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Schools in Darlington

46 schools in the Darlington local authority.

Schools

46

Open schools

Pupils

16,037

2025–26 census

Good or better

95%

39 of 41 graded

Academic Performance

5.2

out of 10 · 45 schools

Ofsted ratings

Outstanding
4 10%
Good
35 85%
Requires improvement
2 5%
Inadequate
0 0%
2 inspected since 2024, no overall grade7 superseded by a report card3 not judged
5.2
Academic Performance

Averaged over 45 of 46 schools that can be scored

Pupils

16,037

pupils on roll

Boys 51%49% Girls

Ethnicity

White
85%
Asian
5%
Black
4%
Mixed
3%
Chinese
<1%
Any other group
1%
Unclassified
<1%

Ethnicity from 42 of 46 schools (15,904 pupils). Independent schools report roll and sex only.

Pupil characteristics

Free school meals
29.1%

4,629 of 15,904 pupils · 42 of 46 schools

First language not English
10.7%

1,699 of 15,904 pupils · 42 of 46 schools

Young carers
<1%

91 of 15,698 pupils · 40 of 46 schools

Schools by phase

Primary
29
Secondary
8
Special
2
Nursery
2
PRU
1
Not recorded
4

Top primary schools in Darlington

The 20 highest-scoring primary schools here on Academic Performance, which combines the Ofsted judgement with DfE attainment.

Top secondary schools in Darlington

The highest-scoring secondary schools here on Academic Performance, which combines the Ofsted judgement with DfE attainment.

Browse all 46 schools in Darlington — filter by phase or Ofsted rating.

About schools in Darlington

How many schools are there in Darlington?
Darlington has 46 open schools — 29 primary, 8 secondary, 2 special, 2 nursery, teaching 16,037 pupils in total.
How many schools in Darlington are rated Good or Outstanding?
39 of the 41 schools holding an Ofsted grade — 95% — are rated Good or Outstanding, including 4 rated Outstanding. That share is measured against graded schools, not all 46: a school inspected since September 2024 has no overall grade at all.
What is the average Academic Performance in Darlington?
5.2 out of 10, averaged across the 45 schools here that can be scored, where 5 is the national average. Academic Performance combines the Ofsted judgement with DfE attainment and is ranked against comparable schools, so it is neither figure on its own.
Why do some Darlington schools have no Ofsted rating?
5 schools in Darlington currently hold no overall grade. Ofsted stopped awarding single-word judgements in September 2024 and moved to a report card of separately graded areas, so schools inspected since then have no overall rating whatever the inspection found. Their profiles show the report card instead.
What does Darlington local authority do?
A local authority is the body responsible for state education in its area — the level most admissions and school-place decisions are made at. Darlington covers 46 schools and sits in the North East region. It does not run academies or independent schools directly, though it still coordinates admissions for most of them.
How many pupils in Darlington are eligible for free school meals?
29.1% — 4,629 of 15,904 pupils at the 42 schools that report it. Independent schools file a return with roll and sex only, so they are outside this figure rather than counted as zero.

Part of the North East region.