Hardwick Green Primary Academy

Hardwick Green Primary Academy is a caring and inclusive school where pupils feel safe, behave well and benefit from strong personal development and early years provision. Staff know pupils well, safeguarding is effective, and the school provides a calm environment with good pastoral support, extra-curricular opportunities and tailored help for pupils with SEND. Attendance is well monitored and pupils generally attend regularly and on time. However, the quality of education and leadership and management require improvement. The curriculum is broad and ambitious but is not consistently implemented across subjects, so some pupils do not build knowledge securely over time. Assessment is not used well enough to identify gaps or adapt teaching, and reading outcomes remain below national expectations, especially for disadvantaged pupils. Recent reading initiatives have yet to show significant impact. Leadership does not strategically evaluate the impact of improvement actions or prioritise curriculum areas sharply enough. Trustees and governors are supportive but have not challenged the school sufficiently on the quality of education. This was the school's first routine inspection since the COVID-19 pandemic and it is part of The Enquire Learning Trust.

Strengths

• Caring and nurturing environment with strong pastoral support
• Pupils behave well and the school is calm and orderly
• Personal development and character education are well planned
• Early years provision is a strength with a stimulating environment
• Safeguarding arrangements are effective
• Pupils with SEND benefit from tailored support and personalised interventions
• Attendance is well monitored and pupils attend regularly and on time
• Staff workload and well-being are well managed
• Pupils benefit from extra-curricular activities and educational visits
• Recent reading curriculum changes are helping early years and key stage 1 pupils

Areas for Improvement

• Curriculum implementation is inconsistent across subjects
• Teachers do not always emphasise the most important knowledge pupils should learn
• Some activities do not help pupils learn and remember essential knowledge
• Assessment information is not consistently used to guide future learning
• Reading outcomes remain below national expectations, especially for disadvantaged pupils
• New reading fluency strategies have not yet shown significant impact
• Leadership oversight and strategic evaluation of curriculum impact are not robust enough
• Trustees and governors have not challenged the school sufficiently on quality of education
• Some disadvantaged pupils are not as well prepared for the next stage as they should be

Admissions: local authority offers data from the Department for Education. A school is oversubscribed when at least 5% of the families who put it first were not offered a place, and undersubscribed when everyone who put it first got in but 10% or more of its places were unfilled in the Department's school capacity survey (the latest survey is used for entry years it does not cover). Places: Department for Education, School capacity, from local authorities' annual survey as at 1 May. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024–25); the survey was not run in 2020. Places include sixth form places. Forecasts are the local authority's own for the school's planning area, an area it uses to plan places that is not the school's catchment area. The forecast starts from a head count in 2025; the dashed line is the Department's estimate of places in that area, including those the authority has firm plans for. Planned places are cumulative, and only those with firm plans are counted.

In 2024–25 pupils at Hardwick Green Primary Academy attended 93.6% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 20.3% of pupils were persistently absent, missing at least one session in ten (nationally 13.0%).

Sessions missed

Pupils persistently absent

Source: Department for Education, Pupil absence in schools in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Persistent absence means missing 10% or more of sessions; severe absence means 50% or more. No figures were published for 2019/20.

In 2024–25, 3.0% of pupils at Hardwick Green Primary Academy were suspended at least once (nationally 1.1%). No pupils were permanently excluded.

Pupils suspended at least once

Source: Department for Education, Suspensions and permanent exclusions in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). A pupil can be suspended more than once, so suspensions per 100 pupils can be higher than the share of pupils suspended. Very small numbers are hidden by the DfE. Exclusion figures dropped in 2020 and 2021 because of school closures.

In 2025–26 Hardwick Green Primary Academy had 17.8 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 12.2% were no longer at the school a year later (nationally 15.7%).

Pupils per teacher

Teachers who left the school within a year

Source: Department for Education, School workforce in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Pupils per teacher counts full-time-equivalent pupils and teachers. Turnover is the share of a year's teachers (full-time equivalent) who were not at the school the following year, whether they moved to another school or left state-funded teaching. Turnover and sickness figures run one year behind the ratios. Sick leave is the share of teachers who took at least one day in the year, so it swings widely at small schools, where a few teachers can make it 0% or 100%. The national figures are for all state schools of the same type.

In 2025–26, 18.2% of pupils at Hardwick Green Primary Academy were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 10.1% had an education, health and care (EHC) plan (nationally 4.1%).

The school has a SEN unit with 16 pupils.

Pupils by main type of need

Source: Department for Education, Special educational needs in England (the 2025–26 school census). SEN support is extra help in school without an EHC plan. National figures are for all state-funded primary schools. Counts are as published, with small numbers not hidden.

In 2024–25 Hardwick Green Primary Academy received £8,387 and spent £8,233 for each of its 286 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £96,000 (£335 per pupil).

Across all 32 schools of The Enquire Learning Trust, income was £7,171 and spending £7,034 per pupil.

Income per pupil

Spending per pupil

Source: Department for Education, Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool. Each year is the one the financial year ends in (2024 is 2023–24). Academy figures include a share of the trust's central services, shared out by pupil numbers, and are rounded to the nearest £1,000. Premises costs were defined differently from 2024, so compare them across that gap with care.

• Primary Schools
• Secondary Schools

All schools in Stockton-On-Tees · Stockton-on-Tees local authority: places and applications

Hardwick Green Primary Academy is part of The Enquire Learning Trust, which runs 32 schools. The nearest others:

• Harrow Gate Academy Stockton-On-Tees
• Oakdene Primary Academy Billingham
• High Clarence Academy Middlesbrough
• Yarm Primary School Yarm
• Easterside Academy Middlesbrough
• Rose Wood Academy Middlesbrough
• Stokesley Primary Academy Middlesbrough
• Roseberry Academy Middlesbrough
• Stakesby Primary Academy Whitby
• East Whitby Primary Academy Whitby

What is Hardwick Green Primary Academy's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Hardwick Green Primary Academy is Requires Improvement, from an inspection in December 2024.

When was Hardwick Green Primary Academy last inspected by Ofsted?

Hardwick Green Primary Academy was last inspected in December 2024.

How many pupils does Hardwick Green Primary Academy have?

Hardwick Green Primary Academy has 286 pupils on roll.

What age range does Hardwick Green Primary Academy cover?

Hardwick Green Primary Academy for pupils aged 2 to 11.

What are Hardwick Green Primary Academy's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 51% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Hardwick Green Primary Academy?

Hardwick Green Primary Academy is at Tithe Barn Road, Stockton-on-Tees, TS19 8WF.