The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. Leaders and governors make sure that pupils are well cared for and that they do well. As a result, all pupils continue to make good progress from their starting points. The Reception classes have significantly improved since the last inspection and children now do very well in their first year in school. Parents value the school and the education that their children receive. Parents are pleased with the strong progress that their children make. They are also confident that their children are safe, happy and well looked after. Pupils enjoy the time they spend in school. They behave well in lessons and during breaktimes. A few parents and pupils said that work in lessons could sometimes be more challenging. You, with other leaders, have taken effective action to address the areas identified for improvement in the last inspection. As a result, pupils’ writing has improved across the school. Leaders have been particularly successful with developments in Reception and in the teaching of phonics. You are now rightly focusing on ensuring that all teaching is of the same high quality across the school. Leaders have also improved their assessment of pupils’ learning since the last inspection. Leaders and governors have used the analysis of this information to good effect to guide further improvements. A good example of this has been the introduction of a new approach that gives more detailed information about what pupils know and can do. Teachers have begun to use this information to fine-tune their teaching to meet the needs of targeted pupils. While this work has started to improve outcomes, it is not yet being used consistently to improve outcomes for all pupils Safeguarding is effective. The last inspection reported that the school is an orderly community where pupils show respect for others and know how to stay safe. This is still the case. Pupils feel safe and happy at school. They are caring towards each other and the curriculum teaches them to keep themselves safe in a variety of situations; for example, on the internet, in different parts of the school and when out riding their bicycles. The leadership team has ensured that all safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose and records are detailed and of high quality. You and other leaders are diligent in your work to keep children safe. You work closely with other agencies to ensure that pupils receive the support they need. Systems to monitor the well-being of pupils are robust and well managed. Governors monitor many aspects of safeguarding effectively, for example, carrying out ‘walkabouts’ to review safety arrangements and gather pupils’ views. The care provided for pupils who have medical needs is exemplary. Leaders ensure that all staff have the information and training they need to make sure that pupils who have medical needs receive the care that they need. The careful thought given to this work leads to these pupils being very well looked after. Inspection findings At the start of the inspection, we agreed to look in particular at the following aspects of the school’s work: – the effectiveness of safeguarding arrangements – how well leaders have addressed the recommendations of the previous inspection – the consistency of teaching across the school – how well disadvantaged pupils are supported to make good progress – how effectively the school promotes the good attendance of pupils. There have been some changes in senior leadership since the last inspection. You started as headteacher in January this year, following a period of interim leadership from a local, experienced headteacher. The previous headteacher was present at the time of the last inspection and led many improvements before she left. Governors, rightly, took the appointment of a new headteacher very seriously. They went to great lengths to appoint someone who could maintain the character of the school and continue to develop it. You, with other leaders in the school, have improved provision since your arrival. Staff are motivated by the positive changes you have introduced. Parents and staff are confident that the school is well led and managed. Since the last inspection, teaching has continued to lead to above-average outcomes for pupils. Leaders have introduced a number of very effective teaching approaches that have resulted in faster rates of progress. A good example of this is the calculation policy. The training and support for staff, along with the workshops for parents, have led to a greater consistency in the teaching of mathematics. As a result, the proportion of pupils who achieve well in Year 6 is much higher than the national average. However, pupils do not yet experience the same consistency in writing. As a result, the most able pupils do not do as well in writing as they do in mathematics. Strong subject leadership has led to improved outcomes for pupils since the last inspection. For example, enhancements in Reception have led to an impressive increase in the proportion of children achieving a good level of development. Also, improvements to the teaching of phonics have resulted in outcomes in Year 1 that are well above national averages. However, leaders are not yet sufficiently focused on ensuring that pupils make the same strong progress in writing in all classes. Since the last inspection, leaders have made sure that disadvantaged pupils make strong progress. As a result, in some year groups, these pupils perform better than other pupils with similar starting points. For example, the proportion of disadvantaged children who achieve the expected level in phonics in Year 1 is higher than for other pupils. However, this is not yet the case for disadvantaged pupils in all subjects and in all year groups. You are aware of this and have increased the focus on disadvantaged pupils in meetings with teachers. This has resulted in faster rates of progress for some pupils in mathematics and writing. In doing this, you have rightly raised the school’s expectations for these pupils. Governors challenge leaders effectively and hold them to account for the progress that pupils make. They have closely tracked the school’s progress since the last inspection and sought ways to improve their own effectiveness. A good example of this is the introduction of individual governors to monitor the key areas of improvement closely. However, although governors’ monitoring is very effective, they do not yet have a clear, shared understanding of the next steps in the school’s development. Next steps for the school Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that: teaching is consistently of high quality and leads to faster rates of progress for all pupils the focus on the achievement of disadvantaged pupils continues, so that more of them achieve highly.