A PRIMARY school put into special measures by Ofsted in 2016 has come top in York for spelling and grammar results at Key Stage 2 and is in the top ten per cent of schools nationally for progress in writing.

New Earswick Primary School has improved rapidly following its inadequate judgement by inspectors at the end of last year, securing excellent outcomes for pupils and achieving some of the highest results in the city.

Maxine Squire, assistant director of education at City of York Council, said: “I applaud the school’s success in bringing about such rapid progress and improvements to teaching and learning outcomes. This is giving pupils the firm educational foundations on which we pride ourselves in York.”

Head teacher Angela Oswald who took charge of the school in January said: “We knew that there was a lot of work to do quickly but I cannot praise the staff highly enough as they have shown what determination and hard work can achieve in a very short space of time. We know that our fresh approach will support our pupils to achieve highly for many years to come.”

The school was required to convert to an academy following its inspection outcome and has been working alongside Pathfinder Multi Academy Trust for several months before officially joining the Trust at the beginning of October.

John Hattam, chairman of Pathfinder Multi Academy Trust Board, said: “It's been inspirational to see the change that dedication, focus and high aspirations can bring - these are dramatic improvements. As a board we have every confidence in the New Earswick team who under the head's leadership have worked hard to achieve these results, and believe that this improvement trajectory is set to continue.”

With the joining of New Earswick Primary School, Pathfinder Multi Academy Trust has doubled in size in just over a year. Founded as a partnership of Church and Community Schools between Archbishop Holgate’s CE School and Badger Hill, Hempland and Heworth Primary Schools, the trust has since welcomed Clifton with Rawcliffe Primary, St Lawrence’s CE Primary and Tang Hall Primary Schools. The Trust is also looking forward to welcoming Acomb Primary School who are set to join early next year.