The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. You took up your post of headteacher in September 2017 following a period of considerable turbulence in the leadership of the school. Staff, governors and the community recognise that you have brought the skills, experience and commitment needed to restore the effectiveness of the school following this lengthy period of uncertainty. On taking up your position, you promptly identified that significant aspects of the school’s work needed to be improved to secure a good quality of education. In particular, you have widened pupils’ opportunities for learning across a full curriculum. Pupils now gain knowledge through stimulating topics such as their recent learning about the Ancient Greek civilisation. The pupils showed their deepening understanding through interesting displays of work and through presenting a production for parents. Parents value the wider opportunities for their children. One parent expressed views typical of others by saying, ‘There is a massive focus on community involvement, engaging school trips and outdoor learning that are so important.’ At the previous inspection leaders were asked to develop pupils’ motivation, interest and presentation in mathematics. Pupils were seen to engage well with their mathematics lessons and their workbooks are well presented, with tasks set out neatly to support accuracy. Leaders were also asked to ensure that all leaders took account of pupils’ progress, for example when making judgements about the effectiveness of teaching and the curriculum. You have recently strengthened the way you track the progress of individual pupils and can now demonstrate strengths and identify where improvements need to be made. Currently, you are supporting leaders and teachers in fully understanding the range of requirements of the current curriculum for English and mathematics. This focus has not been in place long enough to raise pupils’ attainment fully. Following accurate self-evaluation you provided teachers with extra guidance on the teaching of phonic skills. Last year, as a result of the subsequently improved teaching, every child in Year 1 reached the expected standard in the phonics screening check. Equally, standards in reading, particularly in key stage 2, are now strong. A significant proportion of key stage 2 pupils last year reached the higher standard in reading and all made good progress. You have continued to develop pupils’ interest in reading with exciting displays of high-quality children’s literature throughout the school. Your current school development plan has a focus on further improving achievement so that the most able pupils can reach the higher standard, including in writing and mathematics. Safeguarding is effective. Leaders have established strong policies and procedures that keep pupils safe. For example, leaders ensure that staff are able to contact a designated leader for safeguarding in another school should the school’s own leaders not be available. Staff are vigilant to ensure pupils’ safety and use the new, improved systems to record concerns that a pupil may be at risk of harm. Leaders make prompt referrals to other agencies so that families are able to access support. Governors keep safeguarding under review and meet regularly with leaders to discuss recent actions. All checks on adults working with pupils are carried out and recorded meticulously. Pupils value the way they are taught how to keep themselves safe, including regular fire drills and advice about using the internet. Pupils feel safe in the school and have confidence in staff and their friends. They see the school as a welcoming place for all pupils. One pupil described the school’s inclusive approach by saying, ‘You will fit in here, no matter what.’ They say that almost all pupils behave well and that if they do not follow expectations, then it is challenged and dealt with. A small number of parents indicated on Parent View that they feel the school does not deal with bullying effectively. This is not the view of staff or the pupils. Inspection activities showed that allegations are fully investigated, and the actions taken are in line with the school’s policy and values. Inspection findings During this inspection I reviewed the school’s effectiveness in helping pupils reach the higher standards in writing and mathematics. As part of this enquiry I took account of the progress that pupils make in key stage 1. This was because attainment at the end of Year 2 has been low in recent years. I also reviewed the progress of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).