The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. You and your team have created a friendly, nurturing school, which is highly valued by parents and carers. You warmly welcome all new pupils, making strenuous efforts to meet the needs of every one. Pupils consequently enjoy school. They learn to get on well together, forming strong relationships with adults and with each other. One parent echoed the sentiments of many others when they said that their child attends a ‘lovely school run by people who care’. You strive continuously to improve teaching and pupils’ all-round development. You and other staff work in partnership with the local teaching school alliance to help you make improvements, while contributing substantially to improvements in other schools. You have created an environment where teachers support and challenge each other to improve. You set an example by subjecting your own teaching to scrutiny from external professionals and from your colleagues in school. Teachers told me, ‘We love our school.’ At the last inspection, inspectors challenged you to improve teaching and pupils’ outcomes in mathematics. Pupils perform just a little less well in mathematics than they do in English. However, you and the leader of mathematics have taken effective action to improve the mathematics curriculum so that pupils, including the most able, make good progress. Most are well prepared for the end of key stage tests. You continue to strive to diminish the difference between pupils’ strong achievement in reading and their achievement in mathematics. You recognise that pupils still need more opportunities to use and apply their mathematical knowledge and skills in subjects other than mathematics. In collaboration with partner schools, you have developed a broad and balanced curriculum that often engages children in stimulating activities. We looked at a sample of pupils’ workbooks together and agreed that teachers do not challenge pupils as well in some subjects, such as science and the humanities, as they do in reading, writing and mathematics. Religious education (RE) and personal and social education make a positive contribution to pupils’ spiritual and moral development. Pupils show an openminded respect and tolerance for each other’s differences. However, pupils demonstrate limited knowledge about faiths other than Christianity, or about a range of cultures represented in modern Britain. Similarly, when I asked them, they could recall little that they had learned about gender stereotyping. The youngest children enjoy their daily learning in the new, vibrant Reception base. The development of this resource means that adults are better able to meet the particular needs of children in their early years. Adults teach children basic skills effectively but children are less well challenged when playing and learning independently. Safeguarding is effective. The leadership team has ensured that all safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose. You make certain that the required checks on adults’ suitability to work with children are carried out. Adults are well trained so they understand their safeguarding duties. Strong, nurturing relationships between adults and pupils result in pupils feeling safe. You ensure that the most vulnerable pupils receive extra help from external professionals. You have taken action to limit and supervise access to the open school site. Pupils understand how to stay safe online. They are happy that bullying is rare. They understand the difference between bullying and other sorts of conflict. Pupils say that adults are good at helping them to resolve minor conflicts when they arise. The vast majority of parents who responded to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, agree. A few of the oldest pupils have the role of safety officer, with responsibility for teaching others about how to stay safe crossing the road. Inspection findings You have developed the mathematics curriculum to meet the increased challenge of the government’s statutory requirements. Teachers routinely encourage pupils to reason and explain their thinking verbally and in writing. They ensure that pupils develop understanding of mathematical concepts as well as their ability to use the most efficient methods to calculate. Teachers make sure that all pupils, especially the most able, have regular opportunities to attempt to solve challenging mathematical problems. New resources are helping teachers to give pupils the right amount of challenge. You keep a close eye on the progress of pupils and ensure that they get extra help where it is needed. You recognise that pupils still have too few opportunities to do challenging mathematics work in subjects other than mathematics. Pupils undertake work in all national curriculum subjects. They enjoy learning through visiting places of interest. Teachers make use of the local environment to develop pupils’ knowledge and understanding of the natural world. I saw some high-quality work displayed around the school, particularly pupils’ artwork. However, teachers generally do not challenge pupils in other subjects such as geography and history, and especially in science, as well as they do in English and in mathematics. This is particularly the case for the most able pupils. The positive, nurturing ethos you have created helps pupils to behave well and to respect each other’s differences. RE lessons and assemblies contribute strongly to pupils’ spiritual and moral development. Although pupils learn about major world faiths, pupils, when I asked them, showed an underdeveloped knowledge and understanding about major world faiths or about gender equality. While in many respects they are learning to become good citizens, you and governors recognise that if pupils are to be better and more fully prepared for life in modern Britain, these aspects of their learning need to improve. The governing body knows where the main strengths and weaknesses are in achievement because you share suitable information with governors. They make regular visits to the school to see for themselves how teachers teach and how pupils learn and behave. These visits are beginning to shine a brighter light on the school’s most important development priorities. The governing body has ensured that newly appointed governors have the skills and experience necessary for governance. This has improved the extent to which the governing body challenges you. You acknowledge that, although you share information with governors about the progress pupils make from the end of the previous year, governors do not get sufficient insight into the progress pupils make over a longer length of time. The youngest children now have the opportunity to learn in their own separate space, as well as alongside the Year 1 and Year 2 children. You have sought advice from an external early years professional. Staff have visited another school deemed to have effective early years practice. Adults teach these children effectively. For example, I observed an adult helping a small group of children to understand the concept of subtraction using vegetables. The adult encouraged them to record their simple calculations accurately. However, sometimes children’s independent play does not promote characteristics of effective learning. For example, independent activities sometimes do not encourage children to concentrate or to challenge themselves.