St John's Catholic School & Sixth Form College, Bishop Auckland

From the headteacher's welcome: "At St John's we pride ourselves on being A Learning Community Guided by Gospel Values, where each individual is valued and nurtured to grow in confidence and to embrace their God-given talents."

Clubs and activities named on the school's website include football, netball, swimming, dance, coding, cooking, photography and Duke of Edinburgh.

In 2026, pupils at St John's Catholic School & Sixth Form College averaged an Attainment 8 score of 43.8, the average grade across their best eight GCSEs. The average state school scored 44.6 in County Durham and 47 across England.

45% passed English and maths at grade 5 or above, against 42% in County Durham and 47% in England.

That is down from 46.4 in 2025.

Its most recent Progress 8 score, for 2024, was 0.16: pupils made above average progress compared with pupils nationally who started secondary school at the same level. Progress 8 was not published for 2026.

Disadvantaged pupils averaged an Attainment 8 of 33.7, against 47.7 for other pupils at the school - a gap of 14 points.

Pupils sat GCSEs in 25 subjects; after English and maths, the most popular were Religious Studies, Combined Science and History.

For September 2026 entry, 210 families put St John's Catholic School & Sixth Form College as their first choice and 416 named it as one of their preferences, for 209 places offered. That is slightly more first choices than places. 7 families who put it first were not offered a place there.

The nearest other state secondary schools to St John's Catholic School & Sixth Form College are Bishop Barrington Academy (0.1 miles, Good, Attainment 8 39); King James I Academy Bishop Auckland (1.1 miles, Good, Attainment 8 43.1); Parkside Academy (3.9 miles, Good, Attainment 8 42); and Greenfield Academy (4.2 miles, Attainment 8 37.7).

St John's Catholic School & Sixth Form College's 2026 results were higher than all 4 of them.

St John's Catholic School & Sixth Form College is one of 35 schools run by Bishop Hogarth Catholic Education Trust, an academy trust.

Across the trust's secondary schools, pupils averaged an Attainment 8 score of 45.1 in 2024/25.

Of the 216 pupils who finished Year 11 in 2023/24, 86% stayed in education or training for at least two terms, including 25% to a further education college, 7% to an apprenticeship and 1% into work.

Of the 100 students who left the sixth form in 2023/24, 46% went on to university or other higher education, 18% to apprenticeships and 22% into work. 15% went to one of the most selective third of universities.

4.6% speak English as an additional language, against 18.8% on average, according to the 2026 school census.

In 2026, 126 pupils (10.3%) received SEN support and 16 (1.3%) had an education, health and care plan, against 16.2% and 4.6% at the average state school. The most common need among them is social, emotional and mental health needs.

The nearest railway station is Bishop Auckland West Weardale Rail Station, about 940 metres away (roughly a 12-minute walk).

11 bus stops are within a five-minute walk; the closest is St Johns RC School Yard (n-bound), 60 metres away.

Measured by the 2025 English Indices of Deprivation, the neighbourhood St John's Catholic School & Sixth Form College stands in is among the 20% least deprived neighbourhoods in England. This describes where the school is, not where its pupils live.

In August 2026, police recorded 309 crimes within a mile of the school, most often violence and sexual offences, shoplifting and anti-social behaviour. That is well above the typical figure around schools in County Durham (84), as is usual near a town centre.

In 2024/25, St John's Catholic School & Sixth Form College issued 148 suspensions, 11.7 for every 100 pupils (the average state school: 6.3), and 4 permanent exclusions.

The primary schools closest to St John's Catholic School & Sixth Form College are St Wilfrid's Catholic Primary School, Bishop Auckland (0.1 miles); St Anne's CofE Primary School (0.3 miles); Woodhouse Primary Academy (0.5 miles); and Cockton Hill Infant School (0.7 miles). Admission does not depend on which primary a child attends unless the school's policy names feeder schools.