The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. The school is extremely well led and managed. Your staff and governors hold you in high regard and you want nothing but the best for your pupils. You are committed to the continued improvement of the school. You and other leaders have an accurate understanding of the school’s strengths and areas for improvement. You and your team have created a harmonious school where pupils are well cared for and enjoy their learning. As a result, pupils are happy in school and parents are supportive. Parents speak highly of the work you do. Parents, including parents of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, feel their children make good progress and are well supported. They describe the school as ‘excellent, nurturing and friendly’. Parents say that you and the teachers are approachable and that you have created a happy, community school. Pupils described the school to me as ‘spectacular, fun and amazing’. They behave very well and concentrate in their lessons. Pupils like to work hard and expect their teachers to provide them with challenging work. Pupils are taught to respect adults and each other. They are clear that all people should be treated well and they understand that not everyone is the same. Pupils were able to explain to me how everyone in Bringhurst Primary School is kind and caring. Pupils told me that bullying never happens in their school. However, they know about the different forms that bullying can take and were confident that they could talk to staff if they experience any problems. You and your staff work well together with the common purpose of achieving the best possible outcomes for pupils. You are ably supported by an effective governing body. Governors have a sound knowledge of the strengths of the school and the areas that require further work. In addition, you are effectively supported by Academy Improvement Leads from your sponsor, The David Ross Educational Trust (DRET). You and the governing body acknowledge the benefits of being a member of the multi-academy trust, because you value the support they provide. Leaders and governors work together to produce plans for school improvement that are sharply focused on the strengths and areas of development for the school. You carefully track the attainment and progress of pupils, including boys. However, closer attention needs to be paid to the tracking of boys across key stages 1 and 2. Additional support is given to pupils, including those who are disadvantaged and those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, when necessary. You are developing classroom practice and providing effective training to teachers, linked to your school priorities, to ensure that standards remain good and are improving. As a result, pupils make good progress from their different starting points. You and other leaders revised the curriculum and purchased new resources to provide greater interest to enthuse and motivate pupils. Teachers have the confidence to adapt their lesson plans to follow pupils’ interests, while still providing work that is challenging and matched to pupils’ needs. As a result, boys have benefited from topics that have captured their interest and the gap between boys’ and girls’ achievement is diminishing. This is particularly the case in the early years foundation stage. I observed boys developing their mathematical understanding of number and money in the ‘shop’. Boys and girls were enjoying their topic about mini beasts. One child was eager to show me the home she had designed and built for her mini beast. She was able to explain to me the reasons why the materials she had chosen were suited to a home for an insect. The changes to the curriculum have proven effective at raising standards in writing. In addition to the new curriculum plan, you recognised that improving pupils’ achievement in reading would provide pupils with a rich vocabulary that would support their writing. To complement this, a number of strategies to develop pupils’ ability to articulate, reason and explain their thinking have been introduced. During lessons, I observed pupils effectively using discussion to explain and extend their vocabulary, which then supported their written work. However, you have recognised that further work to raise standards in writing is required. Standards are not consistent across the school and pupils lack sufficient opportunities to apply and extend their writing skills across the curriculum. Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities are well supported. 2 You and the governing body recognised that provision for these pupils needed to improve. You have a very good understanding of the particular needs of these pupils and have provided staff with precise training and guidance to help these pupils make the progress of which they are capable. You ensure that pupils receive the correct balance between adult support and working with independence. Consequently, pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities are making good progress. Safeguarding is effective. You and your team work closely together to ensure that your systems to keep pupils safe are effective. All the staff I spoke with knew what to do if they had concerns about a pupil. Staff and governors receive regular and up-to-date training. You have created a safe and caring school and pupils say they feel safe and well looked after. Pupils have a good understanding of how to stay safe. They were able to tell me how to stay safe when crossing the road and about the dangers of talking to people that they did not know. Pupils know how to use the internet safely and to report problems to an adult. Inspection findings You use the additional funding for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities well. As a result, these pupils make good progress. Observations of learning in Reception, work in pupils’ books and current school performance information show that the gap between girls’ and boys’ attainment has diminished. The development of the outdoor area and creative topics, such as ‘Why do the stars come out at night?’ have been effective in motivating and enthusing boys and girls to learn. Parents spoke positively about the progress they felt their boys were making. The difference between girls’ and boys’ attainment in key stage 1 and key stage 2 is diminishing. However, there is still a gap in certain classes and in certain subjects. You have recognised that further work needs to be done to monitor and evaluate the performance of boys. Your plans to develop the curriculum have impacted on the performance of boys and on pupils’ achievement in writing. Interesting ‘Wow’ days, for example about dinosaurs, provide great excitement. Pupils are motivated to write, especially the boys. In addition, pupils in Year 6 enjoyed their work on Shakespeare’s ‘Twelfth Night’ and ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’. Teachers must now capitalise on pupils’ interest and provide more opportunities to write at length. Next steps for the school Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that: pupils are given more frequent opportunities to write at length, to develop their skills in writing 3 the performance of boys across key stage 1 and key stage 2 is more closely tracked, to ensure that they make the progress of which they are capable. I am copying this letter to the chair of governing body, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Leicestershire. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website. Yours sincerely Helen Richardson Her Majesty’s Inspector Information about the inspection During this inspection, I met with you and other school leaders and I spoke to the majority of your staff. I spoke to pupils informally in lessons and in a meeting. They shared their views about their school with me. I met with three governors, including the chair of the governing body, and two academy advisers from your sponsor, DRET. I considered the 43 responses of parents from Parent View. You and I visited classrooms together and we looked at a range of pupils’ work in writing and mathematics. I considered a range of school information, including your self-evaluation and your current action plans. I evaluated safeguarding procedures, including the school’s single central register (the school’s record of safeguarding recruitment checks on staff).