Huntingdon Academy

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Main findings

This is an outstanding and highly inclusive school where pupils develop a love of learning. As one parent said, 'All my children love school. This school is getting better and better'.

Overall, leadership and management are outstanding and are good in the Early Years Foundation Stage. Children in the Early Years Foundation Stage make good progress from their very low starting points. However, there are occasions when adults do not always intervene appropriately in children's learning, and phonics teaching sometimes lacks precision.

Progress then accelerates in Key Stages 1 and 2 so that they leave the school with attainment that is broadly average. Excellent support provided for the high prop...ortion of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities, those who speak English is an additional language, or those who join the school partway through the year, enables the vast majority to make excellent progress in their learning. Improvements in reading and writing at Key Stage 1 have supported rising standards throughout the school over the last four years.

A stimulating curriculum, which fully integrates the development of literacy and numeracy skills and exceptional care, guidance and support are central to the schools work and contribute to outstanding outcomes. Exceptionally effective partnerships, especially those with local educational specialists through its academy status, and agencies who support the needs of the most vulnerable pupils, augment pupils' learning and development. Parents and carers have a high degree of confidence in the school, which is strengthened though excellent links with them.

Highly effective teaching successfully promotes the school's values and an enjoyment in learning, and leads to the good achievement of all pupils. The high quality of teaching has been recognised externally and the school is a model of excellent practice. Pupils use their targets and guides to success effectively to accelerate their progress.

Although pupils did not perform quite as highly in mathematics as in English in 2011, initiatives to improve pupils' problem solving skills, are bearing fruit this year generally and particularly amongst pupils capable of higher attainment Pupils really enjoy school and almost all aspects of their personal development are outstanding. Pupils feel very safe in school and have an exemplary knowledge of how to keep safe in many aspects of daily life. Their exceptional behaviour in lessons contributes to outstanding learning and progress and enjoyment at break times.

Pupils are polite and considerate towards each other and celebrate the cultural diversity represented within the school community. They have an exceptional knowledge of the importance of diet and how to look after their health, and enthusiastically take part in physical activity. They make outstanding contributions to school life and the local community.

Their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is outstanding. Attendance is average, but is rising quickly as a result of the school's rigorous efforts to improve it. Reduced persistent absence has had a marked effect on the achievement of these pupils.

All those with leadership responsibility, including the governing body assiduously monitor and evaluate the school's work and have an accurate picture of its performance. Development planning focuses sharply on raising pupils' achievement and progress. This is evident in the improvements in reading and particularly boys' writing and more recently mathematics that have taken place.

Governors play a key role in determining the strategic direction of the school. School self-evaluation is accurate and the improvement planning arising from it sets a very clear direction for its work. The issues raised at the previous inspection and an HMI visit in 2009, have been robustly tackled.

All of this demonstrates excellent capacity for sustained improvement and excellent value for money.

Information about the school

Huntingdon is an average size school. It became an academy in October 2011, with two other Nottingham schools under the umbrella of the L.

E.A.D.

(Lead, Empower, Achieve, Drive) Academy Trust, an organisation that aims to strengthen school leadership and teaching and learning. Huntingdon is the lead school within the trust. The proportion of pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds and who speak English as an additional language is well above other schools nationally.

The proportion of pupils with special educational needs and disabilities is also well above the national average, but the proportion of pupils who have a statement of educational need is below. The proportion known to be eligible for free school meals is well above average. Early Years Foundation Stage provision is provided for children in a Nursery and a Reception class.

More pupils join or leave the school partway through the year than is the case in other schools nationally. The headteacher of the previously named Huntingdon Primary School is the executive headteacher of the new academy trust and still has overall accountability for Huntingdon Academy. The school deputy is now the head of the school and is leading it on a day-to-day basis, working with the executive headteacher to plan the strategic direction of the school.

The school is a National Support School. It has a Full International School Award, Health Promoting School status, Drug Awareness Award, Investors in People and the Actively Reducing Crime Award. There is a children's centre on site but it is led and managed independently of the school and is inspected separately.