The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. You are determined to provide pupils with a high-quality education and this commitment has ensured a clear focus on continual improvement throughout the school. You are a respected and knowledgeable leader. With the effective support of your senior leadership team, you have built a skilled and dedicated staff team who work successfully alongside each other and do all that they can to support and look after the pupils in their care. Since the previous inspection, you and governors have managed a significant change in teaching staff. Through the school’s robust induction procedures, you have worked hard to ensure that teachers joining the school settle quickly and that the school’s good standards of teaching are maintained. Morale among the staff team is high and staff members’ responses to the inspection survey were universally positive. Children start well at Icknield Infant and Nursery School. You provide a stimulating and caring environment so that individual needs are met well and children quickly grow in confidence. The fully-resourced, well-planned outside environment ensures that children are given many opportunities to develop their early reading and writing skills in a purposeful way. During their time in the early years, children make good progress from their starting points and the number achieving a good level of development is increasing. One parent commented: ‘All staff are happy, friendly and caring. The activities are well planned and are very imaginative. Our daughter has amazed us with all that she has learned over such a short period of time.’ Likewise, pupils in the infant school, including the most able pupils, continue to be well supported in their learning and consequently make good progress. They are effectively prepared for the next stage of their education. Parents recognise the good work you do for their children and appreciate the many opportunities you provide for them to come into school. One parent summarised the responses, saying: ‘We have been incredibly impressed with the way both our children have been taught and nurtured at this school. They are incredibly inclusive of parents, helping us understand how to teach our children at home and sharing what they’ve learned.’ Governors know the school well and are clear about its strengths and areas for improvement. They support and challenge you appropriately to ensure that pupils receive a good education. Governors are well informed and visit the school regularly. You and governors have maintained and developed the strengths identified in the previous inspection report and made good progress towards achieving successful improvements. One area for improvement identified at the previous inspection was to make sure teaching assistants are deployed well by the school. You ensure that teaching assistants receive appropriate training and professional support to improve their practice. As a result, teaching assistants show a good level of skill that they apply effectively to support pupils to do the best that they can. During the inspection, teaching assistants were seen teaching phonics lessons to small groups of children and providing support for disadvantaged pupils and pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. As a result, teaching assistants’ work now contributes effectively to the increasing progress that pupils make. At the time of the previous inspection, you were also asked to develop the effectiveness of middle leaders. You and the governors have involved all leaders in developing robust methods for ensuring consistency and quality in teaching and learning. Regular checks are made through observations in classes and looking at pupils’ work. This ensures strengths are shared and any weaknesses addressed. Less experienced middle leaders quickly develop their confidence and skills through the support, direction and professional development provided by more experienced colleagues. Consequently, this has strengthened the capacity of all leaders to address the needs of individual pupils more effectively and is improving outcomes for all pupils. You and the governors recognise that there are still areas to develop to move the school forward and you acknowledge that improving pupils’ attendance is a key priority.