Hackness Church of England Primary School

About Hackness Church of England Primary School

Hackness Church of England Primary School is a small state primary in North Yorkshire, a local authority that includes 292 primary schools. It sits among a cohort of well-regarded peers, with Eppleby Forcett Church of England Primary School and Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School both achieving the highest possible ranking score locally, and Middleton Tyas Church of England Primary School close behind. The school itself is rated Requires Improvement by Ofsted following its most recent graded inspection in July 2024, a rating that has held steady since its previous inspection in June 2022. However, the picture is more nuanced than the headline suggests. In its 2024 inspection, Ofsted judged behaviour and attitudes, personal development, and leadership and management all as Good, and early years provision also received a Good rating. The areas requiring improvement were quality of education and overall effectiveness, both graded as Requires Improvement. With just 55 pupils on roll against a capacity of 70, the school is undersubscribed in terms of capacity, though it was oversubscribed for 2025/26 entry, receiving 22 applications for 10 places, with eight of those coming as first preferences.

Academic outcomes data for Hackness is not available in the current dataset, so it is not possible to compare its Key Stage 2 results against the North Yorkshire average of 60% achieving the expected standard. The school’s Ofsted report from 2024 does not provide specific exam figures either. What is clear is that the school has been working on improving the quality of education, with leadership and management now rated Good, suggesting that the foundations for academic improvement are being laid. The school serves a relatively low proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals at 12.7%, which is below the national average for primary schools. The absence of published attainment data means parents will want to look closely at the school’s own progress measures and discuss outcomes directly with the headteacher, Rowena Thorp, to understand how pupils are performing relative to local and national benchmarks.

Hackness offers a notably broad set of facilities for a school of its size, including a Forest School, sensory room, chapel, gymnasium, and ICT suite. Sports provision covers football, rounders, swimming, and netball, while clubs include book club, gardening, eco club, and film club. The school has a strong focus on SEND support, with provisions for specific learning difficulties including dyslexia, moderate learning difficulty, social, emotional and mental health needs, speech, language and communication needs, physical disability, and autistic spectrum disorder. This makes it a potentially good fit for families whose children require targeted support in a small, church-affiliated setting. The school does not have a nursery or sixth form, and it is not a boarding school. For families prioritising a close-knit, rural primary with a Christian character and a wide range of on-site facilities, Hackness is worth a visit, though the Requires Improvement rating means it is worth asking about the specific steps being taken to raise the quality of education to match the Good ratings already achieved in other areas.

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