The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. Since your appointment as executive headteacher in September 2017, you have quickly established a convincing vision for continuing to improve the school. You have a clear and accurate view of what your school does well and what could be even better. Staff unanimously agree that they are proud to work at the school. You and the rest of your staff know pupils and families extremely well. You have successfully shaped a nurturing ethos within the school, firmly built on strong Christian values. Parents, staff and pupils told me that they enjoy belonging to the ‘Barton Stacey family’. A parent summed up the views of many, saying, ‘Barton Stacey is a friendly, caring and supportive school.’ Pupils are happy, confident and proud of their school. They say that teachers make learning interesting and fun. A typical pupil comment was, ‘This is a wonderful school.’ You have adeptly created a calm environment where pupils are busy and focused on their learning. Pupils value the many opportunities they are given to contribute responsibly to school life. For example, pupils enthusiastically explained their roles as ‘junior road safety officers’ and how they help other pupils understand how to keep themselves safe on dark evenings. Governors are skilled and knowledgeable. They hold leaders to account for their work and gather first-hand information to check what leaders tell them. Governors take a thoughtful approach to their roles and carefully plan how they will evaluate the impact of their actions to improve the school. At the time of the last inspection leaders were asked to make effective use of external support from the local authority to improve practice. Subject leaders make good use of local authority support by regularly attending local cluster and network meetings. Subject leaders successfully use knowledge gained through these meetings to provide helpful support and training to other staff, such as the recent focus on teaching multiplication. Leaders were also asked to ensure that middle-ability pupils are appropriately challenged. Skilful teaching and support ensure that, across the school, middleability pupils achieve well in reading and writing. You have rightly identified that there is more work to do to improve outcomes and progress in mathematics for all pupils in key stage 2, including middle-ability pupils. You and your team maintain high aspirations for all pupils to achieve well. You carefully monitor the progress of pupils and recently introduced a system to rigorously monitor pupils’ progress, although it is too soon to see the success of this approach. A sharper focus on evaluating the impact of support offered to disadvantaged pupils and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) is also required. Extending pupils’ experience and appreciation of cultural diversity was identified as another area for improvement. Pupils are positive about each other and interested in other lifestyles. Pupils enjoy learning about other cultures and successfully make links with their own experiences. For example, pupils enjoy learning about books and reading in other countries through the school ‘world-wide book swap’. Safeguarding is effective. The leadership team has ensured that all safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose. All statutory staffing checks are rigorously carried out and records meticulously maintained. Governors have completed safer recruitment training and keep up to date with their safeguarding training. They use their knowledge efficiently to make regular checks on the school’s work to keep pupils safe. Staff are well trained and understand their responsibilities to keep pupils safe. Staff are vigilant and readily use the school’s effective systems for passing on concerns. Leaders act promptly on the information they receive, working closely with parents and other professionals to protect pupils. Pupils are particularly knowledgeable about online safety. For example, some older pupils appointed as ‘e-cadets’ capably support younger pupils to understand how to stay safe when they use the internet. Pupils confidently explain how to use secure passwords and to ‘always be cautious’ when they are online. Inspection findings During the inspection we looked closely at specific aspects of the school’s provision, including: the effectiveness of leaders’ work to ensure that disadvantaged pupils achieve well; the effectiveness of teaching and learning in mathematics; and how effectively the curriculum enables all pupils to make good progress. You have successfully ensured that the achievement of disadvantaged pupils is a priority in your development plans. Staff and governors are united in their ambition for disadvantaged pupils to achieve well. Teachers know pupils well and provide proficient teaching and valuable support that enable pupils to make good progress. However, leaders acknowledge that more work is needed to evaluate precisely the impact of additional support offered to disadvantaged pupils, and also those with SEND, to further improve their progress and achieve even better outcomes. You have taken swift and decisive action following the dip in pupils’ outcomes, in 2018, in mathematics at the end of key stage 2. You carefully analysed pupils’ results and have accurately pinpointed where improvements are needed. Strong leadership of mathematics, in the school and across the federation, is successfully supporting staff to enhance their skills and confidence in teaching mathematics. Pupils’ workbooks show many examples of them effectively developing their reasoning and problem-solving skills, particularly in Years 5 and 6. Pupils confidently explained how teachers help them to try things out for themselves and become resilient learners. Improving pupils’ progress and outcomes in mathematics, including for the most able pupils, remains a priority for the school. The thoughtfully designed curriculum is a strength of the school. The curriculum is rich, interesting and relevant to pupils’ needs. Learning is carefully planned to develop pupils’ knowledge, skills and understanding in a range of subjects. For example, a recent topic on ancient Egypt inspired pupils to discover how levers and pivots were used to build pyramids and then develop their scientific knowledge to find levers and pivots being used in the modern world. In geography, pupils located Egypt on a world map and investigated the organisation of Egyptian society. As a result, pupils across the school are confident and curious learners. Next steps for the school Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that: pupils make consistently strong progress and achieve good outcomes in mathematics by the end of key stage 2 they sharpen their evaluation of the impact of additional support that disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND receive, aiming for these pupils to achieve even better outcomes. I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the director of education for the Diocese of Winchester, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Hampshire. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website. Yours sincerely Claire Prince Her Majesty’s Inspector Information about the inspection I met with you, the head of school, subject leaders and governors. I also had a discussion with a representative from the local authority. Together, you and I visited all classes. I considered the 52 responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, including 31 free-text comments. There were 10 responses to Ofsted’s staff questionnaire and 40 responses to the pupil questionnaire, which were considered. I also met with a small group of pupils, talked informally to pupils about their learning and scrutinised work in pupils’ books. I analysed a range of the school’s documentation, including information about safeguarding. We discussed your evaluation of the school’s effectiveness.