The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. You have secured substantial and sustained improvements in the school’s work since your appointment in September 2016. You have built a strong team of teachers, teaching assistants and governors who are committed to continuing to provide high-quality education for all pupils. You have re-established a confident, hard-working atmosphere in the school and refocused your team on the key priorities for the school’s development. Staff morale is high. When appointed, you quickly identified the need to secure urgent improvements in the quality of teaching. Since then, you have worked positively and constructively with your team to improve teaching across the school. You have made sure that teachers understand their responsibility for ensuring that pupils of all abilities achieve well. You have provided teachers with good-quality training, which they have put to good use to develop their practice. As a result, pupils learn well. Pupils said that they like the changes you have made to teaching and feel that they are making better progress. The work in pupils’ books supports this positive view. At the start of last year, you took the sensible decision to focus on improving English teaching. Since then, a whole-school focus on English has brought rapid improvements to pupils’ progress in reading and writing and has lifted standards across the school. Teachers have much higher expectations of pupils’ learning than previously and teach with increasing skill. They use questions and explanations very well during lessons to check pupils’ understanding and to address any misunderstanding which may arise. You are now intent on making similar improvements so that standards are higher in mathematics by the end of key stage 2. Your mathematics leader is clear about what needs to be done and has already made a good start. For example, she has introduced a more consistent, whole-school approach to mathematics teaching, with more opportunities for teachers to develop pupils’ reasoning skills. However, it is still early days. Some mathematics teaching lacks the challenge and depth needed to ensure that pupils learn as fully as they could, particularly the most able pupils. You and your mathematics leader have already identified this aspect of mathematics teaching as the next priority for development so that pupils of all abilities achieve as well in mathematics as they do in English. You have developed rigorous procedures for monitoring the quality of teaching and learning. As a result, you and your team are very clear about how well pupils are learning across the school and about where further improvements are needed. You make sure that governors have all the information they need so they can hold leaders to account for pupils’ learning and well-being. Pupils are friendly, welcoming and well behaved. They greet visitors politely and with interest. Improvements in pupils’ behaviour during the past year mean that they achieve more in lessons than previously and make better progress over time. However, while pupils are keen to do their best, some give up too easily and lose concentration during lessons, particularly when tackling more difficult work. Safeguarding is effective. Since your appointment, you have increased the focus on safeguarding throughout the school so that pupils’ safety is given the highest priority. You have improved communication routes and strengthened procedures so that they are fit for purpose. You have established a more open culture in the school so that pupils are confident to talk to adults about any worries. You have made sure that all staff and governors are well qualified and knowledgeable about safeguarding procedures. Pupils feel respected, valued and secure. All parents who completed Ofsted’s online questionnaire feel that their children are safe and happy in school. You and your team monitor pupils’ safety carefully. You keep detailed and highquality records, which enable you to build a valuable picture of pupils’ well-being over time. You follow up any safeguarding concerns thoroughly. You and your team keep in regular contact with agencies and parents wherever needed so that you have an up-to-date understanding of family circumstances. Inspection findings During this inspection, I focused particularly on: - how successfully teaching ensures that the most able pupils achieve well, particularly in mathematics - how well leaders use additional funding to ensure that disadvantaged pupils achieve as well as they could, especially in mathematics - how effectively leaders check that extra help for pupils who have additional needs is making a difference to their learning - how well leaders ensure that pupils are well behaved and safe.