Schools in Sunderland: Ofsted Results and How Admissions Work

Sunderland's state schools are spread across the city, Washington and the Coalfield towns of Houghton-le-Spring and Hetton-le-Hole, and include academies, community schools and church schools. This guide explains admissions, the new Ofsted grading, and what recent inspections say about the city's secondaries and the primaries inspected in 2026.

Inspections are a snapshot, so read the full report and visit before you apply.

How admissions work

Places at state schools in Sunderland are applied for through Sunderland City Council's coordinated admissions scheme, even when the school is an academy. You apply online, list your preferences in order, and the council makes one offer. The national deadlines are 31 October for secondary places, and 15 January for primary places. Each academy and church school sets its own oversubscription criteria, so read the admissions policy of every school you list. Apply through the Sunderland City Council website.

How Ofsted grades work now

Ofsted stopped giving schools a single-word overall grade, such as "good" or "outstanding", in September 2024. Inspections between then and late 2025 graded four areas instead: quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, and leadership and management.

Since November 2025, schools receive a report card. It grades each area on a five-point scale (exceptional, strong standard, expected standard, needs attention, urgent improvement) across inclusion, curriculum and teaching, achievement, attendance and behaviour, personal development and wellbeing, and leadership and governance, plus early years in primaries and sixth form where there is one. Safeguarding is recorded as met or not met. "Expected standard" means the school is doing what Ofsted expects; it is not a criticism.

Schools last inspected before September 2024 still show an older overall grade. You can read every report on the Ofsted reports website.

Secondary schools

The table gives each secondary school's most recent outcome. Dates for older grades are the year the report was published.

Venerable Bede has had monitoring visits since its 2025 inspection, the most recent in May 2026, and those letters are published with its reports.

Primary schools inspected in 2026

Many primaries have not yet had a report card. These are the Sunderland primaries with report cards from late 2025 and 2026, all of which met the safeguarding standard.

Sixth forms and college

Several secondaries have their own sixth forms, including St Robert of Newminster in Washington. St Aidan's and St Anthony's run a joint Catholic sixth form south of the city centre, graded good for sixth form provision in St Aidan's 2025 report.

Sunderland College, part of Education Partnership North East, is the city's main further education college. Its Bede Campus on Durham Road houses its A-level sixth form, and its City Campus is in the city centre. Ofsted rated the college outstanding at its most recent full inspection, published in November 2024. Applications for college and sixth form places go directly to the provider, not through the council.

Visiting schools

Secondaries usually hold open evenings in the early autumn, and many primaries offer tours before the January deadline. Ask about class sizes, support for special educational needs, and what has changed since the last inspection.

For younger children, see our guide to nurseries in Sunderland, and for more on settling into the city, our guide to moving to Sunderland.

Know a place we have missed? Get in touch.