Norman Cornish Academy
Norman Cornish Academy is a special academy in Spennymoor for boys and girls aged 11 to 16. It has 64 pupils and room for 75. About 78 in every 100 pupils come from a low-income family, far more than at most schools in England. Ofsted's last grade was requires improvement, back in 2023.
Whitworth Lane, Spennymoor, DL16 7QW01388 811178horizonstrust.org.uk/our-academies/the-meadows-academyMs L Winter headteacherAll details
What Ofsted found
Ofsted's last full inspection was on 5 December 2023, back when it gave schools one overall grade. Read the report on Ofsted's website.
Requires improvement overall.
Results
GCSE results, summer 2025
16 pupils sat their GCSEs. Here is how they did against every state secondary in England. These are the results of The Meadows School, the school this one replaced.
All GCSE measures, year by year
| Measure | 2025† | 2024† | 2023† | 2022† | 2019† | 2018† | County Durham | England |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of Year 11 | 16 | 17 | 10 | 18 | 13 | 16 | – | – |
| Average GCSE scoreAttainment 8 | 5.7 | 10.2 | 7.2 | 9.4 | 7.8 | 5.3 | 44.2 | 46.8 |
| Progress from age 11Progress 8 | – | -2.01 | -2.55 | -2.33 | -2.31 | -2.44 | – | – |
| Strong pass in English and mathsGrade 5+ in English and maths | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 41% | 46% |
| Standard pass in English and mathsGrade 4+ in English and maths | 0% | 6% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 61% | 66% |
| Core subjects scoreEBacc average point score | 0.26 | 0.44 | 0.32 | 0.40 | 0.32 | 0.20 | 3.75 | 4.15 |
| Taking the core subjectsEBacc entry | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 32% | 41% |
| Average GCSE score: low-income pupilsAttainment 8, disadvantaged | – | 10.2 | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Average GCSE score: pupils who started behindAttainment 8, low prior attainers | – | 9.0 | – | 10.2 | 5.8 | 5.6 | – | – |
† These results are for The Meadows School, the school this one replaced in February 2025. Same building and the same children. It got a new registration number, usually because it joined an academy trust.
Getting a place
Admissions policy not published.
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.
Specialist SEND provision. A special school for pupils with social, emotional and mental health.
To get a place in the unit or resourced provision, a child normally needs an education, health and care plan (EHCP) that names the school. Other schools in County Durham with social, emotional and mental health provision.
The most common needs among pupils getting extra support: emotional and mental health (50), Autistic spectrum disorder (5), Specific learning difficulty (3), Moderate learning difficulty (2), language and communications needs (2), Other difficulty or disability (1).
Attendance and behaviour
In 2024/25 pupils were in school 70.1% of the time. Across similar schools in England it was 94.8%.
Attendance year by year
| Measure | 2024/25† | 2023/24† | 2022/23† | 2021/22† | 2020/21† | 2018/19† | England |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sessions missedOverall absence | 29.9% | 31.6% | 24.4% | 19.2% | 15.1% | 11.6% | 5.2% |
| Missed with permissionAuthorised absence | 16.0% | 14.4% | 14.9% | 13.3% | 10.6% | 4.1% | – |
| Missed without permissionUnauthorised absence | 13.9% | 17.2% | 9.6% | 5.9% | 4.6% | 7.5% | – |
| Pupils missing a lot of schoolPersistent absence | 59.1% | 65.1% | 67.7% | 63.1% | 54.0% | 39.7% | 12.8% |
† These attendance figures are for The Meadows School, the school this one replaced in February 2025. Same building and the same children. It got a new registration number, usually because it joined an academy trust.
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 special 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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Whitworth Park Academy | Academy | 410 m | 996 | Good 2022 | 56 | Compare |
| Rosa Street Primary and Nursery Academy | Academy | 660 m | 245 | Good 2019 | 49 | Compare |
| Middlestone Moor Academy | Academy | 800 m | 265 | Report card 2026 | 53 | Compare |
| The Oaks Secondary School | Council | 840 m | 349 | Outstanding 2023 | – | Compare |
| King Street Primary School | Council | 0.8 miles | 224 | Good 2024 | 39 | Compare |
| Springmoor Grange School | Council | 1.0 miles | 415 | Good 2024 | 31 | Compare |
| North Park Primary School | Council | 1.1 miles | 243 | Good 2023 | 26 | Compare |
| St Charles' Catholic Primary School, Tudhoe | Academy | 1.2 miles | 232 | Good 2024 | 70 | Compare |
Questions parents ask
Is Norman Cornish Academy a good school?
Norman Cornish Academy doesn't have a score yet. Ofsted rated it requires improvement at its last inspection in December 2023.
What is Norman Cornish Academy's Ofsted rating?
Ofsted rated Norman Cornish Academy requires improvement at its last full inspection on 5 December 2023.
How good are Norman Cornish Academy's GCSE results?
In summer 2025, 0% 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 5.7, against 46.8 for England. In each subject, pupils here finished well over a grade behind children across England who started secondary school at the same level.
How many pupils does Norman Cornish Academy have?
64 pupils aged 11 to 16 were on the roll in January 2026. It has 75 places, so it is 85% full.
What is attendance like at Norman Cornish Academy?
Pupils were in school 70.1% of the time in 2024/25. Similar schools in England managed 94.8%. 59% of pupils missed at least a tenth of the year.
Does Norman Cornish Academy have specialist SEND provision?
Yes. It is a special school for social, emotional and mental health. To get a place there, a child normally needs an education, health and care plan (EHCP) that names the school.
These answers come straight from the figures on this page and update when new data comes out.
Contact and details
- Address
- Whitworth Lane, Spennymoor, DL16 7QW
- Telephone
- 01388 811178
- Website
- www.horizonstrust.org.uk/our-academies/the-meadows-academy
- Headteacher
- Ms L Winter
- Type of school
- Special academy (Academy special converter, academies)
- Phase
- Special school, ages 11-16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Multi-academy trust
- Horizons Specialist Academy Trust (8 schools)
- Local authority
- County Durham
- Ward
- Spennymoor
- Constituency
- Newton Aycliffe and Spennymoor
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Opened
- 1 February 2025 (academy converter)
- URN
- 151483 · LAESTAB 8407000 · UKPRN 10096979
- Formerly
- The Meadows School
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.
- 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.