The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. Following a period of uncertainty when your position was temporary, you were appointed as substantive headteacher of Hevingham and its partner school in December 2017. Since then, you have drawn staff together to create an effective and cohesive staff team. The school has a highly positive ethos with pupils’ well-being at the heart of everything that you do. Pupils told me that they particularly value the friendly and supportive nature of this small school where ‘you are never a stranger’. Following changes to the governing body and acting on advice from the local authority, governors have reviewed and improved their systems so that they provide a better balance of challenge together with support for leaders. Governing body minutes show that governors now ask appropriately challenging questions of leaders, for example in relation to pupils’ progress. You have taken action to address the issues identified in the previous inspection report, which I evaluated during the inspection and have reported on below. You, your staff and governors share a determination to move the school on further. You are developing leadership across the two schools through the well-judged use of professional development. However, not all leaders are yet able to fully evaluate the impact of their actions in improving pupils’ progress. Teaching is good because teachers know pupils as individuals and consider their needs and enthusiasms when planning work. Teachers take time to plan lessons which will engage and enthuse pupils in learning. Pupils said that teachers and other adults support them well in their learning and intervene quickly if someone is having difficulty. Additional adults are well used to support pupils in their learning. Pupils support each other in their learning. For example, pupils enjoy the opportunity to critique each other’s work and use the prompts provided to provide sensible and thoughtful comments for their friends. Pupils enjoy school and like their teachers, so the majority behave well in lessons and at playtimes. Pupils like their lessons, but some feel that there could be a better range of after school activities available to them. Safeguarding is effective. You ensure that all systems are in place to keep pupils safe at Hevingham Primary School. You ensure that all statutory requirements are fully met. Checks on staff are carried out rigorously and checked by you and the safeguarding governor regularly. Training for staff is kept up to date and is effective. This is shown by the records of concerns staff have completed, which demonstrate that staff know what to look for that indicates that a child may be at risk. You ensure that concerns are followed up and you liaise with external agencies to ensure that support for pupils at risk is provided in a timely manner. We discussed the fact that an out-of-date safeguarding policy was on the school’s website at the start of the inspection. You showed me the up-to-date policy agreed with governors and ensured that this was uploaded during the inspection. Pupils said that the school is a safe place and that bullying is rare. Pupils spoken to during the inspection told me that there are occasional incidents at playtime, but that these are dealt with by staff. Pupils know how to keep themselves safe, including when online. This is because safety is taught as part of the curriculum. However, you recognise that you need to do more to help parents and carers understand the potential dangers to their children when online and steps they can take to help keep them safe. A small number of parents responded to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View. Of these, a few are concerned about behaviour at the school. You are aware of some concerns and are taking effective action to address these. For example, you are revising the school’s behaviour policy and involving pupils and parents in this. We discussed the need to ensure that this is done swiftly so that parents know that you take their concerns seriously and are reassured that pupils are safe in school. Inspection findings The first area that we agreed I would look at during the inspection was the progress of pupils in reading and mathematics. I looked in particular at the progress of the most able pupils because improving the progress of the most able pupils in mathematics was an area for improvement from your previous inspection. In 2017, pupils with high prior attainment made less progress by the end of Year 6 than was the case nationally. We also agreed I would look at whether boys and girls are making equally good progress in these subjects. I found that pupils demonstrate enthusiasm for reading. This is equally the case for boys and girls. Older pupils are able to talk confidently about their favourite authors, about different genres and about literary devices used by authors. Younger pupils are developing appropriate phonic skills through well-tailored teaching. Pupils in Year 1 are able to identify sounds and to use these in their reading. In the early years, children are encouraged to use their sounds to write simple sentences and captions as part of their activities. For example, during the inspection, children made labels for the insects they had made out of pasta following a story. Reading is promoted by the attractive library with its ‘book hunt’ display, although some pupils feel that the library could have more of the types of ‘fun books’ that they enjoy. Teachers promote reading for enjoyment. During the inspection, pupils were taking part in ‘World book day’ and enjoying reading a variety of different books and completing activities related to these. Pupils, both boys and girls, are making good progress in mathematics, because changes to the curriculum are proving effective. The greater emphasis on reasoning and problem solving is evident, and pupils are developing confidence in explaining their mathematical thinking and applying their knowledge in different contexts. This approach is enabling the most able pupils to extend their thinking and make better progress than previously. The provision of challenge choices is helping pupils to develop their independence in mathematics. Pupils know that they can join a particular group if they need help with a concept or skill, or that, if they are ready, they can choose a greater challenge. You have expanded the opportunities for writing provided for pupils, with a particular emphasis on writing across the curriculum. This was an area for improvement identified in the previous inspection report. We agreed that better opportunities for writing across the curriculum are provided in some classes than in others. We agreed that progress in writing for the most able pupils is not as strong as it should be. Those pupils who clearly have the potential to achieve above the expected standard are not sufficiently challenged and so do not produce work of the standard they are capable of. The next area we agreed that I would look at was pupils’ progress across the broader curriculum. I looked at pupils’ work and curriculum plans and found that pupils enjoy a broad and well-thought-out curriculum. Pupils have plentiful opportunities, for example, to explore scientific concepts and to carry out investigations. They enjoy art activities, music and sport. You have specifically sought to include opportunities for making learning purposeful, and these are increasingly well provided. For example, pupils were planning a lunch for older people in the village and thinking carefully about designing the menus so that they would reflect the theme and appeal to their audience. Teachers carefully plan to integrate subjects within themes where possible, but also check to ensure that there are no gaps in pupils’ learning and that pupils cover the necessary content of each subject. Nonetheless, teachers’ expectation of pupils’ written work in some subjects, such as science and history, are not as high as in English. Systems for assessing pupils’ progress are developing well but are at an early stage, and leaders are not yet able to draw on these to identify where progress is strong or where more work is needed. The final area that we agreed I would focus on was to check whether the support you provide for disadvantaged pupils is effective in improving their progress. You know all pupils well and are very aware of their individual barriers to learning. You put in place support for pupils which caters for both their academic and their social and emotional needs. For example, you have appointed a nurture leader who meets with individual pupils who have worries or difficulties. You also provide support for pupils in classes, ensuring that this support benefits the maximum number of pupils. You ensure that all teachers are aware of the needs of disadvantaged pupils in their class. These pupils are discussed during pupil progress meetings and additional support planned and implemented. This well-planned and targeted support ensures that the majority of disadvantaged pupils are making good progress, and some are making better progress than other pupils in the school. However, current plans for the use of pupil premium funding are insufficiently detailed, and so governors are not able to hold leaders to account sufficiently for the use of this funding. Next steps for the school Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that: teachers provide greater support and challenge for the most able pupils in writing, to enable them to achieve the higher standards they are capable of teachers have equally high expectations of the quality and presentation of pupils’ written work across the curriculum and in all classes middle leaders develop their skills so that they are better able to evaluate the impact of their actions in improving pupils’ progress plans for the use of funding for disadvantaged pupils reflect the good provision in place. I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Norfolk. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website. Yours sincerely Maria Curry Her Majesty’s Inspector Information about the inspection During the inspection, I met with both you and the assistant headteacher, some middle leaders, and with three governors. I met with a group of pupils from Years 4, 5 and 6 and read with a small number of pupils. I scrutinised a range of documents, including information on pupils’ progress, safeguarding, development planning and the school’s selfevaluation. I visited all classes and evaluated pupils’ work. I took account of 10 responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View.