Hartlepool Free School
Hartlepool Free School is a special free school in Hartlepool for boys and girls aged 5 to 19. It has 33 pupils and room for 64. About 79 in every 100 pupils come from a low-income family, far more than at most schools in England.
Hedgehog Lane, Hartlepool, TS25 1FF01429 450081makeitdifferent.org.ukMr Tristan Keates headteacherAll details
Ofsted
Ofsted hasn't published an inspection for this school yet. That is normal for a school that opened in 2024: new schools usually get their first inspection within three years.
Getting a place
Open to all. There is no entrance test.
Each council publishes its own figures on how many families applied and how far away the last child to get a place lived. We are adding councils one at a time. If you have a link to Hartlepool council's admissions booklet, send it to us.
Who goes here
Who the school teaches, from the latest school census.
The most common needs among pupils getting extra support: emotional and mental health (24), Autistic spectrum disorder (3), Specific learning difficulty (2), language and communications needs (2), Moderate learning difficulty (1), Other difficulty or disability (1).
How the mix of pupils has changed
| Census | 2026 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Pupils on roll | 33 | 19 |
| Pupils from low-income familiesFree school meals | 79% | 68% |
| Pupils learning EnglishEnglish as an additional language | 0% | 0% |
| Pupils getting extra supportSEN support | – | 5% |
| Pupils with an EHC planEducation, health and care plans | – | 95% |
Attendance and behaviour
In 2024/25 pupils were in school 58.3% of the time. Across similar schools in England it was 94.8%.
Attendance year by year
| Measure | 2024/25 | England |
|---|---|---|
| Sessions missedOverall absence | 41.8% | 5.2% |
| Missed with permissionAuthorised absence | 25.8% | – |
| Missed without permissionUnauthorised absence | 16.0% | – |
| Pupils missing a lot of schoolPersistent absence | 95.7% | 12.8% |
| SuspensionsSuspension rate | 752.6 | – |
| Permanent exclusionsPermanent exclusions | 2 | – |
Staff and money
From the government's count of school staff in November 2025 and the school's published accounts.
Money
From the academy accounts return, year to August 2025. The per-pupil figures are compared with other special schools in England that report their accounts the same way.
Reserves are the money left over at the end of the year, kept back for emergencies and big projects. Being in the red year after year is a warning sign. Very large reserves can mean money sitting in the bank instead of being spent on today's pupils. Academy figures are rounded to the nearest £1,000 and include a share of any money the trust holds centrally.
The area around the school
Crime figures come from police.uk. The police record each crime at the nearest of a fixed set of map points rather than the exact spot, so “within 500 m” is only rough. House prices are from HM Land Registry sales nearby over the last two years.
Nearby schools
The closest schools, nearest first. Hover over a row to see it on the map.
| School | Type | Distance | Pupils | Ofsted | Score | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Golden Flatts Primary School | Academy | 130 m | 100 | Requires improvement 2022 | – | Compare |
| Cambian Hartlepool School | Independent | 540 m | 18 | Not inspected | – | Compare |
| St Teresa's Catholic Primary School | Academy | 0.7 miles | 299 | Good 2023 | 30 | Compare |
| Rossmere Academy | Academy | 0.8 miles | 421 | Not inspected | 37 | Compare |
| St Aidan's Church of England Memorial Primary School | Academy | 0.9 miles | 357 | Report card 2026 | 43 | Compare |
| Fens Primary School | Council | 0.9 miles | 457 | Good 2023 | 72 | Compare |
| Holy Trinity Church of England Primary School | Academy | 0.9 miles | 231 | Good 2023 | 62 | Compare |
| St Cuthbert's Catholic Primary School, Hartlepool | Academy | 1.0 miles | 236 | Good 2024 | 66 | Compare |
Questions parents ask
Is Hartlepool Free School a good school?
We don't have enough published data to score Hartlepool Free School yet.
How many pupils does Hartlepool Free School have?
33 pupils aged 5 to 19 were on the roll in January 2026. It has 64 places, so it is 52% full.
What is attendance like at Hartlepool Free School?
Pupils were in school 58.3% of the time in 2024/25. Similar schools in England managed 94.8%. 96% of pupils missed at least a tenth of the year.
Does Hartlepool Free School have a sixth form?
Yes.
These answers come straight from the figures on this page and update when new data comes out.
Contact and details
- Address
- Hedgehog Lane, Hartlepool, TS25 1FF
- Telephone
- 01429 450081
- Website
- makeitdifferent.org.uk
- Headteacher
- Mr Tristan Keates
- Type of school
- Special free school (Free schools special, free schools)
- Phase
- Special school, ages 5-19, with sixth form
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- None
- Multi-academy trust
- Make It Different (1 schools)
- Local authority
- Hartlepool
- Ward
- Fens & Greatham
- Constituency
- Hartlepool
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Opened
- 1 September 2024 (academy free school)
- URN
- 150740 · LAESTAB 8057000 · UKPRN 10096044
Where these figures come from
- School details: Department for Education, Get Information About Schools, refreshed daily (this page rebuilt 13 September 2026).
- Inspections: Ofsted management information, monthly; latest publication in our data 27 August 2026.
- Attendance: DfE pupil absence in schools in England, 2024/25 full year.
- Pupil characteristics: DfE school census, January 2026.
- Staff: DfE school workforce census, November 2025.
- Pupil premium: DfE allocations and conditions of grant, 2026 to 2027.
- Money: DfE financial benchmarking and insights tool, academy accounts return 2024/25.
- Neighbourhood: police.uk street-level crime, HM Land Registry price paid data, NaPTAN bus stops, English Indices of Deprivation 2025.
- All under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Full list and update calendar.