The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. Since your appointment in 2013, you have provided strong and effective leadership. You have skilfully built a team of highly committed and enthusiastic staff, who share your vision of excellence for the school. Your work is valued by all. You and other leaders have created a nurturing, happy atmosphere across the school. Staff especially appreciate the support you give them and the time you invest in building their leadership skills. This has enabled other leaders to become more effective in driving forward improvement since the last inspection. Leaders of particular subjects or phases are playing a bigger part in monitoring teaching and providing guidance to help to improve it. The impact of your strong leadership is evident in the improvements to progress and outcomes for current pupils. Leaders and staff have responded to the last inspection report well by improving pupils’ progress in reading in key stage 1. You have ensured that the teaching of early reading skills is consistently effective. Pupils who do not make rapid progress are identified quickly in order to receive excellent support from a well-trained team of teaching assistants. Standards have risen significantly in phonics since 2014 so that they are now above national averages at the end of Year 1. Standards are also rising in the early years. You were rightly concerned about the 2016 dip in standards, particularly in mathematics, in key stage 2. You have ensured that progress has increased rapidly this year. Your systematic and analytical approach identified pupils’ poor reasoning skills as part of the reason for the dip in standards last year. The effectiveness of teaching in mathematics has improved and reasoning skills have been a focus for the whole school. One pupil said, ‘I like maths now. We get to think about maths in steps we understand and to talk about how we tackle questions.’ You agree, however, that staff do not generate work that challenges the most able pupils consistently well. You are held in high esteem by the local authority which views the curriculum you have developed as a model one. You have requested additional ‘progress and impact’ meetings with local authority advisers, such is your commitment to school improvement. Safeguarding is effective. You ensure that safeguarding policies and procedures are understood by staff and governors, including those new to the school. As one staff member said, ‘Staff care about the pupils’ well-being and are always alert about safeguarding issues.’ Staff know the school’s families and the wider community well, so they are well aware of particular difficulties and risks which families may struggle with. The leadership team has made sure that all safeguarding arrangements are both fit for purpose and regularly updated in line with current statutory guidance. Staff record and follow up any incidents or concerns thoroughly. They work closely with outside agencies to protect children from harm and to support families in crisis. You have worked tirelessly on reducing overall and persistent absence since your appointment as headteacher. You are aware that in recent years, some pupils have missed too much school. Rigorous systems are in place to check where pupils are, why they are absent and to hold parents to account. Parents value the role of the school’s family support adviser, who works closely with families to improve attendance and well-being. I am convinced that the school has strong and effective strategies in place and current attendance is improving. Pupils at the school feel safe. Staff’s vigilance and care for the individual was summed up by one pupil, who said, ‘Teachers listen to your needs. They sort out our problems quickly and fairly.’ Inspection findings The focus of this inspection was to identify what actions the school is taking in response to the apparently low achievement of Year 6 pupils in 2016 and how successful those actions have been. Inspection activities also focused on the actions being taken to ensure that all pupils make the progress they are capable of in mathematics. I looked at whether the pupil premium funding was being used effectively to secure improved achievement for disadvantaged pupils. In the early years, the focus was on how leaders and managers were tackling apparent underachievement over time and what impact their actions were having.