St John's Catholic School & Sixth Form College

Secondary Academy Bishop Auckland 📅 Term dates 2025–2026 🏅 Ofsted: Good 📊 Attainment 8: 46.4

St John's Catholic School & Sixth Form College is a mixed secondary academy in Bishop Auckland, Durham County Council, teaching 1,229 pupils aged 11 to 18. Its last Ofsted inspection in May 2024 found the school remains Good. In 2024–2025, GCSE Attainment 8 was 46.4 (England 46.1). The 2025–2026 school year runs from 2 September 2025 to 17 July 2026.

Ofsted inspection

The latest published Ofsted judgement for St John's Catholic School & Sixth Form College.

Latest inspection
Good Ungraded inspection
Outcome: School remains Good. Ungraded (short) inspections confirm whether standards are maintained since the last full graded inspection — they don’t assign new category grades.
Ungraded inspection · Inspected 9 May 2024 · Published 9 Jun 2024
Read full Ofsted report ↗

Term dates & holidays 2025–2026

Autumn, spring and summer terms, half-terms, INSET days and bank holidays for St John's Catholic School & Sixth Form College.

St John's Catholic School & Sixth Form College original calendar 2025–2026
Original calendar · source
Download PDF
St John's Catholic School & Sixth Form College interactive calendar 2025–2026
Interactive calendar
Download Term Dates 2025–2026
All 2 pages of the original:

Interactive Calendar

September 2025
MonTueWedThuFriSatSun 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
  • 1 Inset Day
  • 2 Autumn Term Starts
October 2025
MonTueWedThuFriSatSun 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
  • 20 Inset Day
  • 27–31 Autumn Half Term
November 2025
MonTueWedThuFriSatSun 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
December 2025
MonTueWedThuFriSatSun 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
  • 19 Autumn Term Ends
  • 22–31 Christmas Holiday
  • 22 Inset Day
  • 25 Christmas Day
  • 26 Boxing Day
January 2026
MonTueWedThuFriSatSun 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
  • 1–2 Christmas Holiday
  • 1–2 Inset Day
  • 1 New Year's Day
  • 5 Spring Term Starts
February 2026
MonTueWedThuFriSatSun 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28
  • 23–27 Spring Half Term
March 2026
MonTueWedThuFriSatSun 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
  • 27 Spring Term Ends
April 2026
MonTueWedThuFriSatSun 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
  • 3 Good Friday
  • 6–17 Easter Holiday
  • 6 Inset Day
  • 6 Easter Monday
  • 20 Summer Term Starts
May 2026
MonTueWedThuFriSatSun 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
  • 4 Inset Day
  • 4 Early May Bank Holiday
  • 25–29 Summer Half Term
  • 25 Spring Bank Holiday
June 2026
MonTueWedThuFriSatSun 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
July 2026
MonTueWedThuFriSatSun 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
  • 17 Summer Term Ends
  • 20–31 Summer Holiday
  • 20 Inset Day
August 2026
MonTueWedThuFriSatSun 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
  • 1–31 Summer Holiday
  • 3 Inset Day
  • 31 Summer Bank Holiday

Key dates (2025–2026)

  • Autumn Term Starts Sep 2, 2025 Term
  • Autumn Half Term Oct 27-31, 2025 Holiday
  • Autumn Term Ends Dec 19, 2025 Term
  • Christmas Holiday Dec 22, 2025 - Jan 2, 2026 Holiday
  • Spring Term Starts Jan 5, 2026 Term
  • Spring Half Term Feb 23-27, 2026 Holiday
  • Spring Term Ends Mar 27, 2026 Term
  • Easter Holiday Apr 6-17, 2026 Holiday
  • Summer Term Starts Apr 20, 2026 Term
  • Summer Half Term May 25-29, 2026 Holiday
  • Summer Term Ends Jul 17, 2026 Term
  • Summer Holiday Jul 20 - Aug 31, 2026 Holiday
  • Inset Day Sep 1, 2025 Inset Day
  • Inset Day Oct 20, 2025 Inset Day
  • Inset Day Dec 22, 2025 Inset Day
  • Inset Day Jan 1-2, 2026 Inset Day
  • Inset Day Apr 6, 2026 Inset Day
  • Inset Day May 4, 2026 Inset Day
  • Inset Day Jul 20, 2026 Inset Day
  • Inset Day Aug 3, 2026 Inset Day
  • New Year's Day Jan 1, 2026 Event
  • Good Friday Apr 3, 2026 Event
  • Easter Monday Apr 6, 2026 Holiday
  • Early May Bank Holiday May 4, 2026 Holiday
  • Spring Bank Holiday May 25, 2026 Holiday
  • Summer Bank Holiday Aug 31, 2026 Holiday
  • Christmas Day Dec 25, 2025 Holiday
  • Boxing Day Dec 26, 2025 Event

Exam results & performance

DfE performance tables Official results, 2024–2025 GOV.UK ↗
46.4 Attainment 8 England 46.1 Top 37%
41.3% Grade 5+ English & maths England 45.4%
36.37 A level average score England 35 Top 34%
26.9% Persistent absence England 17.8%

The measures that carry the most signal. Open a section to compare St John's Catholic School & Sixth Form College with Durham County Council and England.

Key stage 4 (GCSE) 46.4 Attainment 8 score

Year 11 results across eight qualifications, including English and maths.

This school Durham County Council England

Attainment 8 score · Average across 8 GCSEs, out of 90 46.4
Durham County Council 44.1 England 46.1 in line with England
Grade 5+ in English & maths · A strong pass 41.3%
Durham County Council 41.6% England 45.4% -4.1 vs England
Attainment 8 — disadvantaged pupils 40
Durham County Council 35.6 England 34.9 +5.1 vs England
Disadvantage gap · Attainment 8 points; smaller is better 8.8
Durham County Council 12.5 England 15.5 -6.7 vs England
Disadvantaged pupils in the year group · Context for the scores above 27.7%
Durham County Council 31.9% England 28.2%
Pupils in the year group · Small cohorts swing wildly 206
16 to 18 (A level & sixth form) 36.37 A level average point score

Results for students finishing post-16 study.

This school Durham County Council England

A level average point score · Per entry, 50 = A* 36.37
Durham County Council 35.7 England 35 +1.4 vs England
A level students · Small cohorts swing wildly 64
Attendance 26.9% Persistently absent pupils

Absence across the whole school year.

This school Durham County Council England

Persistently absent pupils · Missed 10%+ of sessions; lower is better 26.9%
Durham County Council 18.8% England 17.8% +9.1 vs England
Overall absence · Lower is better 8.5%
Durham County Council 6.9% England 6.8% +1.8 vs England
What pupils do after GCSEs 95% In education, apprenticeship or work

Still in education, an apprenticeship or work a year after key stage 4.

This school Durham County Council England

In education, apprenticeship or work 95%
Durham County Council 89% England 92% +3 vs England
Same, for disadvantaged pupils 89%
Durham County Council 80% England 83% +6 vs England
What students do after 16 to 18 study 89% In education, apprenticeship or work

Destinations the year after finishing post-16 study.

This school Durham County Council England

In education, apprenticeship or work 89%
Durham County Council 76% England 79% +10 vs England
Went to higher education 47%
Durham County Council 32% England 37% +10 vs England
About this data source & caveats

Progress 8 is not published for 2024–2025. This year group missed their key stage 2 tests in 2020, so there is no baseline to measure progress from.

Attendance comparisons are pupil-weighted averages we calculate from every school’s published absence figure — the DfE absence file has no local authority or England rows of its own.

We show the headline measures only. Threshold and curriculum-policy figures — grade 4+ in English and maths, EBacc entry and points, the per-subject key stage 2 breakdown, academic and applied splits at 16 to 18 — reflect admissions and curriculum choices more than school quality, so they are left to GOV.UK. Progress measures matter most because they compare pupils with others who started at the same level; attainment on its own largely tracks a school’s intake.

Figures are the Department for Education’s official published results for St John's Catholic School & Sixth Form College. Results are suppressed where too few pupils were entered. England figures are the average for state-funded schools. “Top x%” is this school’s position among all schools in England with a published figure for that measure — the DfE does not publish league table rankings.

Source: Compare school and college performance, Department for Education. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Location & catchment area

Indicative catchment Other secondary schools

Indicative only. This is a nearest-school (Voronoi) estimate — the area closer to St John's Catholic School & Sixth Form College than to any other secondary school. Real admissions depend on the school’s own policy (straight-line distance, siblings, faith, feeder schools and available places) and change each year. Always confirm with the school and local authority admissions team.