Lime Academy Hartwell
Lime Academy Hartwell is a special free school in Luton for pupils aged 11 to 19. It has 121 pupils, 1 more than it has places for. About 41 in every 100 pupils come from a low-income family, far more than at most schools in England. Ofsted's last grade was inadequate, back in 2024.
1 York Street, Luton, LU2 0EZ01582 280652limeacademyhartwell.orgTeneille Dardis headteacherAll details
What Ofsted found
Ofsted's last full inspection was on 14 February 2024, back when it gave schools one overall grade. Read the report on Ofsted's website.
Inadequate overall.
Ofsted has serious worries about this school. It is in serious weaknesses.
Results
GCSE results, summer 2025
13 pupils sat their GCSEs. Here is how they did against every state secondary in England. These are the results of Windmill Hill School, the school this one replaced.
The government hasn't published this school's headline results. That usually means the year group was too small to publish without identifying children.
Getting a place
Admissions policy not published.
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 Luton 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: Autistic spectrum disorder (38), Severe learning difficulty (29), Specific learning difficulty (13), language and communications needs (10), Profound and multiple learning difficulty (9), Moderate learning difficulty (8).
Attendance and behaviour
In 2024/25 pupils were in school 87.3% of the time. Across similar schools in England it was 94.8%.
Attendance year by year
| Measure | 2024/25 | 2023/24† | 2022/23† | 2021/22† | England |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sessions missedOverall absence | 12.7% | 13.9% | 15.1% | 11.4% | 5.2% |
| Missed with permissionAuthorised absence | 10.2% | 10.3% | 9.0% | 7.5% | – |
| Missed without permissionUnauthorised absence | 2.5% | 3.6% | 6.1% | 3.9% | – |
| Pupils missing a lot of schoolPersistent absence | 31.4% | 39.3% | 35.4% | 39.6% | 12.8% |
| Permanent exclusionsPermanent exclusions | 0 | – | – | – | – |
† These attendance figures are for Windmill Hill School, the school this one replaced in April 2025. Same building and the same children. It got a new registration number, usually because it joined an academy trust.
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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| St Matthew's Primary School | Council | 270 m | 884 | Good 2023 | 46 | Compare |
| Hart Hill Nursery School | Local authority nursery school | 490 m | 83 | Good 2024 | – | Compare |
| Richmond Hill School | Council | 730 m | 282 | Good 2019 | – | Compare |
| University of Bedfordshire | Higher education institutions | 750 m | – | Not inspected | – | Compare |
| Wenlock CofE Academy | Academy | 940 m | 311 | Report card 2026 | 5 | Compare |
| Crawley Green Infant School | Foundation | 1000 m | 253 | No overall grade 2024 | 29 | Compare |
| Bury Park Educational Institute (Al - Hikmah Secondary School) | Independent | 0.8 miles | 139 | Not inspected | – | Compare |
| Rothesay Nursery School | Local authority nursery school | 0.8 miles | 127 | Good 2022 | – | Compare |
Questions parents ask
Is Lime Academy Hartwell a good school?
Lime Academy Hartwell doesn't have a score yet. Ofsted rated it inadequate at its last inspection in February 2024.
What is Lime Academy Hartwell's Ofsted rating?
Ofsted rated Lime Academy Hartwell inadequate at its last full inspection on 14 February 2024.
How many pupils does Lime Academy Hartwell have?
121 pupils aged 11 to 19 were on the roll in January 2026. It has 120 places, so it is 101% full.
What is attendance like at Lime Academy Hartwell?
Pupils were in school 87.3% of the time in 2024/25. Similar schools in England managed 94.8%. 31% of pupils missed at least a tenth of the year.
Does Lime Academy Hartwell 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
- 1 York Street, Luton, LU2 0EZ
- Telephone
- 01582 280652
- Website
- www.limeacademyhartwell.org
- Headteacher
- Teneille Dardis
- Type of school
- Special free school (Free schools special, free schools)
- Phase
- Special school, ages 11-19, with sixth form
- Religious character
- None
- Multi-academy trust
- Lime Trust (9 schools)
- Local authority
- Luton
- Ward
- High Town
- Constituency
- Luton South and South Bedfordshire
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Opened
- 1 April 2025 (change in status)
- URN
- 151866 · LAESTAB 8217001 · UKPRN 10098093
- Formerly
- Windmill Hill School
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.
- GCSE results: DfE key stage 4 performance tables, 2024/25 final.
- 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.