Concerns raised over link between former head of Ofsted-inadequate school and chair of academy trust where he now works

Parents at an infant school which recently failed an Ofsted inspection have expressed concern after it emerged that its headteacher at the time now has a senior post at an academy trust headed by the school’s former chair of governors.

Jonathan Coy is listed on the website of Reffley Academy, a primary school in King’s Lynn, Norfolk, as its new headteacher as well as being the “deputy chief executive headteacher” of the Ad Meliora trust, which runs it.

The trust’s chair is Karen Gardner. However, Coy was headteacher at Nightingale Infant and Nursery School, in Taverham, outside Norwich, when this previously “outstanding”-rated school was assessed as “inadequate” by Ofsted, after an inspection just over six months ago, in March.

That judgement precipitated an academy order, which is leading to the school joining a chain called the Inclusive Schools Trust, in a move the Department for Education has predicted will be in December.

Gardner was chair of governors at Nightingale before standing down in November last year. On January 9^th, Norfolk County Council issued a warning notice to the school, raising concerns about governance and management.