Local authority · North East
Sunderland has 21 secondary schools in this dataset — 19 state-funded and 2 independent. 4 have a religious character; 7 have a sixth form.
The typical school here posts a three-year Progress 8 of -0.36 (below average) — 0.35 of a grade per subject below the national median of -0.01. That is the middle of the 18 schools in this area with a published score.
The spread inside the area is wider than the gap between areas: from -0.92 to +0.37. Which school a child goes to matters more here than which area you move to.
For 2026 entry the typical school here drew 0.97 first preferences per place — more pressure than the national median of 0.95×. 4 of the 18 schools with published figures were named first by more families than they had places for. A high figure means popular, not good, and it is not your chance of a place — that depends on where you live.
Overall absence runs at 11.3% for the typical school here, above the national median of 8.7%. Absence is a plainer signal of whether pupils are turning up and engaged than any grade average.
Ordered on the three-year average Progress 8, which is steadier than any single year. Read the confidence interval beside each score before you read the order: it is the range the school's true figure is likely to sit in, and a wide one means a small year group rather than an unpredictable school.
| School | Progress 8 | 95% interval | Attainment 8 | Pressure | Ofsted | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | St Aidan's Catholic AcademyAcademy converter | +0.37above average | +0.13 to +0.622023–24 | 54.0 | 0.98× | Good (Improving) (ungraded) |
| 2 | St Robert of Newminster Catholic School and Sixth Form College, WashingtonAcademy converter | +0.14average | -0.05 to +0.312023–24 | 52.9 | 1.10× | Good (ungraded) |
| 3 | St Anthony's Girls' Catholic AcademyAcademy converter | -0.01average | -0.09 to +0.272023–24 | 54.5 | 1.21× | Good |
| 4 | Farringdon Community AcademyAcademy converter | -0.04average | -0.28 to +0.202023–24 | 45.9 | 0.98× | Expected standard (achievement) |
| 5 | Red House AcademyAcademy sponsor led | -0.09average | -0.18 to +0.462023–24 | 43.3 | 0.97× | Good |
| 6 | Hetton AcademyAcademy converter | -0.12average | -0.09 to +0.452023–24 | 46.1 | 0.82× | — |
| 7 | KepierAcademy converter | -0.30below average | -0.48 to -0.092023–24 | 48.2 | 1.11× | Good |
| 8 | Oxclose Community AcademyAcademy converter | -0.30below average | -0.56 to -0.192023–24 | 44.2 | 0.94× | Good (ungraded) |
| 9 | Biddick AcademyAcademy converter | -0.35below average | -0.44 to -0.062023–24 | 44.6 | 0.93× | Expected standard (achievement) |
| 10 | Southmoor AcademyAcademy converter | -0.37below average | -0.46 to -0.102023–24 | 48.0 | 1.00× | Good (ungraded) |
| 11 | Christ's CollegeFree schools | -0.43below average | -1.03 to -0.322023–24 | 42.5 | 1.29× | Good |
| 12 | Sandhill View AcademyAcademy sponsor led | -0.43below average | -0.33 to +0.172023–24 | 41.2 | 0.91× | Expected standard (achievement) |
| 13 | Monkwearmouth AcademyAcademy converter | -0.43below average | -0.42 to +0.002023–24 | 46.3 | 0.90× | Good |
| 14 | Castle View Enterprise AcademyAcademy sponsor led | -0.57well below average | -0.38 to +0.022023–24 | 43.2 | 0.97× | Good |
| 15 | Thornhill AcademyAcademy sponsor led | -0.65well below average | -0.66 to -0.132023–24 | 38.3 | 0.61× | Good |
| 16 | Washington AcademyAcademy converter | -0.84well below average | -1.22 to -0.762023–24 | 34.5 | 0.97× | Needs attention (achievement) |
| 17 | Venerable Bede Church of England AcademyAcademy converter | -0.92well below average | -1.25 to -0.832023–24 | 41.4 | 0.89× | Good (ungraded) |
| 18 | Academy 360Academy sponsor led | -0.92well below average | -1.56 to -1.062023–24 | 32.6 | 0.90× | Good |
6 of the 17 other schools ranked here have a confidence interval that overlaps St Aidan's Catholic Academy's. On these figures they cannot be told apart from the school at the top of the table, and the order between them is not a finding. 8 schools here have an interval that includes zero (shaded above) — those cannot be told apart from an average school nationally.
These are not bottom of the table — they are not in it. A school with no published score has not done badly; the measure was not calculated for it, and the reason differs.
| Argyle House School | Independent — no Progress 8 is calculated for fee-paying schools |
|---|---|
| City of Sunderland College | Sixth-form or 16–19 site — no GCSE cohort, so no Progress 8 |
| Hopespring Sunderland | Independent — no Progress 8 is calculated for fee-paying schools |
The most sought-after school in Sunderland for 2026 entry was Christ's College at 1.29 first preferences per place — 115 families named it first for 89 places.
Pressure is not a chance of admission. A school with two applicants per place can still admit every family living near it, while a less popular school further away turns you down. Distance from the gate is usually what decides it, and no national figure can tell you that for your own address.
See Sunderland on the map →The same schools on a map, with every filter: results, admissions pressure, Ofsted, faith and selection — or sorted by distance from your own postcode.Admissions do not stop at an authority line. If you live near one, your realistic list of schools spans both sides of it.
The results here are for 2023–24 and earlier, so they describe pupils who have already left. Nothing on this page covers sixth-form results, pastoral care, music, sport or drama, or how a school feels to walk around — which is what parents most often say settled it. The ranking is a starting point for a shortlist, not a verdict on a school.
Nor is it a prediction of a place. Admission depends on each school's criteria and, most often, on how far you live from it — and in Sunderland you apply for a state-funded place through the council's coordinated scheme, naming several schools in order of preference.