The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. Your strong leadership has continued a culture of high expectations for pupil achievement and, as a result, pupils are securing good outcomes across the school. You work closely with staff, parents and carers, and the trust to sustain a strong sense of teamwork and an ethos in which pupils can thrive. There have been significant changes at the school since the last inspection. Your school is now a member of a multi-academy trust and almost all of your staff were not employed at the school when you were previously inspected. These changes have improved the effectiveness of the school. Teachers, support assistants, leaders and those responsible for governance all have extremely high expectations of pupils’ achievement and are dedicated to ensuring that all aspects of the school are as strong as they can be. You and your leaders have an accurate view of the school’s strengths and know what needs to improve. You are ably supported by an effective vice principal and an enthusiastic team of middle leaders. Leaders of the trust, and governors, have worked closely with you and your staff; they provide effective support and challenge. As a result, Enfield Academy of New Waltham is a rapidly improving school. Leaders have, rightly, identified that there are gaps in learning in key stage 1. The proportion of pupils reaching the required standard in the Year 1 and Year 2 phonics screening check has been consistently below average over time. You have taken effective action to address this which has resulted in the teaching and learning of phonics being currently much stronger. However, you acknowledge that these changes need to be firmly embedded to ensure that standards continue to improve. You also agreed that pupils in key stage 1 are not achieving the standards in writing of which they are capable. You and your leaders recognise that standards vary because some pupils are not reinforcing and improving their writing skills frequently enough. At the time of the last inspection, you were asked to develop the skills of individual teachers in order to raise pupils’ achievement. You were encouraged to share best practice in the school and work closely with the local authority to improve the quality of teaching further. Teachers at the school benefit from a wealth of professional development opportunities to improve their practice. They work collaboratively with other teachers in the trust to develop their teaching and they are given excellent support from you and your leaders. You were also asked to ensure that pupils have enough opportunities to answer questions in lessons. Observations of learning during my visit showed that pupils not only have numerous opportunities to answer teachers’ challenging questions, but have the confidence to ask questions themselves in order to deepen their understanding of what they are learning. Safeguarding is effective. There is a strong culture of safeguarding pupils at the school. Leaders have ensured that all safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose and records are detailed and of high quality. As the designated lead for safeguarding, you are thorough and tenacious in keeping children safe and ensuring that staff understand and carry out their responsibilities. All staff receive regular updates and training about safeguarding. Consequently, they know what to do should a safeguarding issue or concern arise. Your procedures for recruiting, vetting and checking staff are thorough. You work effectively with external agencies to ensure that everything is being done to safeguard children and minimise risk; you are not afraid to challenge these agencies when you feel they are not responding appropriately enough. Overwhelmingly, parents are confident that their children are safe and well cared for at the school. Inspection findings The teaching I observed with you and pupils’ work in books show that current pupils are making good progress in mathematics in key stage 2. Pupils of different abilities, and from different starting points, are completing challenging activities that deepen their understanding of what they are learning. Over time, the proportion of pupils who are regularly absent from school has been well above average. You have introduced strategies to improve this, such as rewards for good attendance, working closely with parents and following up unexplained absences rigorously. As a result of these actions, the proportion of pupils who are currently persistently absent from school has been greatly reduced and is below average. In 2017, writing standards declined significantly at the end of key stage 1. When we looked in pupils’ books, we agreed that some pupils are not given enough opportunities to practise, reinforce and improve their writing skills. Leaders have gone some way to address this through training and support, and pupils are currently making better progress. However, a minority of pupils in key stage 1 are currently not producing written work that is at the standard of which they are capable. Over time, the proportion of pupils attaining the expected standard in the Year 1 and Year 2 phonics screening check has been below average. You and your leaders have reviewed provision for phonics, and teachers and support staff have access to effective training opportunities to improve their skills. As a result, current assessment information indicates that more pupils than previously are better equipped to meet the required standard. However, you rightly agree that current provision for phonics needs to be firmly embedded to ensure that pupils continue to make good progress. Leaders and staff have benefited significantly since your school joined a multiacademy trust. Teachers are very positive about the opportunities they now have to share good practice and have professional discussions with other teachers in the trust. They feel their professional development is well catered for. Overwhelmingly, parents are very positive about the school. The responses to Parent View and from a parent who requested a meeting with me are full of praise for the efforts leaders and staff put into ensuring that their children’s needs are met. Next steps for the school Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that: recently introduced strategies to improve standards in phonics are firmly embedded the teaching of writing in key stage 1 enables a greater proportion of pupils to reach the standards of which they are capable. I am copying this letter to the chief executive officer of the multi-academy trust, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for North East Lincolnshire. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website. Yours sincerely Alan Chaffey Ofsted Inspector Information about the inspection During the inspection, I held meetings with you, the deputy principal of school, the early years leader and subject leaders for English and mathematics. I also met with the chief executive and the director for school improvement of the multi-academy trust. I spoke with pupils when listening to them read. I made short visits to every classroom with you and we looked at pupils’ books. I scrutinised various documents, including the school’s self-evaluation, improvement plans and safeguarding documents. I considered the nine responses to Ofsted’s online pupil survey, the three responses to the staff survey, the 27 responses to Ofsted’s online parent questionnaire, Parent View, and 27 free-text responses to Parent View. I also spoke to a parent who asked to see me.