Schools in Spennymoor
Spennymoor's 12 schools sit within County Durham's coordinated admissions scheme, with 8 primaries and 1 secondary — Whitworth Academy — serving this former mining town in the Wear valley. County Durham uses straight-line distance as the oversubscription tiebreaker for community schools. Ten of the town's schools carry a faith designation, giving families with active church connections first access to the majority of local primaries.
Whitworth Academy, a Church of England secondary academy, is the main secondary option for Spennymoor pupils and draws from a wide rural catchment including Tudhoe, Kirk Merrington and Bishop Auckland fringes. Families without a CoE connection should verify the academy's admissions criteria directly, as faith criteria may apply before distance. The town also has strong links to Bishop Auckland, whose additional secondary provision is within reasonable reach.
County Durham publishes detailed offer statistics each spring. Spennymoor's relatively compact geography means most primary catchments are small, and sibling links at faith primaries can significantly reduce available community places year on year.
School demand in Spennymoor
Across the 9 schools in Spennymoor with published capacity data, the average fill rate is 91%. 3 of them are currently at or above their published admission number, and at those schools catchment distance is likely to decide places at the next intake.
1 school in Spennymoor has a religious character, so faith criteria sit alongside catchment distance in its admissions policy.
5 of the schools in Spennymoor are academies that set their own admissions criteria independently of County Durham, so check each school's policy directly rather than assuming the council default applies.
7 of the schools in Spennymoor have a current Ofsted rating, of which 6 are rated Good or Outstanding. Demand and catchment distance tend to be tightest at the highest-rated schools.
Primary schools in Spennymoor: 3 oversubscribed (8)
Byers Green Primary School
Primary · Community school
Spennymoor · DL16 7PN
Kirk Merrington Primary School
Primary · Community school
Spennymoor · DL16 7JB
Springmoor Grange School
Primary · Community school
Spennymoor · DL16 6SQ
King Street Primary School
Primary · Community school
Spennymoor · DL16 6RA
North Park Primary School
Primary · Community school
Spennymoor · DL16 6PP
Tudhoe Colliery Primary School
Primary · Academy converter
Spennymoor · DL16 6TJ
Rosa Street Primary and Nursery Academy
Primary · Academy sponsor led
Spennymoor · DL16 7NA
St Charles' Catholic Primary School, Tudhoe
Primary · Academy converter
Spennymoor · DL16 6SL
Secondary Schools in Spennymoor (1)
Other Schools in Spennymoor (3)
Tudhoe Moor Nursery School
Nursery · Local authority nursery school
Spennymoor · DL16 6EX
The Oaks Secondary School
Not applicable · Community special school
Spennymoor · DL16 7DB
The Meadows Academy
Not applicable · Academy special converter
Spennymoor · DL16 7QW
Catchment area boundaries for schools in Spennymoor are set by County Durham and updated each year. The "last distance offered", how far the furthest successful applicant lived, changes annually based on the number of applications received.