The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. You have made a number of changes to the leadership of the school that are having a positive impact on the quality of teaching and the progress of your pupils. Areas for improvement identified at the previous inspection have been successfully addressed and the school has many strengths. The school offers its pupils an enthusiastic, engaging and harmonious environment in which to learn. You have taken steps to further improve the quality of teaching in response to the findings of the last inspection. You have provided teachers with opportunities to learn from the expertise in both schools within the federation, as well as external support from the local authority. As a result, teachers have successfully improved their use of assessment to plan next steps in teaching and to monitor pupils’ progress. There has been a push for consistency and higher expectations of pupils in how they present their work and respond to feedback from teachers. This has led to an improvement in their progress and the quality of their work. You are committed to the ongoing development of your team and you have provided high-quality training opportunities that have deepened their subject knowledge in English and mathematics. This is a particular strength of teaching. You have appointed a coaching and mentoring lead teacher to work alongside teachers to support them and develop their expertise. Teachers have appreciated these initiatives and are ambitious to constantly improve the quality of their teaching and the outcomes for pupils. Teachers have a real drive to provide highquality teaching for pupils and to improve their confidence and resilience, so they can respond well to the challenges of learning. Leaders and governors are aware of the historically weaker progress of disadvantaged pupils. You organised a review of the use of pupil premium funding, and followed the recommendations made. You and your team are very focused on ensuring that this group of pupils, in particular, achieve well and catch up with other pupils nationally. You have reviewed and adjusted the additional support you provide to pupils who are in danger of falling behind. Your teachers now intervene quickly to help them to catch up. You have appointed a pupil premium leader who has the responsibility to oversee this work and track the progress of disadvantaged pupils. The school provides a harmonious atmosphere in which pupils behave well, respect one another and visitors, and work well together. Pupils are confident and articulate. They enjoy their school and have positive attitudes to learning and like to be challenged. They learn collaboratively and say that their friendships help them to learn well. One pupil said, ‘We can be quite chatty, but it helps us to learn, because friends can help you understand and improve your work. They can sometimes explain things better than an adult.’ Pupils feel safe and are free from bullying. They trust the adults in the school to care for them and sort things out if they have a concern. They know how to keep themselves safe both within and outside the school. Safeguarding is effective. You have ensured that robust policies and procedures are in place to keep pupils safe and promote their well-being. These are followed by a vigilant staff, who have been well trained in all aspects of safeguarding. Staff understand the potential risks posed to pupils in the wider community as well as in school. They know how to refer a concern about a pupil to the designated safeguarding lead, and good communication procedures ensure that their concerns are followed up swiftly. Leaders work well with outside agencies, such as children’s services, to make sure that vulnerable pupils and their families receive the help and support they need. You have taken every opportunity to ensure that pupils know how to keep themselves safe, for example online, and where to find help if they have a concern. For example, you have invited the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children to talk to your pupils about how to get support if something is worrying them. Inspection findings Leaders have taken action to secure high-quality teaching throughout the school by providing training and coaching support for teachers. Teachers have responded positively to the appointment of an experienced coaching and mentoring lead teacher who works alongside them to improve their expertise. Senior and middle leaders have a clear understanding of the priorities for improvement and the need to accelerate the progress of pupils, particularly those who are disadvantaged and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Their actions are having a positive impact. Leaders routinely check on the quality of teaching and the progress pupils are making in lessons and over time, ensuring consistency and appropriately high expectations. The coaching and mentoring lead teacher provides effective support where teaching needs strengthening and teachers welcome the development opportunities they receive. As a result, there is a culture of constant improvement and striving for high aspirations. There has been a real focus on the use of day-to-day assessment and feedback to pupils, which is helping teachers to plan learning carefully based on what pupils know and can do. As a result, pupils make good progress and build up their understanding and skills well. Where teaching is strongest, teachers move learning on quickly as a result of their diligent assessment of pupils’ progress in lessons. In some lessons, teachers do not move learning on as quickly as they could when work is not challenging enough. Teachers’ subject knowledge is a strength, enabling them to model concepts for pupils well and also identify their misconceptions quickly. Governors have challenged school leaders and held them to account for the progress of all pupils, but particularly those who are disadvantaged. Governors and leaders have undertaken a review of the use of pupil premium funding with the help of the local authority, and they have improved the progress currently being made by these pupils. Teaching is well planned to appropriately challenge pupils based on their differing starting points. Leaders and teachers carefully check on the effectiveness of specific support and interventions for pupils who are at risk of falling behind, and make appropriate alterations. The curriculum is broad and balanced and enables pupils to develop knowledge, skills and understanding in a wide range of subjects. For example, pupils’ experience of using media such as pastels has enabled them to produce some high-quality works, which are on display in the school. They enjoy practical science, which helps them to understand new concepts. For example, pupils constructed their own model of the digestive tract using tights and observed the chemical processes involved. Visits to and from the school, including the use of specialist teachers, greatly enhance the curriculum and inspire pupils.