The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. You and your leadership team have maintained the positive ethos identified at the previous inspection, where pupils develop well both academically and socially. Parents are appreciative of the care that staff provide for pupils. Parents reflected on the ‘nurturing and inspiring environment’, the ‘exceptionally hard-working and caring teachers’ and the ‘friendly, happy school’ in the comments they wrote in Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View. Although you are relatively new to the school, you have made swift progress in improving it. You have prioritised the key areas identified for improvement in the school development plan. You have supported the transformation of the early years area and raised the profile of mathematics teaching so that pupils make more rapid progress in their learning. You employed external local authority subject advisers to support improvements in the teaching of mathematics very effectively. You have plans in place throughout the school to develop reading for enjoyment further, to ensure that pupils read regularly and enthusiastically. The school has tackled the areas for improvement identified in the previous inspection report well. You have rightly focused on ensuring that the quality of teaching throughout the school is at least good. Your monitoring and reviews, the work in pupils’ exercise books and the assessment information confirm that teaching is consistently good. I saw evidence of the most able pupils being stretched in their understanding and application of shape and angle problems in mathematics. Pupils were also able to work independently and to consider the methods they had developed to solve the problems. The governing body is robust and well informed, enabling governors to hold you and your leadership team to account. Their work is explicitly linked to the school improvement priorities and they are able to gather useful information to inform improvements. Governors are critically aware of the unique context of the school and work hard to support the needs of every pupil. Pupils are very well behaved, both within the classroom and in the playground. They are thoughtful, kind and generous with their time and support. In lessons, pupils are eager to learn. They are attentive and listen to instructions well. The split nature of each class (whereby two year groups study together) works very well. Pupils challenge and support each other very well in their learning. They are diligent in completing the challenges that they select for themselves and excited about gaining new skills. You have ensured that pupils have access to a broad and balanced curriculum, including opportunities to learn about the outside world through daily discussions about topical news stories. Pupils I spoke to were very thoughtful about the ways in which they engaged in democratic processes in school. Pupils talked about the prestige of standing for election to be team captains and vice-captains, as well as running for membership of the student council. Safeguarding is effective. You and the school’s leaders, including governors, have ensured that all safeguarding processes are fit for purpose. Child protection concerns are taken seriously, appropriate action is taken when necessary and detailed records are kept. Arrangements for the safer recruitment of staff are robust. The school’s single central register of employment checks meets statutory guidelines. Pupils feel very safe at school. Pupils I spoke to stated categorically that bullying did not happen at Essendon. Pupils were acutely aware of the dangers of being online and how to keep themselves safe. As a small school, the pupils I spoke to felt that pupils treated each other like members of a family. Pupils like the team system and say that it provides a very effective support, such as team captains and vicecaptains as a source of help and friendship. Inspection findings In order to check whether the school remains good, I agreed a number of lines of enquiry with you. The first line of enquiry concerned whether the proportion of children reaching a good level of development in Reception was sustained. The previous inspection report identified concerns about the sufficiency of resources and the support for children to practise their writing and calculation skills in the early years.