A York school has been rated ‘requires improvement’ by Ofsted – even though the pupils are proud to go there.
Huntington Primary Academy, on North Moor Road in Huntington, has many positives, inspectors found.
But they said students there “are not consistently able to build important knowledge”.
The overall Ofsted rating of ‘requires improvement’ is a downgrading of the school’s previous status as ‘good’.
Here are all the section ratings for Huntington Primary:
- The quality of education – Requires improvement
- Behaviour and attitudes – Good
- Personal development – Good
- Leadership and management – Good
- Early years provision – Requires improvement.
There are a lot of positives in the report. “There is a real sense of community at Huntington Primary Academy,” inspectors write.
“Leaders have built positive relationships with pupils and their families. They have created an inclusive culture that helps pupils to feel happy and safe.
The inspectors also noted that: “Pupils behave well most of the time. Bullying is rare. This is because leaders and staff teach pupils how to treat everyone with respect.”
However, the report says: “Staff are in the early stages of developing the curriculum, including in the early years.
“In most subjects, the curriculum does not precisely define what leaders want pupils to learn and remember. Pupils are not able to build their knowledge step by step as they move through the curriculum.”
Good readers
For the early years children, “staff help children to cooperate well and build positive relationships with each other. They teach children to share and to be kind.”
However, “leaders have not thought carefully enough about how the important knowledge, skills and attributes that children need to develop will build progressively.
“Many of the activities that staff provide for children are not helping them to develop the knowledge they need to be ready for Year 1.”
School leaders make reading a priority, and this helps “pupils to become fluent readers”.
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Maths is also taught well. “By the time pupils leave school in Year 6, they are confident mathematicians.”
Inspectors also say that “The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.”
The Ofsted report says Huntington Primary:
- should ensure that they clearly identify exactly what they want pupils to learn and remember, and
- leaders should work with staff to enable them to better set activities that focus on what they want pupils to know.
Read the full report below.
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