The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. Since then, the school has entered into a federated arrangement with a local primary school. With the governors, you have taken on executive responsibility for overseeing the standards and effectiveness of the two schools. The school population continues to be smaller than the national average and there are high levels of mobility between key stages and within school years. Extensive changes in the composition of staff have also presented significant challenges. Leaders have responded by investing in leadership development and high-quality initial teacher training and recruitment. Relationships between pupils and teachers are very positive and parents and carers report high levels of satisfaction with the school. Leaders have effectively evaluated the strengths and weaknesses of the school and have produced plans to improve it further. The school has benefited from the enhanced capacity for developing the teaching and learning offered by the federation and through its work with local teaching schools. The development of an effective structure for sport has enabled staff to offer a popular annual games event and a range of coaching opportunities. Use of the primary physical education and sport premium funding is appropriate and rates of participation are high. Pupils also benefit from a range of extra-curricular opportunities, including clubs, trips and outdoor pursuit activities. You and your staff have designed the curriculum well. Pupils I met spoke positively about the range of creative learning activities, including cross-curricular studies of historical periods and geographical regions. Teachers regularly plan together and aim to engage pupils’ imagination and stimulate their appetite for learning. Wide ranges of thoughtfully chosen resources to support learning are present in classrooms. Pupils have a good understanding of the importance of fundamental British values and have engaged in a number of whole-school events designed to promote tolerance and respect for diversity. Leaders have responded to the areas for improvement identified in the previous inspection report. The introduction of pupil-friendly checklists in books have raised expectations of the importance of high-quality presentation and developed understanding of how work is assessed. Although it is improving, leaders have not yet ensured that all teachers give consistently effective guidance to pupils so that they are shown what they need to improve next. You are also aware that not all disadvantaged pupils are yet making the rapid progress they need to in order to catch up. The appointment of a strong senior leader to develop effective practice in teaching, learning and assessment in mathematics is helping to ensure that targeted professional development is on offer to all staff. Leaders have a clear-sighted understanding of the specific challenges posed by the new national curriculum content. They have made significant investment in high-quality resources for improving pupils’ skills in reasoning and calculation. A well-designed and highly comprehensive action plan for promoting pupils’ progress in mathematics across the school provides convincing evidence of effective leadership of this area of the curriculum. Governors have been fully trained on the use of data to inform school improvement. Minutes of governors’ meetings show an appropriate level of challenge and expectation for leaders to secure pupils’ progress, including that of the most able pupils. They understand clearly their responsibility for monitoring the use of the pupil premium and receive regular reports on the impact of funding on pupils’ progress and attainment. Safeguarding is effective. Leaders have developed an effective safeguarding culture, and implemented a comprehensive range of policies and procedures designed to ensure the safety and welfare of pupils. Staff receive appropriate training at regular intervals. In cases where pupils require extended levels of support from external agencies, leaders have been proactive and vigilant in their communications and record-keeping. The safeguarding governor also plays an important role in scrutinising records and holding leaders to account. The single central record is also comprehensive and there is robust evidence that safer recruitment procedures are in place. Expectations for positive learning behaviours are clearly defined in the publication of the school’s values, which emphasise respect, tolerance and well-being. A welldeveloped assembly programme ensures that pupils have a range of opportunities 2 to reflect on their school’s values. Fleet Wood Lane School has forged a close and effective partnership with the local police force and developed its own team of junior police community support officers. A highly effective relationship with the local behaviour partnership has also enabled leaders to respond swiftly in cases where pupils’ behaviour presents barriers to learning. Pupils considered that the school provides a safe and welcoming environment, with anti-bullying messages clearly communicated and a good level of understanding of the issues associated with cyber safety. Inspection findings The school has developed a wide range of initiatives designed to improve pupils’ engagement with reading, including visits to local cultural organisations. Staff have begun a range of literacy-support measures to help pupils catch up and improve their phonics skills. As a result, achievement in reading has improved. The proportion of pupils that reach the expected standard in the phonics screening check in Year 1 has grown considerably. The proportion of pupils meeting the expected standard in reading at the end of Year 2 is in line with the national average. At the end of both key stages, the proportions of pupils exceeding the expected standards are above the national averages. Wall displays in classrooms are helping to improve pupils’ subject-specific vocabulary. Pupils are encouraged to draft and redraft their written work in order to improve their confidence in the use of spelling, punctuation and grammar. Teachers provide opportunities for parents to help their children learn to spell more accurately. Published information shows that pupils’ outcomes in writing have been behind the national averages. Leaders have responded robustly to the challenges presented by raised national expectations. The school is engaged in the early stages of a local authority project designed to improve teachers’ confidence in developing pupils’ writing. You are also working alongside a national leader in education to address particular barriers to learning for specific pupils. The leader for writing is ensuring that teachers have access to training and support so that they can help pupils to write more creatively and at greater length. Leaders are helping to ensure that teachers match work to the needs of pupils increasingly well. They monitor teaching and learning closely and offer teachers guidance where necessary. Historically, disadvantaged pupils have performed less well in both writing and mathematics than other pupils nationally. Senior and subject leaders are tracking the progress of these pupils rigorously and meeting with teachers to discuss the gains these pupils are making. Tailored support by the school’s dedicated learning mentor is also helping to ensure that the social and emotional needs of pupils are considered when planning support for these pupils. Over time, outcomes for children in the early years exceed national averages. Provision in the early years environment is of good quality and children are motivated to engage in well-considered activities. Dedicated staff ensure that children’s participation and progress in developing skills in early writing and 3 mathematics are recorded in a range of formats. The broad and balanced curriculum includes use of the outdoor learning environment, with a range of opportunities for children to engage in role play and direct their own learning. Leadership of this area could be improved with reference to a detailed set of improvement priorities. The school makes appropriate arrangements to monitor attendance, including use of same-day home-calling. The attendance of some vulnerable pupils is, however, below the national average. Leaders have not developed an effective strategy for tackling the higher rates of persistent absence among some pupils. Next steps for the school Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that: teachers’ use of feedback ensures that next steps can be clearly identified and used by pupils to accelerate their progress pupils are provided with further opportunities to improve stamina and resilience in writing at length and in depth leaders improve the attendance and outcomes of the most vulnerable pupils. I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Lincolnshire. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website. Yours sincerely Emma Hollis-Brown Ofsted Inspector Information about the inspection During the inspection, I met you and shared my lines of enquiry. I also met with the subject leaders for mathematics and English, representatives of the governing body, and the coordinator for pupils who have special educational needs (SEN) and/or disabilities, who is also the head of school. I considered the responses of parents to Ofsted’s online survey, Parent View, and any free-text comments, and met with parents at the start of the school day. We visited all classes together, spending a short time in each. I observed pupils’ behaviour, met with a group of them at breaktime and looked at samples of pupils’ work with you. I viewed a range of documents, including leaders’ evaluation of the school’s current performance, its plans for further improvement and information on pupils’ outcomes. I considered a number of policy documents, including those for safeguarding. I examined the school’s website to check that it meets requirements on the publication of specified information.