Huntington Primary Academy to join Pathfinder Multi Academy Trust

Huntington Primary Academy has announced it will join Pathfinder Multi Academy Trust.

The news comes after the school, which has 393 pupils on roll, was given the overall rating of ‘Requires Improvement’ by Ofsted after a two-day inspection on June 6 and 7.

Huntington has been a single academy trust for the past eight years having opted out of local authority control in April 2015.

But in September 2022 the school announced plans to join a multi academy trust.

After exploring potential partners and consulting with staff, parents and the wider community, the trustees found Pathfinder Multi Academy Trust to be the best fit for the school.

Huntington Primary Academy (Image: Supplied)

In their report, Ofsted inspectors said improvements were required at the school in the areas of ‘quality of education’ and ‘early years provision’.

The rest of the areas were given the rating of Good.

Inspectors said that in most subjects leaders at the school had not defined the most important things they wanted pupils to learn.

They said this meant teachers did not consistently match activities to the most important things pupils should learn, which made it difficult for pupils to build their knowledge step by step.

Inspectors found that staff at the school were in the early stages of developing the curriculum, including in the early years.

Read next:

• Bootham Park Hospital 'must be kept for public use'
• York train customers to face disruption during planned strikes this week
• North Yorkshire fish and chip shop named among best in the UK by The Times

The report stated that leaders at the school are reviewing the curriculum and want to make sure that pupils build on what they already know.

Despite the concerns raised, inspectors praised leaders at the school and found they were making positive progress.

“There is a real sense of community at Huntington Primary Academy,” they said. “Leaders have built positive relationships with pupils and their families. They have created an inclusive culture that helps pupils to feel happy and safe.”

Head teacher Jenny Holton, who took over the school in June 2022, said: “All leaders and teachers are already working hard to design and embed a new curriculum and are committed to making improvements and ensuring that the school goes from strength to strength.”

Headteacher Jenny Holton (Image: Supplied)

Chair of trustees Steve Botham said: “Whilst there are clear areas for improvement, the leaders and trustees recognise that we are at an exciting point for continuing to develop the curriculum and we are pleased that the progress already made was acknowledged by the report.”

Pathfinder CEO Andrew Daly said he was “looking forward” to welcoming Huntington’s staff, children and families to Pathfinder when the school officially joins the trust in September.

“Pathfinder has a strong track record of working together for the benefit of all our schools not just on Ofsted judgements and educational outcomes but also the wider development of our children and young people,” he said.

“There are many positives to draw from the Ofsted report and I am confident that the school is in an excellent position to build on the work already in place on its journey to becoming a good school.”