The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. Together with the vice-principal, senior leaders and the full support of governors and the Star Academy Trust, you have maintained and built upon the strengths of the predecessor school and addressed previous recommendations appropriately. Together with leaders, you have been particularly successful in helping pupils to improve the presentation of their work, which is to a very high standard, and improved the quality of teaching. In recent years the school has transformed. The trust has made significant capital investment in the school, which has been rebuilt and refurbished to a very high standard. Outdoor provision has been improved, including for children in the early years. Since the inception of the new school, you have worked closely with the trust and extended provision. For example, following the school’s successful application to the Department for Education to extend the age range of children to include two-, three- and four-year-olds, you have provided good-quality, and very popular, preschool services since October 2017. Leaders and governors know the school exceptionally well. This is shown in comprehensive and analytical school development plans and accurate analysis of the school’s strengths and weaknesses. Governors and trust members have firsthand experience of the quality of teaching, learning and the curriculum. They come into school regularly to meet with teachers, pupils and leaders and receive detailed reports from you and other leaders, including subject specialists. Highfields Academy is a calm and purposeful school, where teachers and teaching assistants are proud of their large, well-resourced classrooms. Pupils take care of their physical surroundings and wear their uniforms proudly. You ensure that the school works in partnership with a range of schools, both within the Nantwich school partnership and further afield, to share good practice. You have lots of evidence to indicate that such partnerships help to improve the accuracy of the school’s assessments of pupils’ work, as well as the quality of teaching. Most parents speak highly of the school. Typically, they comment that: ‘It’s a fantastic school which has a good mix of academic, sporting and cultural experiences on offer’ and ‘staff are very caring, and teaching is of a high standard’. Parents are of the view that their children are happy, safe and making good progress. They are very appreciative of the pastoral support available, not only for their children, but for the whole family. In addition, parents are very complimentary about the support available for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), which they say is good. You ensure that pupils benefit from an interesting curriculum, which secures their engagement and good progress. Various educational trips and visits provide highly memorable experiences which teachers use well to stimulate pupils’ writing. Your forest school programme supports the development of pupils’ team-working and problem-solving skills and enhances their resilience. Highfields is well known for its sporting excellence, as shown in pupils’ individual and team successes in local and regional sporting competitions. Pupils excel in music and hone their musical skills in playing various percussion, string and brass instruments, including the euphonium. You successfully balance all aspects of the curriculum to ensure that pupils develop strong reading, writing and mathematical skills. Staff morale is very high. All staff are proud to work at the school and are of the view that the school is well led and managed. There is a strong culture of learning in the school. All staff I spoke with indicated their high appreciation of the training and development opportunities they are afforded. Newly qualified teachers benefit from good mentoring and support which helps to strengthen their teaching practice. In your improvement plans, you have given priority to developing the role of subject specialists to ensure that they are effective in improving the quality of teaching and learning in their respective subjects. However, there is more work to do to develop the skills of those new to their roles. In addition, when we looked at work in pupils’ books, observed teaching and talked to pupils about their learning, it was apparent that the most-able pupils are not sufficiently challenged, particularly in mathematics. As a result, some pupils do not attain the high standards of which they are capable.