The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. You and your deputy are a strong, capable team. You are well supported by a committed and highly effective governing body which does not hold back on asking difficult and probing questions of school leaders. Under your dynamic leadership and the clear, shared vision you have established, the school has continued to improve. Your ambitions for pupils’ academic achievement, as well as for their social and personal development, are shared by all staff and pupils. You are an ‘architect head’ because you build strong foundations for pupils, including those with complex needs. You have developed the skills of subject leaders and this is starting to widen the reach of leadership across the school. You have successfully fostered a passion for high aspirations throughout the school. I was particularly struck by the mutual respect and trust between staff and pupils. Pupils are eager to please and try their hardest in all aspects of school life. Pupils take pride in the school and the presentation of their work across a wide range of subjects. The pupils I talked to spoke with great enthusiasm about the many clubs and school trips that you provide. Trips are linked to the wider curriculum and provide the ‘awe and wonder’ that leads to improved writing. Pupils also have numerous opportunities to develop their leadership skills. The links with your local police force are particularly strong and the team of ‘Mini Police’ helps to promote British values and good citizenship in school. The pupils are comfortable with the concept of tolerance and they celebrate difference. Pupils feel safe and know whom to turn to if they have a problem. Leaders are responding to comments made by pupils about occasional low-level disruption in class. At the previous inspection, inspectors asked leaders to make sure that teachers challenge pupils of all abilities, including the more-able. You have done this by ensuring that activities are planned to take into account pupils’ starting points. You also provide a wide range of professional development for teachers and teaching assistants so that the quality of provision continues to improve. The improved quality of teaching has led to better outcomes for children across the school. Pupils, including those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, now make good progress overall. The high numbers of disadvantaged pupils also make good progress. Another aspect in need of improvement was attendance. You have recruited an attendance leader and established an attendance review panel and created an additional attendance sub-committee of governors, to ensure that no stone is left unturned in the constant drive to improve attendance. You have an honest view of the school’s strengths and know what needs to be worked on. The school’s self-evaluation document and improvement plan are detailed and accurately pinpoint the most important things to do next. You recognised in your self-evaluation some variability in the progress that pupils make in their reading. In 2016 some disadvantaged pupils did not do as well as other pupils nationally and standards in key stage 1 were below the national average, with few children reaching greater depth. With the support of your leadership team, you introduced a programme to improve pupils’ reading and develop their understanding of a range of texts. Work with parents is highly effective in helping them to support their children’s reading. The after-school book club, lunchtime reading groups and reading buddies have all made a positive contribution to improving reading. As a result of your focus on phonics teaching in Nursery and in Year 1, almost all groups of pupils achieve the level expected for their age. However, the good progress made in phonics in the early years is not always built on as well as it could be in Year 1. During the learning walk I heard confident readers, I listened to children read and they talked with enthusiasm and vigour about their reading. Pupils’ reading is improving rapidly. The provision in the early years is a strength. Children thrive in a rich environment with clear systems and routines that encourage independence. Resources, both inside the classroom and outdoors, are developing children’s learning successfully. This is all led by your highly capable early years’ team. Safeguarding is effective. Leaders have ensured that all safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose and records are of a high quality. These arrangements are understood by all staff, governors and pupils. Staff new to school have a highly effective induction which ensures that they fully understand their safeguarding responsibilities. Staff and governors receive regular, appropriate, up-to-date training. This includes training relating to the ‘Prevent’ duty and e-safety. This means that staff are well equipped to spot, and report, any signs of potential harm to the pupils in their care. Pupils know how to keep safe online and in a range of different situations. This culture of safety is understood and shared by pupils, parents, governors and staff. As safeguarding leads, both you and your deputy work hard to ensure that pupils’ needs are met in a timely way. There are effective relationships with a wide range of agencies to give pupils the support they need. You and your team ensure that pupils are kept safe and their welfare needs are met. You are highly vigilant in relation to the care and support of vulnerable pupils. Inspection findings The inspection looked at a number of key lines of enquiry, including responses to the areas for improvement identified at the last inspection which you have tackled successfully. One of the areas for improvement were to raise attainment in English and mathematics by ensuring that teachers consistently set work that effectively challenges all groups of learners. You and your colleagues have moved mountains to achieve this and progress is now at least in line with that of other pupils nationally. You and your wider leadership team monitor and evaluate the learning opportunities in lessons to ensure that there is a consistent approach to learning. Excellent support for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is ensuring their good progress across the school and achievement gaps are closing. However, this level of progress is not evident in Year 3 where there are unusually high numbers of disadvantaged pupils with additional complex needs. Another area for improvement was to raise the attendance of a small number of pupils whose attendance was below the national average. Current information shows that attendance has improved steadily and is now broadly in line with the national average. You and your team have effectively reduced the high absence rates for pupils who are disadvantaged and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities. You have raised the bar so that any attendance lower than 90% is reviewed by the attendance officer and the governors: the previous figure was 85%. Your strong leadership has established high-quality pastoral care with good systems for pre-empting absence. Family support work has developed a good partnership between school and home. You provided evidence to show that the governing body holds the school more fully to account by rigorously evaluating and updating school policies and procedures. This has led to sustained improvements to teaching and pupils’ outcomes across a range of subjects. The spending of pupil premium funding was followed up during the inspection. This funding helps disadvantaged pupils across the school to make at least expected progress. However, the allocation of this funding is not targeted precisely enough to ensure that a higher proportion of middle-ability disadvantaged pupils attain above the standard expected for their age. Sports funding has been used effectively to provide pupils, including those with disabilities, with opportunities to compete in a wider range of sports. Pupils know about the different forms of bullying and appreciate that if it occurs it is dealt with effectively by staff. Pupils speak with passion and positivity of the support they receive from you and other leaders. Almost all staff, parents and pupils who shared their views agree that pupils are safe and free from bullying. This is because you have created a welcoming, supportive and positive ethos in the school. You show considerable care for the emotional well-being of the pupils which ensures that they are able to learn effectively. This has been a key factor in establishing the strong and harmonious relationships across the school. Governance is a strength of the school. Governors are highly capable and knowledgeable. They are supportive and proud of all that has been achieved. You have established an open relationship between governors and leaders. As a result, governors support and challenge you and your leadership team in equal measure. Next steps for the school Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that: all staff continue to promote high expectations of pupils’ learning and develop a more consistent approach to behaviour teachers in Year 1 continue to build on the good progress made in the early years, particularly in the learning of phonics the extended leadership team monitors and evaluates learning to ensure that outcomes continue to improve for all groups of learners, particularly the middleability disadvantaged 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 Sefton. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website. Yours sincerely Maggie Parker Ofsted Inspector Information about the inspection I met with you and other leaders to discuss the impact of actions you are taking to raise standards in the school. You accompanied me on visits to all classes where we observed teaching and learning, spoke with some pupils about their learning and looked at the work in their books across a wide range of subjects. I met four governors including the chair of the governing body. I met your school improvement partner from the local authority. I spoke to a range of pupils about their views on school and listened to some read. I spoke with those responsible for safeguarding and inclusion. I spoke to parents and considered 14 responses to Ofsted’s online parent survey. I considered the school’s website, self-evaluation document, improvement plan and information about the achievement of pupils. I reviewed the school’s safeguarding arrangements and its policies and processes for keeping children safe in education.