The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. Your ambition is to ensure that all pupils who attend Edenfield develop a thirst for knowledge and a love of learning. You have successfully created a positive culture in which children enjoy their education. The school lives up to its motto ‘Children come first’. Many parents and carers expressed their appreciation for all that the school has to offer. Comments such as ‘We could not be happier with Edenfield’ and ‘The school offers a rich and vibrant education in a safe and secure setting’ are typical. You and your staff have raised standards further so that, over the past years, pupils achieve above-average scores in phonics and in reading, writing and mathematics at the end of both key stages. In 2017, your pupils were placed in the top 1% for achievement in mathematics. You have recognised that the progress of middleability pupils is not as strong as that of the higher-ability pupils and have taken active steps to address this. The most recent information shows that, for pupils currently in the school, standards are above average. They are higher than they were at the last inspection and an increasing proportion of pupils achieve the higher standard. All groups of pupils are achieving well, including disadvantaged pupils and those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. You and your staff have developed and enhanced the curriculum to provide exciting opportunities and enrichment. Pupils told me that they especially enjoy themed weeks, such as geography, science and religious education weeks. They love the many visits, such as to Delamere Forest, Jodrell Bank and Chester, which make their learning come alive. Pupils’ appreciation of school is seen in their consistently high levels of attendance. You ensure that the curriculum is appropriate for pupils of all abilities, including the most able pupils. In the lessons that we visited, all pupils concentrated well. They talked about the interesting topics they study and the themed weeks. When I looked in pupils’ books, I was very impressed with the standard of presentation of work, which was consistent across all classes. The good, and sometimes better, progress pupils make in all subject areas was evident in their books in all subjects. You set high expectations for your leadership team, your staff and your pupils. Your actions have improved the school in all areas. Since the previous inspection, you have tackled the areas for development well. Teachers are effective in providing consistently challenging work for the most able pupils so that their progress is strong. Standards have risen sharply across the school in pupils’ spelling, punctuation and grammar. The remaining weakness is that middle-ability pupils are making slower progress than most-able pupils, particularly in reading. Safeguarding is effective. Safeguarding has the highest priority for you and your staff. It is seen as the responsibility of everyone. It is a standard agenda item for meetings with staff and governors to make sure that they are well informed and regularly reminded of how to safeguard pupils’ welfare. All staff undertake regular training and contribute to safeguarding policy decisions. The site is safe and well maintained. All external boundaries between the school and the main road are secure. Pupils confirm that they feel safe and well cared for. They told me about their understanding of how to keep safe on the roads, how to respond to bullies and how to keep safe when using the internet. A group of pupils have become ‘digital leaders’ because of their interest in, and enjoyment of, computers. They were able to explain in detail how to use the internet and social media safely. Bullying is very rare in school and pupils are confident that they know how to respond. The school is successful in developing pupils’ sense of responsibility and consideration for others. For example, pupils in Year 6 become ‘partner buddies’ with the youngest children in Reception and look after them at breaks and lunchtimes. The school’s ethos and curriculum are successful in developing pupils’ confidence and self-esteem. Inspection findings During the inspection, I looked closely at the school’s strategies to increase the rate of progress of pupils of middle ability, especially in reading. You have improved the way in which teachers plan guided reading lessons so that pupils are tackling more challenging texts, developing wider vocabulary and recording their responses in reading journals. Teachers regularly encourage pupils to use more sophisticated vocabulary and powerful language. They successfully engender a love of reading and there is a steady increase in the proportion of pupils reaching the higher standard at the end of Year 6. You have many additional interventions and ways of supporting pupils who struggle with reading so that they become more confident and successful over time. The work in pupils’ reading journals shows that they can summarise, explain, discuss and debate more effectively. They are becoming adept at using dictionaries. All the pupils I spoke to discussed their reading with enthusiasm. The guidance of the headteacher has enabled subject leaders across the school to enhance and develop their skills successfully. Since the previous inspection, subject leaders have become closely involved in all aspects of checking on the quality of teaching and learning and analysing how well pupils are progressing. Leaders regularly review the strengths and areas for development of their subject areas. They report these to the governors and identify what actions have been taken, what impact these have had and their next steps. There are numerous examples of strong and effective subject leadership across the curriculum. Examples include a greater emphasis on investigation and enquiry through practical work in science and the opportunity for pupils to learn many different instruments in music. The school choir is highly successful and recently came second in a countywide competition. Next steps for the school Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that: strategies already in use are embedded to accelerate the progress of middleability pupils, particularly in reading. I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the director of education for the Diocese of Manchester, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Lancashire. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website. Yours sincerely Judith Straw Ofsted Inspector Information about the inspection During the inspection, I met with you and the deputy headteacher and we agreed the key lines of enquiry. I met with all the staff at the morning briefing and later in the day with a group of staff who are subject leaders. I also met with the chair of the governing body and three other governors, and a group of pupils from Year 6. I reviewed the 55 responses to Parent View, Ofsted’s online questionnaire, and the 15 responses to the Ofsted staff questionnaire. Together we looked at work in pupils’ books in writing and in their reading journals. We also visited classes in both key stages to observe pupils learning. I spoke to pupils during lessons and at playtime and observed their behaviour. I listened to pupils in Year 4 reading. I reviewed a range of documents, including an evaluation of the school’s performance and information about pupils’ progress and attendance. I looked closely at the school’s safeguarding and welfare arrangements, including policies and other documentation, and discussed these with the safeguarding lead, the chair of governors and pupils.