Durham Johnston Comprehensive School

Comprehensive

National rank

155=

177=

Rank last year

73.1%

A-level

A-level

A*-B

42.2%

GCSE

GCSE

A*/A/9/8/7

State Secondary School of the Year in the Northeast 2025 and State Secondary School of the Year in the Northeast for Academic Excellence 2025

Need to know

Head teacher

Rosslyn McFadden

Gender of entry

Mixed

Total pupils

1,683

Head teacher

Rosslyn McFadden

Gender of entry

Mixed

Total pupils

1,683

Head teacher

Rosslyn McFadden

Gender of entry

Mixed

Total pupils

1,683

Progress 8

AVERAGE

Pupils on free school meals

14.6%

Progress 8

AVERAGE

Pupils on free school meals

14.6%

Our methodology
Results

A-level 2024 rank: 113=

Grade

%

A*

20.6

A

22.1

B

30.5

A*/A

42.6

A*-B

73.1

GCSE 2024 rank: 210

Grade

%

A*/9/8

25.4

A/7

16.9

A*/A/9/8/7

42.2

What the school inspection says

Date of report
2015
Verdict *
Outstanding
“Durham Johnston provides an excellent education for all of its students, preparing them well for their next steps and for life in modern Britain. The head teacher, senior and middle leaders and governors provide outstanding leadership. They are ambitious for their school … The most able students achieve very well and the proportion of GCSE A* and A grades is significantly above average across the curriculum … The sixth form is outstanding … [and] makes a strong contribution to the ethos of the school.”
Read the full report
Read report
*From September 2024, Ofsted no longer makes an overall effectiveness judgment in inspections of state-funded schools. A consultation on the new report cards will take place in 2025.

About the school

  • Founded in 1901, the school was named after the scientist James Finlay Weir Johnston, a professor of chemistry and mineralogy at Durham University who was committed to free secular education for boys and girls.
  • Over time it has operated as a mixed grammar school, technical school, boys’ grammar and comprehensive.
  • A £25 million rebuilding project from 2006 to 2009 replaced crumbling, freezing buildings with modern facilities linked via a triple-height, fully glazed central street.
  • In 2010 Gordon Brown held a cabinet meeting at the school, the first time one had ever been held in such a setting.  
  • A strict uniform policy means no jewellery of any kind is allowed to be worn.
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