Code: E06000001
Director of Children's Services: Alison Sutherland


Summary of Ofsted findings

Summary of Ofsted findings

Inspection of Hartlepool’s local authority children’s services

These inspections focus on the effectiveness of local authority services and arrangements:

  • to help and protect children, and enable families to stay together and get the help they need
  • the experiences and progress of children in care wherever they live, including those children who return home
  • the arrangements for permanence for children who are looked after, in stable, loving homes, including adoption
  • the experiences and progress of care leavers.
Inspection type Inspection start date Overall effectiveness Impact of leaders Help and protection Children in care Care leavers
ILACS Short Inspection 18 March 2024 Outstanding Outstanding Outstanding Outstanding Good

Data source

Area SEND inspection of Hartlepool Local Area Partnership

The purpose of an area SEND inspection is to:

  • provide an independent, external evaluation of the effectiveness of the local area partnership’s arrangements for children and young people with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND)
  • where appropriate, recommend what the local area partnership should do to improve the arrangements.
Inspection outcome

Hartlepool was last inspected on 13 March 2023.

The local area partnership's SEND arrangements typically lead to positive experiences and outcomes for children and young people with SEND. The local area partnership is taking action where improvements are needed.

They were given no areas for priority action.

The next full area SEND inspection will be within approximately 5 years.

Ofsted and Care Quality Commission (CQC) ask that the local area partnership updates and publishes its strategic plan based on the recommendations set out in this report.

Data source

Joint targeted area inspection of Hartlepool local authority

The agencies for these inspections can include the police, children’s social care, probation services, education and relevant health services. Inspectors will also evaluate how local agencies work with education and childcare providers. The focus of these inspections is how effectively the local safeguarding partners work together at the practice and strategic levels.

Theme Inspection start date Link
There have been no JTAI inspections for this local authority.

Data source

Ofsted inspection reports and tools


Local authority context

Population 18 and under Number %
Hartlepool 22,297 22.7%
National 12,869,368 22.0%

Data source

Children looked after Number Rate per 10,000
Hartlepool 332 157
National 81,770 67

Data source

School-age pupils eligible for free school meals Number %
Hartlepool 5,784 41.8%
National 2,085,168 26.7%

Data source

School-age pupils eligible for extra funding (pupil premium) Number %
Hartlepool 6,184 45.4%
National 2,266,608 29.3%

Data source

Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) in state-funded settings Number %
Hartlepool 3,300 21.8%
National 1,766,924 19.6%

Data source

School-age pupils with English as an additional language Number %
Hartlepool 1,019 6.8%
National 1,806,029 21.4%

Data source

% of children in income-deprived families (IDACI) Average %
Hartlepool 49.0%
National 38.0%
Health Index (children and young people) Health Index score
Hartlepool 87.2
National 100.8
More details about the health index metric

Indicates the health of an area measured in three domains: Healthy People, Health Lives and Healthy Places.

A score of 100 represents health in England in 2015. A higher number means better health and a lower number means worse health.

Data source

Remit overview

Contents

Early years

Population Number in Hartlepool % in Hartlepool % National
Aged 0 to 5 years 6,297 6.4% 6.4%
Aged 0 947 1.0% 1.0%
Aged 1 988 1.0% 1.0%
Aged 2 1,046 1.1% 1.1%
Aged 3 1,045 1.1% 1.1%
Aged 4 1,117 1.1% 1.1%
Aged 5 1,154 1.2% 1.1%

Data source

Disadvantaged Number in Hartlepool % in Hartlepool % National
Early years pupil premium 453 7.2% 3.3%
Children looked after (under 1 year) 24 2.5% 0.6%
Children looked after (1 to 4 years) 34 0.8% 0.4%

Data sources:

Special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) /
Education, health and care plans (EHCP)
Number in Hartlepool % in Hartlepool % National
SEN support in state-funded settings (age 2 and under) 34 1.2% 0.3%
SEN support in state-funded settings (age 3) 117 11.0% 3.6%
SEN support in state-funded settings (age 4) 146 13.5% 9.5%
SEN support in state-funded settings (age 5) 209 19.6% 12.3%
Total: SEN support in state-funded settings (age 5 and under) 506 8.3% 4.5%
Children with an EHCP (age 2 and under) 2 0.1% 0.0%
Children with an EHCP (age 3) 7 0.7% 0.7%
Children with an EHCP (age 4) 17 1.6% 3.5%
Children with an EHCP (age 5) 35 3.3% 4.8%
Total: Children with an EHCP (age 5 and under) 61 1.0% 1.6%

Data sources:

Funded early years places for 2-year-olds Population aged 2-years-old Number of eligible 2-year-olds % of population aged 2 % take-up of funded places
Hartlepool 1,046 386 36.9% 71.8%
National 630,059 145,824 23.1% 65.2%

Data source

Funded early years places for 3-year-olds Population aged 3-years-old Number of eligible 3-year-olds % of population aged 3 % take-up of funded places
Hartlepool 1,045 All 3-year olds are eligible 97.5%
National 625,948 90.6%
The 2 and 3-year-old funded places tables look different because they measure different things; funded places for 2-year-olds are only for children considered to be disadvantaged, while for 3-year-olds everyone is entitled to a funded place.

Data source

Children's overweight and obesity Number in Hartlepool % in Hartlepool % National
Children's overweight and obesity (reception-age children) 310 32.3% 23.5%

Data source

Oral health Number examined in Hartlepool % examined in Hartlepool % in Hartlepool % National
Oral health (visible tooth decay in 5-year-olds) 685 61.3% 19.5% 22.4%

Schools

Population Number in Hartlepool % in Hartlepool1 % National1
Primary-age pupils (ages 5 to 11) 8,326 8.5% 8.2%
Secondary-age pupils (ages 12 to 16) 6,402 6.5% 6.2%

Data source

Population of looked-after-children Number in Hartlepool % in Hartlepool1 % National1
Ages 5 to 9 55 0.9% 0.4%
Ages 10 to 15 152 2.0% 0.7%

Data source

Pupils eligible for free schools meals Number in Hartlepool % in Hartlepool2 % National2
Primary 3,165 40.2% 25.3%
Secondary 2,394 42.6% 27.5%
Alternative provision 58 89.2% 64.6%
Special 167 60.7% 49.5%
Non-maintained special 31.0%

Data source

Pupils eligible for pupil premium Number in Hartlepool % in Hartlepool2 % National2
Primary 3,042 39.6% 25.1%
Secondary 2,564 43.3% 28.9%

Data source

Pupils with SEND Number in Hartlepool % in Hartlepool2 % National2
Primary 1,781 20.0% 18.2%
Secondary 1,135 19.7% 16.5%
Alternative provision 28 43.1% 83.4%
Special 335 100.0% 99.9%
Non-maintained special 99.7%
Independent schools 21 100.0% 24.1%

Data source

Pupils with English as an additional language Number in Hartlepool % in Hartlepool2 % National2
Primary 651 7.3% 23.4%
Secondary 354 6.1% 19.2%
Alternative provision 0 0.0% 7.6%
Special 14 4.2% 14.5%
Non-maintained special 11.0%
Attendance of all pupils up to week 4 of calendar year % in Hartlepool2 % National2
Primary 95.2% 95.0%
Secondary 91.2% 91.8%
Special 88.4% 87.1%

Data source

Attendance of pupils eligible for free school meals (summer term 2024/25) % in Hartlepool2 % National2
Primary 92.8% 91.9%
Secondary 84.9% 85.2%
Special 88.3% 85.1%

Data source

Attendance of pupils with SEND (summer term 2024/25) % in Hartlepool2 % National2
Primary 93.0% 92.1%
Secondary 85.5% 84.3%
Special 89.4% 87.3%

Data source

Primary attainment: Year 1 phonics screening pass Number in Hartlepool % in Hartlepool2 % National2
All pupils 816 77.7% 79.8%
Pupils eligible for free school meals 290 72.0% 66.6%
Pupils with SEND 85 35.6% 43.4%
Pupils with English as an additional language 59 71.1% 79.5%
Primary attainment: Year 4 times table check (full marks) Number in Hartlepool % in Hartlepool2 % National2
All pupils 564 49.5% 36.8%
Pupils eligible for free school meals 207 43.2% 27.4%
Pupils with SEND 56 23.4% 16.5%
Pupils with English as an additional language 46 51.7% 45.2%

Data source

Primary attainment: Key stage 2 reading, writing, maths combined (met the expected standard) Number in Hartlepool % in Hartlepool2 % National2
All pupils 737 63.3% 62.6%
Pupils eligible for free school meals 280 52.6% 47.7%
Pupils with SEND 69 24.3% 23.8%
Pupils with English as an additional language 50 62.5% 66.2%

Data source

Secondary attainment: Attainment 8 Average in Hartlepool2 National average2
All pupils 42.4 45.9
Pupils eligible for free school meals 35.3 35.0
Pupils with SEND 25.5 28.1

Data source

Population receiving education outside of their local authority Number outside of Hartlepool % outside of Hartlepool2 % National2
Primary 257 3.3% 4.1%
Secondary 154 2.7% 8.7%
Special 20 7.1% 9.0%
Children being home educated Number in Hartlepool % in Hartlepool1 % National1
Primary 60 0.7% 0.8%
Secondary 210 3.3% 2.5%
Total 270 1.8% 1.5%
More details about the children being home educated numbers
Local authority data in the source dataset has been rounded to the nearest 10. As a result totals may not equal the sum of their component parts.

Data source

Suspensions (from primary school) Number in Hartlepool Rate per 100 pupils in Hartlepool3 Rate per 100 pupils National3
Total number of suspensions 12 0.1 0.9
Total pupils with one or more suspensions 9 0.1 0.5
Pupils with one or more suspensions who are eligible for free school meals 7 0.2 (in group) 1.2 (in group)
Pupils with one or more suspensions with SEND 6 0.4 (in group) 2.4 (in group)
More details about suspensions from state-funded primary schools and totals not summing
Suspensions data on total number of pupils may not match, as a change in a pupil’s category within the same term results in them being counted separately under each category. For example, if a pupil receives multiple suspensions while classified as not having SEN, and then receives additional suspensions after being reclassified as receiving SEN support during the same term, they will be recorded as two separate enrolments in the data.

Data source

Suspensions (from secondary school) Number in Hartlepool Rate per 100 pupils in Hartlepool3 Rate per 100 pupils National3
Total number of suspensions 1,710 29.6 7.8
Total pupils with one or more suspensions 482 8.3 3.8
Pupils with one or more suspensions who are eligible for free school meals 349 14.4 (in group) 8.2 (in group)
Pupils with one or more suspensions with SEND 177 15.7 (in group) 9.1 (in group)
More details about suspensions from state-funded secondary schools and totals not summing
Suspensions data on total number of pupils may not match, as a change in a pupil’s category within the same term results in them being counted separately under each category. For example, if a pupil receives multiple suspensions while classified as not having SEN, and then receives additional suspensions after being reclassified as receiving SEN support during the same term, they will be recorded as two separate enrolments in the data.

Data source

Suspensions (from special school) Number in Hartlepool Rate per 100 pupils in Hartlepool3 Rate per 100 pupils National3
Total number of suspensions 71 21.2 5.1
Total pupils with one or more suspensions 21 6.3 2.9
Pupils with one or more suspensions who are eligible for free school meals 17 8.7 (in group) 4.1 (in group)
Pupils with one or more suspensions with SEND 21 6.3 (in group) 2.9 (in group)
More details about suspensions from state-funded special schools and totals not summing
Suspensions data on total number of pupils may not match, as a change in a pupil’s category within the same term results in them being counted separately under each category. For example, if a pupil receives multiple suspensions while classified as not having SEN, and then receives additional suspensions after being reclassified as receiving SEN support during the same term, they will be recorded as two separate enrolments in the data.

Data source

Exclusions (from primary school) Number in Hartlepool % in Hartlepool2 % National2
Total number of pupils excluded 0 0.0% 0.0%
Pupils eligible for free school meals 0 0.0% 0.0%
Pupils with SEND 0 0.0% 0.1%

Data source

Exclusions (from secondary school) Number in Hartlepool % in Hartlepool2 % National2
Total number of pupils excluded 14 0.2% 0.1%
Pupils eligible for free school meals 14 0.6% 0.2%
Pupils with SEND 8 0.7% 0.3%

Data source

Exclusions (from special school) Number in Hartlepool % in Hartlepool2 % National2
Total number of pupils excluded 2 0.6% 0.0%
Pupils eligible for free school meals 2 1.0% 0.0%
Pupils with SEND 2 0.6% 0.0%

1. % of all children in Hartlepool / England.

2. % of all pupils in state-funded settings across Hartlepool / England.

3. Rate per 100 pupils in state-funded settings across Hartlepool / England.

Further education and skills

Population Number in Hartlepool % in Hartlepool % National
Aged 16 to 18 years 3,753 3.8% 3.6%
Aged 19 to 21 years 3,028 3.1% 3.6%
Aged 22 to 24 years 3,337 3.4% 3.6%
Aged 25 years and over 69,518 70.8% 70.8%

Data source

Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET) Number in Hartlepool % in Hartlepool % National
16- to 17-year-olds known to LA 2,441 2.6% 2.4%
NEET 114 4.7% 3.4%
Activity not known 2 0.1% 2.2%
Total NEET or activity not known 116 4.7% 5.6%

Data source

16 to 18 progression to higher education or training % in Hartlepool % National
Degrees (all) 43.0% 66.0%
Degrees at top third higher education institutions 11.0% 24.0%
Higher apprenticeships 5.0% 2.0%
Other study at level 4 and 5 15.0% 3.0%
Progressing to higher education or training 63.0% 70.0%
More details about the further education and skills destinations data

This data reflects the destinations of pupils based on the number on roll when they were aged 16 to 18, tracking where they progressed after completing their studies.

Degree destinations include any study at level 6 or higher such as bachelor degrees, graduate diplomas, and post-graduate degrees. The top third higher education institutions when ranked by average UCAS tariff score of entrants across their best 3 A levels.

Higher apprenticeships are those from level 4 to 7 and are equivalent to a foundation degree and above. Degree apprenticeships are available at levels 6 and 7.

Other study at level 4 or 5 destinations include those students studying qualifications such as foundation degrees, Higher National Certificates (HNCs) and Higher National Diplomas (HNDs).

Data source

Social care

Explore the findings from Ofsted's local authority inspections.

Explore population characteristics for this local authority.