St Hild's Church of England School Review 2026: Faith-led secondary with a serious creative arts offer

A Church of England secondary with a strong emphasis on character, worship, and inclusion, alongside a standout creative arts facility that brings professional-standard spaces into everyday school life. The current headteacher, Mr Paul Martin, took up post in September 2025, following a period of interim leadership.

The most recent graded Ofsted inspection (March 2024) judged the school to require improvement overall, with behaviour and attitudes and personal development graded good. A subsequent monitoring visit in September 2025 reported progress in the quality of education, while identifying attendance and persistent disruption as priorities for further improvement.

This is a state school, there are no tuition fees.

Daily life is shaped by a clear Christian vision and routines that aim to create calm, predictability, and a sense of belonging. The school explicitly positions itself as welcoming to pupils of different faiths and those of no faith, while retaining a Church of England identity through collective worship and chaplaincy.

The culture places noticeable weight on recognition and responsibility. The school uses a Headteacher Excellence Award as a weekly recognition point, and the wider rewards and routines are designed to support a purposeful learning atmosphere. Alongside this, there is a structured approach to pupil leadership, with roles such as Anti Bullying Ambassadors, Science Ambassadors, sports leaders, librarians, and a Junior Leadership Team.

The library emerges repeatedly as a social and academic anchor. Formal reports describe it as a well-used space, and the school links it to reading for pleasure, study habits, and lunchtime clubs. For families, the implication is that the school is trying to make learning feel normal and visible, not confined to exam years.

Faith is not treated as a bolt-on. Pupils gather in year groups for collective worship, there are trained worship leaders, and the chaplaincy offer includes structured reflection opportunities (including a lunchtime Alpha course). This will suit families who value a values-led framework and are comfortable with worship as part of the school week.

Performance metrics present a challenging picture and help explain why school improvement is a central theme.

At GCSE, the school’s Attainment 8 score is 32.8 and its Progress 8 score is -1.2, which indicates pupils make substantially less progress than pupils nationally with similar starting points.

Rankings reinforce that context. Ranked 3718th in England and 5th in Hartlepool for GCSE outcomes (FindMySchool ranking based on official data), results sit below England average and place the school within the lower-performing portion of the national distribution.

Curriculum access matters here too. The EBacc entry rate is shown as 0, and the EBacc average point score is 2.71. The practical implication for parents is to ask detailed questions at open events about subject pathways at Key Stage 4, the balance between GCSE and vocational routes, and how the school targets improved outcomes from Year 10 onwards.

That said, the improvement narrative is not vague. Evidence points to a structured focus on pedagogy, staff development, and consistent classroom routines, all of which are the kinds of inputs that tend to precede improved results, provided they are sustained and applied consistently across subjects.

Parents comparing options locally can use the FindMySchool Local Hub page to view GCSE outcomes side by side, then sense-check the figures against the school’s curriculum offer and improvement plan.

Teaching is built around clear routines and a consistent lesson structure. A research-informed pedagogical model has been introduced, with staff training focused on both pedagogy and subject-specific teaching knowledge. This matters because, in schools working to raise outcomes, consistency is often the first lever: pupils benefit when expectations and classroom processes are predictable across subjects.

Reading and literacy are treated as a whole-school priority rather than an English department issue. The curriculum includes a dedicated Accelerated Reading lesson, and pupils who need additional literacy support can receive personalised provision in Years 7 and 8. There is also evidence of phonics being used daily for pupils who require it, with trained adults supporting pupils in the early stages of reading. For families, the implication is reassuring if a child arrives with weaker literacy, although it remains important to ask how quickly pupils move through interventions and how progress is assessed.

The Key Stage 4 offer blends GCSEs and vocational options, including BTEC pathways such as Health and Social Care, Hospitality and Catering, and Sport. This breadth can work well for pupils who learn best through applied, practical routes, but it also increases the importance of high-quality guidance in Year 9 so that options remain genuinely enabling, rather than narrowing.

As an 11 to 16 school, the main transition point is post-16. The school frames careers as a core strand, including access to one-to-one careers interviews, employer engagement, and an online platform used for careers planning and portfolios.

Headline destination participation is also published: 91% of pupils are recorded as staying in education or going into employment after Key Stage 4. This is useful as an orientation marker, but families should still ask what sits behind it: the balance between sixth form, further education, apprenticeships, and employment, plus what support is offered for pupils who are at risk of becoming not in education, employment, or training.

There is also evidence of structured wider experiences that can strengthen personal statements and confidence. Through the Turing Scheme, the school reports projects running in 2025 to Dubai, New York, and Gibraltar, with 30 Year 10 pupils travelling with staff. For some pupils, international experiences like this can be transformative, particularly where local opportunity is otherwise limited.

Year 7 applications are co-ordinated through the local authority, rather than made directly to the school. For September 2026 entry, Hartlepool’s published timetable shows the online application window opening in early September 2025, with the closing date 31 October 2025 and National Offer Day on 2 March 2026. The same timetable also notes a latest date of 21 January 2026 for a house move to be considered in the allocation process.

Oversubscription criteria are clearly set out in the local authority booklet and follow a familiar hierarchy: Education, Health and Care Plan naming the school; looked-after and previously looked-after children; siblings; partner primary schools; exceptional medical or social factors; then distance measured in a straight line. The partner primary link is explicitly named as Barnard Grove, Clavering, St Helen’s, Throston, and West View.

Families should be aware that published admission numbers have been in flux. The local authority booklet lists a Published Admission Number of 155 for Year 7 in 2026 to 2027, while the school’s own admissions page states an admission number of 120. A Schools Adjudicator determination dated July 2025 relates directly to the reduction of the Published Admission Number from 155 to 120 for September 2026 arrangements. In practical terms, parents should check the current policy wording for the intake year they are applying for, as a difference of this scale can materially affect competitiveness.

For open events, the council booklet listed an open evening in late September 2025 for September 2026 entry. If you are planning for a later entry year, it is sensible to assume open events tend to cluster in September and October, but confirm dates via the school before making travel plans.

Where distance is a deciding factor, families should use the FindMySchoolMap Search to check how their home address compares to recent allocation patterns, and to sanity-check travel time at the start and end of the school day.

Pastoral systems blend a faith-led framework with structured safeguarding and behaviour processes. Restorative approaches and reconciliation are referenced as part of behaviour practice, and pupil leadership is used not just for prestige roles but for peer support, including anti-bullying work.

Anti Bullying Ambassadors are not symbolic. The school describes weekly meetings, a daily lunchtime drop-in hub in the Library Resource Centre, and pupil-led assemblies on bullying themes. For families, this indicates both visibility and accessibility, which can matter for pupils who are anxious about reporting concerns.

The improvement priorities are also clear: persistent disruption among a minority of pupils and attendance, especially for disadvantaged pupils, remain key areas where consistency and rigour need to strengthen. Parents of children who are easily distracted should ask how classroom behaviour is managed day to day, how quickly escalation happens, and what support sits behind sanctions so that lessons remain calm.

The school’s most distinctive enrichment asset is CECA, the Centre for Excellence in Creative Arts. This is not simply a drama hall. It includes a professional theatre with raked seating for up to 120 people, soundproof rehearsal rooms, a recording studio, dance and drama studios, and a television studio with green screen. For pupils drawn to performance, production, music technology, or media, this is a genuine differentiator, especially in a state setting.

Extracurricular activity is also spelled out in operational detail, which is often a good sign that clubs run consistently rather than existing only as aspirations. A published enrichment list includes, among others, Chess Club, Book Club, Puzzle Club, Geography Club, Film Club, Debate Club, Science Club, Drama, Art and Design, Dungeon and Dragons, and Basic First Aid. The implication for parents is choice, but also a practical route to belonging for pupils who may not want sport to be their primary social identity.

Sport is present and structured too, with an extra-curricular timetable including activities such as dodgeball, volleyball, cricket, badminton, athletics, and football. For some pupils, these entry-point sports are more inclusive than elite-team models, particularly where confidence and participation matter as much as competition.

The school day is organised around a short Focus Time before lessons begin. The published daily structure shows Focus Time running from 8.30am to 9.00am, with the final lesson ending at 3.00pm.

Term dates for the 2025 to 2026 school year are published via the school’s calendar, including identified non-teaching days. Transport details vary by route, but the school also publishes a bus timetable for pupils using a dedicated service, which is helpful for families managing travel independence.

• School improvement context. GCSE performance measures are currently low, including a Progress 8 score of -1.2, so families should ask how rapidly improvements are filtering into Key Stage 4 outcomes, and what support is available for pupils who need structured catch-up.

• Attendance and disruption. External review evidence highlights attendance and persistent disruption as priority areas, so it is worth probing how consistently behaviour routines are applied across subjects, and how the school supports pupils who struggle to self-regulate.

• No sixth form. Students will need to move to a different provider at 16, which can be positive for maturity and choice, but it makes careers guidance and transition planning especially important.

• Admissions details may change. Published intake numbers and arrangements have been subject to review and adjudication, and the trust has also consulted on future admissions changes. Families should confirm the current policy for their entry year before relying on any single headline figure.

St Hild's Church of England School combines a clear faith-led identity and a notably strong creative arts infrastructure with an explicit school improvement agenda. The professional-standard CECA facilities and the detailed enrichment offer provide genuine routes to engagement for many pupils, while the improvement work on teaching consistency and outcomes remains central.

Best suited to families who value a Church of England ethos, want structured routines and leadership opportunities, and see creative arts as more than an add-on. Those prioritising highest academic outcomes should study the data carefully, ask direct questions about improvement impact in Key Stage 4, and compare local alternatives using FindMySchool tools.