St Bede's Catholic School and Sixth Form College, Lanchester

Term dates

Academies can set their own term dates. Many follow County Durham council's dates, shown below as a guide, but check with the school, especially for INSET days.

• Term
• Holiday
• INSET day
• Exeat

See County Durham's full dates

Admissions

Places for Year 7 are applied for through your home council, not the school.

Apply for a secondary school place on GOV.UK

How places are given: as a Roman Catholic school, it may give priority to children of that faith, then usually by distance. Check its admissions policy.

For the sixth form, apply to the school directly.

How many families applied: Year 7

For September 2026, 205 families put this school as their first choice, and 221 places were offered. 205 of the families who put it first got a place (100%).

Offers made on national offer day, from the Department for Education. Waiting lists and appeals can change things later. The hardest schools to get into.

Ofsted inspection

Report card, 17 March 2026. Ofsted now grades each area separately, from exceptional to urgent improvement, with no single overall grade.

Inclusion

Expected standard

Curriculum and teaching

Expected standard

Achievement

Expected standard

Attendance and behaviour

Expected standard

Personal development and wellbeing

Expected standard

Sixth form

Expected standard

Leadership and governance

Expected standard

Safeguarding standards: met.

Previous inspection, 21 March 2023. Overall: Requires improvement

Read the Ofsted reports

From Ofsted's published inspection data (Open Government Licence). Report cards and older grades use different scales, so they can't be compared directly.

About and location

Type

Academy

Phase

Secondary

Ages

11–18

Pupils

1240 (capacity 1450)

Gender

Mixed

Religious character

Roman Catholic

Diocese

Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle

Academy trust

BISHOP WILKINSON CATHOLIC EDUCATION TRUST

Phone

01207520424

Address

Consett Road, Lanchester, Durham, DH7 0RD

Website

stbedes.durham.sch.uk

Official school record, including Ofsted reports