A YORK school has been named Primary School of the Year in a national competition.

Haxby Road Primary Academy in York scooped the title at an awards ceremony at the 2023 Education Awards in Manchester, with their assistant head Josh Hind also winning Hero of the Year.

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Josh said: "It is always a pleasure to be acknowledged for any award but this truly is a reflection of a whole school approach and something for everyone to cherish.

"From the children to every member of staff, we are all the true heroes of Haxby Road.”

The school, the first to join Ebor Academy Trust almost ten years ago, had already beaten 2,000 other nominations from the Yorkshire region to win through to the Education Awards final.

Head teacher Laura Robinson said: "This is an incredible honour and acknowledges what a great school Haxby Road is.

“When the school joined Ebor in 2014, the trust values of Excellence, Belonging, Opportunity and Respect laid the foundations for our school to provide bright futures for every child. Togetherness and inclusivity is what makes our school so unique, enabling every child to be the best version of themselves.

“The awards are a reflection of the hard work, dedication and commitment of our incredible staff team. I want to recognise the part that every person has played in supporting Haxby Road to win such treasured awards that acknowledge the hard work that goes into each and every day.

“I’m also grateful to Vital York Ltd and Dinky Groves Day Nursery for agreeing to sponsor places at the awards ceremony, so we could attend at no cost to the school.”

The nomination came from the grateful parent of an autistic child who moved to York from London. According to the parent, who prefers to remain anonymous, joining Haxby Road “made such a dramatic difference in our daughter’s life but also the lives of us as her parents.”

Gail Brown, chief executive at Ebor Academy Trust, which operates 23 primary schools across York, Selby, Hull and the East Riding and on the Yorkshire Coast, said the nominations had come at a special time.

“What a fantastic achievement! On 9 December the trust will be ten years old and was set up initially to be able to provide appropriate support to Haxby Road,” said Gail.

“At Ebor we have been sharing ideas and best practice between our schools for coming up to ten years and the many benefits are the same now as they were almost a decade ago, when Haxby Road became our first school. We are all so much stronger together and our family of schools collectively provides enriched education for some 6,000 pupils. It is satisfying to see schools that at one time needed plenty of support themselves, are the ones now able to offer support to others.”