Hawarden High School, Flintshire

Hawarden High School is an English-medium school in Wales. Welsh schools are inspected by Estyn rather than Ofsted, and its latest report is published on Estyn's website.

It had 1157 pupils in the 2025/26 school census.

15% of pupils are eligible for free school meals (three-year average).

Of its pupils, 6% have additional learning needs (14% in 2020/21); 3% are learning English as an additional language; and 14% are from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds.

Year groups range from 86 pupils (Year 13) to 201 (Year 9).

Its delegated budget for 2026-27 works out at £6,122 per pupil, against £4,744 in 2021-22. It ended 2024-25 with a deficit of £169k.

Estyn's report on its March 2026 inspection summarises Hawarden High School like this:

"Hawarden High School is an inclusive and welcoming community where leaders and staff place a strong emphasis on pupils’ well-being, aspiration and developing a sense of belonging. As a result, pupils feel safe and valued. The school works carefully to support pupils with a wide range of needs, including those attending the specialist resource bases for dyslexia and social, emotional and mental health (SEMH). Staff know pupils well and provide worthwhile tailored support that helps many pupils make sound progress and develop confidence in their learning. The central student support hub enables pastoral teams to work effectively together to support pupils’ emotional and welfare needs. Pupils benefit from valuable leadership opportunities through groups such as the Senedd, which contributes positively to school life. Leaders have implemented a range of strategies to improve attendance."

"While attendance has improved gradually in recent years, it remains below pre-pandemic levels. Leaders and teachers provide pupils with a broad range of learning experiences through a purposeful curriculum that reflects both local and national contexts. In many lessons, pupils make at least expected progress. In these lessons, teachers provide clear explanations and appropriate challenge that help pupils deepen their understanding. In the most effective lessons, teachers adapt their teaching skilfully and use questioning effectively to develop pupils’ thinking. Across the curriculum, many pupils develop appropriate literacy, numeracy and wider skills. However, in a minority of lessons, teaching does not always engage pupils well enough, and tasks do not challenge them sufficiently."

"In these lessons, pupils make only limited progress. Provision for Welsh within the curriculum is underdeveloped and many pupils lack confidence when speaking Welsh. The headteacher provides thoughtful leadership and is supported well by a committed team of senior leaders and governors who share a clear vision for the school. Leaders use a range of first-hand evidence to inform self-evaluation and improvement planning and address underperformance robustly. However, in a few cases, self-evaluation does not focus closely enough on the impact of teaching on pupils’ learning. The school has developed strong approaches to tackling the impact of poverty and reducing barriers to learning for pupils from low-income households."

Estyn made 4 recommendations: (1) Improve the shortcomings in teaching identified in the report; (2) Refine the precision of self-evaluation and improvement planning; (3) Improve attendance; (4) Strengthen the provision for Welsh.

The nearest other state secondary schools to Hawarden High School are Elfed High School (2.1 miles), Argoed High School (2.8 miles), Connah's Quay High School (2.8 miles) and St David's High School (4.3 miles).

The nearest railway station is Hawarden Rail Station, about 730 metres away (roughly a 9-minute walk).

8 bus stops are within a five-minute walk; the closest is Hawarden High School (outside), 80 metres away.