The Thomas Hardye School

Overview

The Thomas Hardye School is described as “highly ambitious” with a strong focus on academic achievement and a “broad” curriculum. While the school maintains “Good” ratings across all key judgement areas, the report highlights inconsistencies in how the curriculum is delivered, noting that teaching quality varies across different subjects.

Strengths

• Teachers are “passionate and highly knowledgeable,” preparing pupils well for public examinations with “very strong published outcomes.”
• The “extra-curricular provision is a significant strength,” featuring successful sports teams, music ensembles, and participation in national competitions.
• Pupils value “warm and respectful relationships” with staff, contributing to a “calm and orderly” environment where the vast majority behave very well.
• The school has “strong systems” to identify and support pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), who “thrive and are well integrated.”
• The sixth form is “vibrant and ambitious,” with many students gaining places at academically selective universities.

Areas to improve

• Staff do not consistently link pedagogical approaches to intended learning, meaning some pupils “learn less effectively” and produce work of a lower standard in certain subjects.
• Oversight of some curriculum areas is “not sufficiently robust,” preventing leaders from having an accurate view of where implementation needs improvement.
• The delivery of the personal, social, health and citizenship education programme is “not always effective,” as staff do not always have the expertise to deliver it as intended.

Safeguarding

The report states that “the arrangements for safeguarding are effective.”