The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. Since your appointment as headteacher you have worked hard to develop the capacity of the leadership team and ensure that they are fully involved in monitoring standards across the school. You have secured positive working relationships and a clear direction of travel in terms of school improvement. Your commitment to creating an inclusive and welcoming learning environment, centred on the school’s core values, is strongly evident. Pupils understand and adhere to these values right from their starting point in Nursery. Leaders have led improvements to the curriculum and assessment processes. Professional development opportunities closely linked to these priorities have led to improvements in teachers’ subject knowledge. You have also initiated opportunities for sharing practice amongst staff. Leaders recognise that there is still more to do to fully benefit from this approach to training. Pupils respond well to the learning opportunities provided for them and enjoy sharing their ideas with their peers when working in groups. They react well to challenges to apply their learning to problem solving situations. For example, in a Year 4 class pupils were asked to work out areas of different shapes using a selected number of cut-out squares in order to help farmers calculate the area of their fields. In Ofsted’s online survey, Parent View, and during informal discussions, parents and carers overwhelmingly agree that their children are happy at school. Governors are actively involved in the school and make regular visits to review how well leaders are addressing school improvement priorities. Governors make effective use of external reports to validate leaders’ judgements. The previous inspection report recommended that the school should provide the pupils with more opportunities to apply their knowledge of grammar, punctuation and spelling to written work in different subjects. Training provided for all staff has led to strong improvements in their subject knowledge of phonics. Pupils are provided with a good range of purposes for writing, from reports on the Great Fire of London in history to recording experiments in science lessons. Teachers remind pupils of grammar, punctuation and spelling rules in all subject areas when they are asked to write. Teachers use opportunities to develop language related to topics well. In addition, the previous inspection report recommended that good practice is strengthened by increasing opportunities for teachers to show pupils how to review and improve their written work. The introduction of the new phonics programme has resulted in an increased focus on editing work in key stage 1. In key stage 2 this continues, with pupils marking their changes using ‘polish pens’. In some classes, pupils are given opportunities to share their work with their peers and exchange ideas about how their writing could be improved. Safeguarding is effective. The importance of safeguarding pupils is well embedded into the culture of the school. The leadership team has ensured that all safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose. Staff demonstrate a secure understanding of policy and their role in keeping every child safe. Staff are provided with regular updates. Pupils are informed about how to keep themselves safe and report that they seek guidance from staff if needed. Inspection findings A key line of enquiry for the inspection was to review the procedures for monitoring pupils’ attendance as persistent absence increased in the academic year 2016/17. Attendance is robustly monitored and staff work in partnership with the local authority to ensure that families of pupils with high absence are supported effectively to improve. As a result, the number of pupils with persistent absence is declining. The second key line of enquiry was to review the steps taken to raise attainment in key stage 1, as outcomes in 2017 were below the national average for all subjects. In addition, I investigated how well those pupils who are now in key stage 2, who did not meet the expected standard at key stage 1, are being supported to catch up. Teachers demonstrate effective subject knowledge and plan tasks that are creative and engage pupils well. As a result, pupils are well focused in lessons and work well together to share ideas and raise questions. Where the best practice is seen, time in lessons is used productively and assessment, including questioning, is used effectively to assess pupils’ understanding and extend their learning. However, this is not yet consistent across the school. The final key line of enquiry was to measure how successfully leaders support teachers to create opportunities for reading and writing in early years. In 2017, the percentage of children who achieved expected levels at the end of Reception was below the national average, with reading and writing outcomes particularly low. Through creative planning based on children’s interests, early years staff ensure that pupils are well motivated by their learning experiences. The opportunities for early reading and writing are relevant and varied. For example, children enjoyed using the magnifying glasses to find clues about the ‘crime scene’ staged in Reception. They recorded their findings in a variety of ways and articulated their ideas with enthusiasm and clarity.