Eskdale Academy

Eskdale Academy is a smaller-than-average primary school in Hartlepool, part of Eden Academy Trust, serving a highly disadvantaged community. It has a large proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals and SEN support, and includes a resourced provision for pupils with speech, language and communication needs. Safeguarding standards are met. The school was inspected in June 2026 following a significant change in leadership, with a new head of school appointed in September 2025. Overall, the school is performing at the expected standard in most areas, with inclusion judged strong. Leaders have built effective systems to identify and remove barriers, and pupils with SEND, disadvantaged pupils and those in the specialist resourced provision make rapid progress from their starting points. Reading is a particular strength, early years provision gives children a strong start, and personal development and pastoral support are well considered. Behaviour is positive, pupils feel safe, and leadership and governance are effective, with trust and local governance providing appropriate support and challenge. The main concern is attendance. Too many pupils are persistently absent, and despite improved systems and work with families and external agencies, improvement is not yet sustained or even. As a result, some pupils miss too much learning. Leaders are also embedding recent curriculum and teaching changes, including in mathematics, to ensure more pupils achieve highly.

Strengths

• Inclusion is a strong standard, with thoughtful systems to identify and remove barriers for pupils.
• Pupils with SEND, disadvantaged pupils and those in the specialist speech, language and communication resourced provision make rapid progress from individual starting points.
• Leaders use additional funding, including pupil premium, astutely so disadvantaged pupils achieve well.
• Reading is a clear strength, with pupils achieving highly from low starting points and reading fluently.
• The curriculum is ambitious and well-structured, and teaching typically helps pupils build knowledge and skills for the next stage.
• Phonics is taught effectively, and pupils practise reading books matched to the sounds they know.
• Early years provision gives children a secure, positive start, with strong focus on communication, language and early literacy.
• Children with SEND are identified promptly in early years and receive well-adapted support.
• Leadership and governance are effective, with trustees and governors knowledgeable and providing appropriate support and challenge.
• Trust leaders have supported the school through recent leadership changes and improvement priorities.
• Staff are well trained and supported, including those early in their teaching careers; leaders prioritise workload and wellbeing.
• Personal development is well considered, with pupils learning about safety, healthy relationships, British values and protected characteristics.
• Pastoral support is a strength and well matched to pupils' needs.
• Disadvantaged pupils, pupils with SEND and other pupils facing barriers access clubs, roles, visits and sports.
• Behaviour across school is consistently positive; pupils are respectful, focused and understand expectations.
• Pupils feel safe and belong, and bullying is rare and dealt with quickly.

Areas for Improvement

• Attendance is too low and persistent absence remains well above national averages.
• Leaders have identified reasons for poor attendance but have not yet secured sustained improvement.
• The impact of work to improve attendance is uneven, so some pupils miss too much important learning.
• Recent changes to some curriculum areas, including mathematics, are not yet fully embedded, so more pupils are not achieving highly.

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 Eskdale Academy attended 91.8% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 30.6% 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, 0.0% of pupils at Eskdale 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 Eskdale Academy had 18.3 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 57.1% 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, 34.6% of pupils at Eskdale Academy were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 4.5% had an education, health and care (EHC) plan (nationally 4.1%).

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 Eskdale Academy received £9,464 and spent £9,055 for each of its 184 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £95,000 (£514 per pupil).

Across all 5 schools of Eden Academy Trust Limited, income was £8,574 and spending £8,304 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 Hartlepool · Hartlepool local authority: places and applications

Eskdale Academy is part of Eden Academy Trust Limited, which runs 5 schools. The nearest others:

• Stranton Primary School Hartlepool
• Jesmond Gardens Primary School Hartlepool
• Bluebell Meadow Primary School Trimdon Station
• Fishburn Primary School Stockton-On-Tees

What is Eskdale Academy's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Eskdale Academy is Needs attention, from an inspection in July 2026.

When was Eskdale Academy last inspected by Ofsted?

Eskdale Academy was last inspected in July 2026.

How many pupils does Eskdale Academy have?

Eskdale Academy has 179 pupils on roll.

What age range does Eskdale Academy cover?

Eskdale Academy for pupils aged 2 to 11.

What are Eskdale Academy's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 62% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Eskdale Academy?

Eskdale Academy is at Eskdale Road, Hartlepool, TS25 4BT.