The Oaks Secondary School
Four in five Year 11 leavers stay in education (England 86%); as a special school, its figures are not comparable with mainstream schools.
of Year 11 leavers stayed in education · County Durham 81% · England 86% · DfE destination measures, pupils who left in 2023
- Ofsted
- Standards kept
- Places
- —
- Pupils
- 349
- Free school meals
- 64.8%
Ofsted: Short inspection, 18 May 2023: the last full grade still stands · report. Places: the last distance at which places were offered is not on file (it comes from County Durham’s allocation statistics). Free school meals: pupils eligible, a measure of family income.
Where do pupils go at 16?
DfE Key Stage 4 destination measures · 55 pupils who left Year 11 in 2023
Of the 55 pupils who finished Year 11 at The Oaks Secondary School in 2023, 0% stayed on in The Oaks Secondary School’s own sixth form (County Durham average 30%), 47% went to a further education college and none started an apprenticeship.
Stayed in education — counted only if the pupil was still there for two terms of the next year; apprenticeships and jobs are counted the same way.
Full breakdown11
| Measure | The Oaks Secondary School | County Durham | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils in the cohort | 55 | 5,399 | 607,348 |
| Any sustained destination | 85% | 89% | 92% |
| Stayed in education | 85% | 81% | 86% |
| — school sixth form | 0% | 30% | 34% |
| — sixth form college | 0% | 4% | 13% |
| — further education college | 47% | 46% | 37% |
| — other education | 38% | 1% | 2% |
| Apprenticeship | 0% | 5% | 3% |
| Employment | 0% | 3% | 3% |
| No sustained destination | 9% | 8% | 6% |
| Destination unknown | 5% | 3% | 3% |
Where do sixth-formers go at 18?
No published destinations for sixth-form leavers yet.
How do GCSE results compare?
Attainment 8 — average GCSE points across eight subjects, English and maths counted twice; grade 5 in everything scores 50.
DfE performance tables 2024/2025 · 72 pupils in Year 11
0% got grade 5 or above in both English and maths (County Durham 42%, England 45%).
Grade 5 — a “strong pass”; grade 4 is a “standard pass”. Progress 8 is not published for 2025: this cohort had no Key Stage 2 tests in 2020–21, so there is no baseline.
All GCSE measures10
| Measure | The Oaks Secondary School | County Durham | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Attainment 8 (average points per pupil) | 3.5 | 44.1 | 46.1 |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 0% | 42% | 45% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 1% | 61% | 65% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate subjects | 0% | 33% | 41% |
| EBacc average point score | 0.30 | 3.75 | 4.09 |
| Disadvantaged pupils in the cohort | 58% | 32% | 28% |
| Attainment 8 — disadvantaged pupils | 3.0 | 35.6 | 34.9 |
| Attainment 8 — other pupils | 4.2 | 48.1 | 50.4 |
| Pupils with high prior attainment (Key Stage 2) | — | — | — |
| English as an additional language | 3% | 4% | 19% |
What do pupils study?
Mapped — the share of the 2,029 learning outcomes the Department for Education sets for these stages that the subjects taken here cover, weighted by how many pupils take each.
DfE subject entries 2025 · curriculum catalogue by sch.today
Fields of knowledge — twelve fields the curriculum catalogue sorts every learning outcome into; the bars show the GCSE and A level ring.
GCSE subjects7
Entries as a share of the Year 11 cohort, and the share of entries graded 7–9 and 4–9, compared with all entries in England.
| Subject | Entries | Share of cohort | England | Grades 7–9 | England | Grades 4–9 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Combined Science | 23 | 32% | 65% | 0% | 9% | 9% |
| English Language | 16 | 22% | 89% | 0% | 20% | 13% |
| Mathematics | 15 | 21% | 88% | 0% | 22% | 13% |
| Art and Design | 13 | 18% | 7% | 0% | 24% | 15% |
| History | 7 | 10% | 41% | 0% | 26% | 0% |
| Photography | 5 | 7% | 6% | — | 19% | — |
| Textiles | 2 | 3% | 2% | — | 27% | — |
Fields of knowledge, all stages12
Ideas pupils meet most, weighted by the share of the cohort taking the subjects that teach them:
Coverage counts a subject’s outcomes in proportion to the share of the cohort entered for it; Combined Science counts as two thirds of the three separate sciences. Levels follow ISCED 2011 as UNESCO maps it for the UK: Key Stage 3 is ISCED 2; GCSE and A level are both ISCED 3. Methodology: about the data.
Which jobs use what’s taught here?
A match of what’s taught, not of entry requirements: the standards whose knowledge and skills share the most ideas with the GCSEs and A levels taken here, weighted by how many pupils take each subject.
Level 3 / Level 6 — England’s qualification levels: 3 is A level standard, 4–5 are higher apprenticeships, 6 is a bachelor’s degree.
Skills England apprenticeship standards (Open Government Licence v3.0) · ESCO occupations, © European Union, matched by sch.today · how the match works
More apprenticeships9
How do you get a place?
Places at special schools are allocated through an Education, Health and Care plan with County Durham, not by distance.
- Any timeAsk County Durham’s SEND team to name the school in the child’s EHC plan; the school is consulted before a place is offered
Compare with nearby schools
More County Durham schools3
Sources: Department for Education school and college performance tables 2024/2025 (Key Stage 4 and 16–18 results, subject entries, destination measures for 2023 leavers); Get Information About Schools register as at 19 September 2026; Ofsted management information as at 31 August 2026. Small numbers are suppressed by DfE and shown as “—”. How to read these figures.