The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. The Hyndburn Park motto, ‘Dream Believe Achieve’, is tangible throughout the school. Ably supported by your very strong senior leadership team, you lead the school with drive and determination. Leaders demonstrate an unwavering focus on pupils achieving the best possible outcomes. This means that the school is in an even stronger position than when it was last inspected. Staff share your commitment to enabling all pupils to achieve their potential and they work hard to make this happen. They speak very positively about the leadership of the school. Staff feel valued and very much part of a team. This is summed up in one member of staff’s comment: ‘It’s a joy coming to work.’ Parents are also overwhelmingly supportive of the school. They feel that their opinions are valued and acted upon. Every parent who spoke to the inspector was very happy with the quality of education that their children were receiving. They particularly value how ambitious you are for their children. Parents’ views reflect how the nurturing environment in your school helps children to develop their confidence and make good progress. Pupils really enjoy coming to school. They are enthusiastic about their learning and they value the help and support that they receive from their teachers and other adults. All the pupils who spoke to the inspector or responded to the online questionnaire would recommend their school to another pupil. At the last inspection you were asked to ensure that pupils, particularly the most able, were being challenged. Pupils of all abilities throughout the school are now routinely being challenged. Pupils respond very positively to the high expectations that their teachers have of them. A second area for improvement identified at the last inspection related to the quality of teaching throughout the school. Since that inspection, leaders have appointed high-calibre staff who are reflective practitioners, and who are committed to doing their best for their pupils. Consequently, the quality of teaching throughout the school has improved further so that it is now typically at least good. Your monitoring information indicates that you judge over half of your teachers now to be outstanding practitioners. Teachers work well collaboratively with teaching assistants to challenge and support pupils of all abilities in every year group to achieve their potential. I saw very strong evidence of the rapid progress that pupils make throughout their time in school, during our work scrutiny. This was particularly evident in pupils’ writing assessment books, where their work was of a very high standard. In every classroom throughout the school, pupils are positively engaged in their learning. You used the disappointing key stage 2 reading results at the end of last year as a catalyst for further improvement in this area. You now need to ensure that the actions you have taken to improve pupils’ reading skills lead to positive outcomes for Year 6. The number of pupils meeting the expected standard in the phonics check at the end of Year 1 has steadily increased since the last inspection. However, further work needs to be done to ensure that disadvantaged pupils do as well as others nationally in the phonics screening check at the end of Year 1. The school benefits from strong governance. Governors possess the necessary skills and expertise to support and challenge you and other leaders. The recently formed strategy committee monitors how effectively the improvement plan is driving the school forward. This committee also plans strategically for the future to ensure that the school is well prepared to meet any challenges ahead. Safeguarding is effective. You ensure that there is a strong culture of safeguarding in your school. The leadership of this vital aspect of the school’s work is very effective. All safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose, including protocols and practices for recordkeeping. There are secure systems in place to ensure that only suitable people are recruited to work with children in the school. You and your staff know your pupils extremely well. This, coupled with the high- quality training that staff receive, means that you are all well placed to spot any signs or symptoms of potential risk or abuse. Ensuring that your pupils know how to stay safe online is a high priority in the school. A pupil questionnaire highlighted the gaps in their knowledge on this subject. As a result of the work you have recently done with pupils, they are now much better informed about online safety. The ‘Stay Safe Squad’, comprising four members of the school council, ensures that online safety has a high profile throughout the school. Inspection findings The inspection focused on a number of key lines of enquiry, one of which related to the attendance of disadvantaged pupils. Over recent years, too many of these pupils have not been attending school regularly. Leaders have identified the different reasons why pupils have a high absence rate. They are working very closely with parents to improve their children’s attendance. This work is making a significant impact. The overall absence and persistent absence rates of disadvantaged pupils are now broadly in line with national averages. A particular focus for this inspection was to find out why, in 2016, pupils’ outcomes in reading at the end of key stage 2 were so low. Leaders identified straight away that the main reason was the difficulties that pupils encountered with comprehension, particularly as over three quarters of the cohort did not have English as their first language. Particularly impressive is the way that leaders and all staff have responded to this. It has galvanised them to take a number of actions to develop pupils’ understanding of, and confidence in using, a wide range of vocabulary. For example, each class has a ‘word of the day’ and the whole school has a ‘saying of the week’, which develops pupils’ understanding of idiomatic expressions. These are embedded in the language that is used across the school, and pupils delight in their confidence about their widening vocabulary. The school’s assessment information indicates that these actions are making a significant impact on pupils’ progress in reading and writing in all year groups. In the current Year 6, 75% of pupils are on track to attain the expected standard in reading at the end of the year. Over recent years there has been a rising trend in the number of pupils who meet the expected standard in the phonics screening check at the end of Year 1, and this is now in line with the national average. However, the inspection looked at what leaders were doing to ensure that the proportion of disadvantaged pupils who meet this standard is as high as others nationally. Leaders provide a range of support strategies that enable the vast majority of these pupils to meet the expected standard by the end of Year 2. Leaders agreed that targeting this support for disadvantaged pupils more sharply earlier in key stage 1 would improve the chances of them meeting the expected standard at the first time of asking. Leaders explained the contextual reason for the fall in 2016 in the proportion of children who achieved the overall good level of development at the end of the early years foundation stage. This related to the high number of children who were admitted to the school during the Reception Year. Inspection evidence shows that children in the Nursery and Reception classes benefit from highquality provision. As a result, they make very good progress. Leaders understand the difference that an excellent learning environment and talented, committed staff can make to children, particularly those who start the early years with abilities well below those typical for their age. A higher number of Reception Year pupils are on track to achieve a good level of development at the end of this year. Next steps for the school Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that: the successes they have had in developing pupils’ reading skills lead to improved outcomes for Year 6 in this area more disadvantaged pupils meet the expected standard in the phonics check at the end of Year 1. I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Lancashire. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website. Yours sincerely Anne Seneviratne Her Majesty’s Inspector Information about the inspection During the inspection, I met with you and your senior leadership team; a large group of staff; three members of the governing body, including the chair and vicechair; and a representative of the local authority. I met formally with two groups of pupils from across the school and talked informally with others at playtime and in lessons. I listened to pupils read. I also talked with parents informally at the start of the school day. Accompanied by senior leaders, I observed teaching and learning in key stages 1 and 2 and the early years. I examined a range of documentation, including the self-evaluation document and improvement plan. I also undertook a review of the school’s website. As part of the inspection, I considered the responses to Ofsted’s Parent View; responses from parents to Ofsted’s free text; and responses to Ofsted’s staff and pupil questionnaires.