 to 19 were on the roll in January 2026. It has 50 places, so it is 100% full.
Is Endeavour Academy Durham oversubscribed?
Probably not. 197 places were empty in 2016/17 (66% of the total), so most families who apply get a place.
What is attendance like at Endeavour Academy Durham?
Pupils were in school 91.4% of the time in 2015/16. Similar schools in England managed 96.1%. 26% of pupils missed at least a tenth of the year.
These answers come straight from the figures on this page and update when new data comes out.
Contact and details
- Address
- Willerby Grove, Peterlee, SR8 2RN
- Telephone
- 0191 518 5595
- Website
- www.endeavouracademy.co.uk
- Headteacher
- Headteacher Kerrie Whelan
- Type of school
- Free schools alternative provision (Free schools alternative provision, free schools)
- Phase
- Pupil referral unit / alternative provision, ages 14-19
- Gender
- Mixed
- Multi-academy trust
- Apollo Schools Trust (1 schools)
- Local authority
- County Durham
- Ward
- Peterlee
- Constituency
- Easington
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Opened
- 1 September 2014 (new provision)
- URN
- 141109 · LAESTAB 8404003 · UKPRN 10047097
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, 2016/17 final.
- Attendance: DfE pupil absence in schools in England, 2015/16 full year.
- Pupil characteristics: DfE school census, January 2026.
- Staff: DfE school workforce census, November 2025.
- Pupil premium: DfE allocations and conditions of grant, 2026 to 2027.
- Money: DfE financial benchmarking and insights tool, academy accounts return 2024/25.
- 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.