North Park Primary School
Community school in Spennymoor, DL16 6PP, taking ages 2 to 11, 243 on roll.
Homes you looked at
Each measured from its postcode's centre against the 0.53 miles County Durham published for latest published year, as the checker measures.
Opened on this device and kept on it only: just their postcodes are sent, to this site, to measure them.
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Will an address get in?
In the latest published round, the furthest child offered a place lived 0.53 miles away.
Applying for September 2027? Primary applications close 15 January 2027; offers on 16 April 2027.
How this compares: every County Durham school's distance, tightest first →
The circle is 0.53 miles, the distance the school admitted from in the latest published year.
North Park Primary School: 0.53 miles Kirk Merrington Primary School: 2.37 miles, published by County Durham
How to read this
Most English schools do not have a catchment area. When North Park Primary School is oversubscribed, places go outward from the school until they run out, so the distance moves each year with how many families applied and where they lived.
Distances are measured from the postcode's centre, not a front door; a postcode covers a few houses. Siblings, looked-after children come before distance, so a school can fill before distance counts at all.
Real admission areas are not circular: the circle is the distance, not a boundary.
The address on the closing date is the one the council uses. How admissions work.
Source: County Durham, published admission distances
Where North Park Primary School and Kirk Merrington Primary School are both in reach
Both distances are drawn on the map above. Kirk Merrington Primary School admitted from 2.37 miles in the latest published year, published by County Durham. Its own page has the rest of its figures.
No postcode district has its centre inside both distances. The two schools admit from 0.53 and 2.37 miles, and the ground those circles share holds no district centre, which is a fact about where the centres fall rather than about any one address. The map above shows both, and the postcode checker answers for both.
Sign up to save both schools and be told when either council republishes the distance these answers rest on.
Drop Kirk Merrington Primary School and go back to one school.
If the answer is no, you can appeal. In County Durham, 45 of 166 secondary appeals succeeded in 2025 (27.1%; England 19.9%), counted for all the council's schools together. How every council compares.
Other schools nearby with a published distance
The closest schools to North Park Primary School that also have a council-published admission distance, nearest first.
| School | Phase | Admitted from | Away |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tudhoe Colliery Primary School Both in reach | Primary | 1.4 mi | 1.2 mi |
| Kirk Merrington Primary School Both in reach | Primary | 2.37 mi | 1.8 mi |
The distance as a picture
What kind of school this is
| Religious character | No religious character |
| Sixth form | Does not have a sixth form |
| How full | 243 pupils in 266 places (91% full) |
| Local authority | County Durham |
Department for Education register (GIAS).
How the school is doing
| Ofsted | Good, inspected 09 May 2023 |
| Meeting the expected standard | 56.0% in reading, writing and maths (2024/25) |
| Year | Meeting the expected standard |
|---|---|
| 2024/25 | 56.0% |
| 2023/24 | 39.0% |
| 2022/23 | 23.0% |
Ofsted, and the Department for Education's published performance data.
Who goes to North Park Primary School
| Girls and boys | 47.7% girls, 52.3% boys |
| English as an additional language | 2.9% of pupils |
| Free school meals | 60.9% of pupils eligible |
DfE school census, most recent published year.
Getting to North Park Primary School by bus
Best-served stop: Weardale Street WMC, 0.2 mi away, with 0.2 buses an hour on weekday daytimes; first bus 08:01, last 16:00.
Every stop within 600 m
| Stop | From the school | Weekday daytime, an hour | Evening | Sunday | Routes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Barnfield Road | 0.1 mi | 0.0 | 0.2 | 0.0 | |
| Weardale Street WMC | 0.2 mi | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 865 |
| Barnfield Road | 0.2 mi | 0.0 | 0.5 | 0.0 |
These are scheduled departures, not buses observed running. Two stops on opposite sides of a road are two rows.
Source: operators' timetables on the Bus Open Data Service (Department for Transport), week of 8 Sep 2026
The fee-paying alternative
Weighing North Park Primary School against the independent sector? Every fee-paying school around DL16: ages, selection, and how full each one is → What it costs to live at DL16 6PP, by the school: council tax, energy, prices, rent, stamp duty →
Checking the house as well as the school
The full report checks one address against every nearby school, with sold prices, flood risk and crime.
Common questions
What is the catchment area for North Park Primary School?
North Park Primary School does not have one in the sense most people mean. Like most English schools, an oversubscribed year offers places outward from the school until they run out. The nearest thing to an answer: the furthest child admitted in the latest published year lived 0.53 miles away, per County Durham.
How close do I need to live to get a place at North Park Primary School?
Nobody can say in advance, and anyone who does is guessing. 0.53 miles was enough in the latest published year. The distance moves every year with the number of applications, so treat last year's figure as evidence, not a promise.
Does buying a house near North Park Primary School guarantee a place?
No. Admission criteria usually put looked-after children, siblings ahead of distance, so places can be filled before distance is reached. Councils also check that the address is genuinely where the child lives.
Every County Durham school's distance
All County Durham schools with a published admission distance, tightest first →
How school admissions actually work, and what the distance means →
Put North Park Primary School's figure on your own site
A small badge with the published distance that links back here, for a school website, parents' group or forum.
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Admission distance published by County Durham. School details from the Department for Education's register, ratings from Ofsted. Read how every figure on this site is sourced on the methodology page. If something here looks wrong, tell us and it goes on the accuracy log.