Hadlow Rural Community School

Hadlow Rural Community School is a small rural free school and single academy trust serving a pupil body with unusually high levels of special educational needs and disadvantage. Inspectors found it meeting the expected standard across achievement, attendance and behaviour, curriculum and teaching, inclusion, leadership and governance, and personal development, with safeguarding requirements met. Leaders have improved the curriculum and teaching since the previous inspection, and pupils generally learn well, behave politely and benefit from a distinctive land-based curriculum and strong pastoral care. The school's inclusive culture and support for vulnerable pupils are notable strengths. Pupils with SEND and disadvantaged pupils are well known, staff adapt teaching, and interventions help those with gaps in reading and mathematics catch up, especially in key stage 3. Attendance has improved and persistent absence has reduced, although absence remains above national averages. Careers and enrichment are strong, and trustees provide effective challenge and support. Inspectors identified remaining inconsistencies in teaching and assessment: checks for misconceptions are not used consistently, so some pupils retain gaps, and key stage 4 catch-up support is less rigorous than in key stage 3. Personal development is coherent but pupils' knowledge in some key stage 4 citizenship and British values content is less detailed. Next steps focus on embedding highly effective teaching and assessment, further improving attendance, and ensuring personal development knowledge is detailed and remembered.

Strengths

• Inclusive culture that supports vulnerable pupils well
• Strong pastoral support and wellbeing hub
• Distinctive land-based curriculum in agriculture, countryside management and animal studies
• Pupils are polite, respectful and behave well
• Attendance strategy has improved attendance and reduced persistent absence
• Effective support for pupils with SEND and disadvantaged pupils
• Well-planned reading and mathematics interventions, particularly at key stage 3
• Effective careers programme and extensive enrichment
• Trustees provide appropriate challenge and support
• Staff value professional learning and workload support

Areas for Improvement

• Teaching and assessment are not consistently effective across the curriculum
• Checks on learning do not consistently identify misconceptions, leaving some pupils with knowledge gaps
• Key stage 4 support for foundational reading and mathematics is less rigorous than at key stage 3
• Personal development knowledge is less detailed in some key stage 4 citizenship and British values content
• Attendance and persistent absence remain above national averages despite improvement
• Some headline GCSE and destination figures remain below national averages

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 Hadlow Rural Community School attended 87.2% of sessions (the national figure for secondary schools was 91.6%). 39.6% of pupils were persistently absent, missing at least one session in ten (nationally 23.4%).

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, 7.9% of pupils at Hadlow Rural Community School were suspended at least once (nationally 7.3%). 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 Hadlow Rural Community School had 12.4 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for secondary schools was 16.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 38.9% were no longer at the school a year later (nationally 14.1%).

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, 35.0% of pupils at Hadlow Rural Community School were on SEN support (nationally 14.1%) and 8.5% had an education, health and care (EHC) plan (nationally 3.5%).

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 secondary schools. Counts are as published, with small numbers not hidden.

In 2024–25 Hadlow Rural Community School received £9,423 and spent £9,622 for each of its 392 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £187,000 (£477 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 Tonbridge And Malling · Kent local authority: places and applications

What is Hadlow Rural Community School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Hadlow Rural Community School is Expected standard, from an inspection in October 2026.

When was Hadlow Rural Community School last inspected by Ofsted?

Hadlow Rural Community School was last inspected in October 2026.

How many pupils does Hadlow Rural Community School have?

Hadlow Rural Community School has 377 pupils on roll.

What age range does Hadlow Rural Community School cover?

Hadlow Rural Community School for pupils aged 11 to 16.

What are Hadlow Rural Community School's GCSE results?

In 2026 its average Attainment 8 score was 39.3, and 27% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above in both English and maths GCSE.

Where is Hadlow Rural Community School?

Hadlow Rural Community School is at Tonbridge Road, Hadlow, Kent, TN11 0AU.