The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the previous inspection. You, your staff and the governors have ensured that the school has preserved the real sense of community noted in the previous inspection report. Parents I spoke with explained how happy, safe and well cared for their children are. Inspection evidence supports the view expressed by one parent that, ‘The school’s values provide the backbone which is fundamental to a good-quality education.’ All staff who completed the online survey agreed they enjoy and are proud working at the school. They also unanimously agreed the school has continued its journey of improvement since the previous inspection. Pupils, parents and staff are overwhelmingly positive about the standard of pupils’ behaviour at Kelling Primary School. Parents’ views that pupils across year groups mix well together in their learning and play were fully supported by inspection evidence. Pupils are keen to learn, are supportive of each other and develop positive relationships with their classmates and adults. It is noticeable how sensitively older pupils support and encourage their younger peers. Pupils also appreciate the work of adults in school and told me how they value the presence of, ‘A lot of adults to help us in our learning.’ As part of your aim to ‘make learning irresistible’, you ensure that pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is provided for well. Pupils take part in additional art, charity, community, music and sporting activities that spark their interest and help them develop their sense of community awareness. The curriculum is enriched by visits that, as one pupil explained, ‘Help me visualise my learning.’ Pupils also develop a good understanding of the wider world. This was evident as they maturely explained how it is important to ‘know about the world and its multicultural beliefs’. When asked what they liked about school, very many pupils replied by talking about how much they enjoyed learning, especially through the school’s chosen topics such as the Victorians. Work in books and in the bright displays demonstrates that pupils apply their literacy skills well not only in English activities but also across the wider curriculum. Leadership is strong and effective. You and your senior team routinely reflect on the impact of your work so you are able to pursue appropriate opportunities to continue the development of the school. You seek external validation of your work and focus well on a small number of activities to bring about school improvement. The impact of your work is evident in the progress made in the areas identified for improvement at the time of the previous inspection. For example, pupils understand what they need to do to improve their work as they are given precise guidance and time to reflect upon and consolidate their learning. You have also ensured that pupils make good progress across key stage 1 as you have continued to improve the quality of teaching, learning and assessment. Published outcomes in 2016 and 2017 demonstrate pupils’ progress by the end of key stage 2 is often good and at times better. You recognise that you need to continue to develop pupils’ spelling, grammar and punctuation skills. Actions you have taken are in their early stages of implementation and it is too early to assess their impact. Governance remains highly effective and the governing body carries out its statutory duties well. Under the determined and respected chair of the governing body, governors are diligent and dedicated in carrying out their duties. They put their combined knowledge and expertise to very good use as they carefully check each aspect of the school’s provision. Governors then provide appropriate challenge and support to you and your leaders. Kelling CE Primary School benefits from the broader professional, academic and social opportunities that come from being part of the Pilgrim Federation. Staff welcome, and learn from, collaborative work with partner schools. They value the fact they are ‘singing from the same hymn sheet’ and ‘giving the same message’. Staff attribute improvements in their teaching to the additional training provided by the federation. They explained how this quality training has improved their classroom practice, for example in developing effective questioning skills, and also ensuring the accuracy of pupil assessment information. Inspection evidence endorsed these views. Parents also commented positively on the additional sporting and community events provided through the federation. As one parent noted, ‘The school does the things a big school does and offers some things a big school cannot.’ Safeguarding is effective. Leaders, including governors, ensure that the school meets its statutory duty to keep children safe. Records, including those on the checks carried out on staff who work at the school, are carefully maintained and regularly checked. When external support is sought or needed, leaders and governors take advice and act upon it swiftly and well. Pupils I spoke with told me they felt safe because, ‘Teachers put the children ahead of themselves.’ Pupils also explained how talks, such as those from the police, help equip them with age-appropriate strategies to keep themselves safe online, and in other circumstances. Pupils told me if they had any worries there are adults who they could speak with at school. Pupils know the hurt bullying can cause and recognise the difference between bullying and the ups and downs of friendships. While they could not recall any incident of bullying at their school, pupils were confident that were it to occur, adults would deal with it well. School records confirm this to be the case. Leaders make sure that staff are appropriately trained and receive regular updates in relevant aspects of safeguarding. Adults know the signs that may indicate a pupil is at risk and are well versed in the school’s reporting procedures. Leaders’ carefully kept records demonstrate they take appropriate and timely action, including working with external agencies, when pupils are in need of support. The inspector was aware during this inspection that a serious allegation of a child protection nature linked to the school was being investigated by the appropriate authorities. While Ofsted does not have the power to investigate allegations of this kind, actions taken by the school in response to the allegation were considered alongside the other evidence available at the time of the inspection to inform the inspector’s judgements. Inspection findings My initial line of enquiry was to establish the progress the small number of children in the early years make. This is because over previous years there has been a fluctuation in the numbers of children achieving a good level of development. Leaders have taken effective action to make sure that they have detailed knowledge of children’s capabilities. This is achieved through optional home visits, transition afternoons, home learning ‘goody bags’ and an accurate assessment when children start in the early years. Adults make skilful use of this information to plan learning activities that match each child’s needs. As a result, children make good progress from their individual starting points. Children develop confidence and resilience in their learning. They are keen to show their work and talk proudly of their achievements. Children respond well as adults model the behaviour they expect of them. As a consequence, learning in the early years is a cheerful, cooperative activity. My second line of enquiry was to see if the improvement in the numbers of pupils achieving the expected standard in the phonics screening test had been maintained. Following on from a fall in the numbers achieving the expected standard in 2017, leaders amended the school’s approach to the teaching of phonics. Leaders have put in place a carefully planned approach which teachers follow closely to ensure that it accurately matches pupils’ needs and capabilities. Adults teach phonics precisely and well. They provide a range of activities, including sounding out words, and reading and writing tasks that interest, and challenge, children and pupils. The impact of this work is evidenced in the confidence with which pupils apply their phonics skills. They are increasingly accurate in their spelling and make good gains in their ability to form letters and words. Leaders also ensure that there is appropriate support for pupils who do not achieve the expected standard in phonics. Pupils made good or better progress in reading and writing by the end of key stage 2 in both 2016 and 2017. While this was also the case in mathematics in 2016, pupils’ progress from their individual starting points fell in 2017. This is why my third line of enquiry was to establish the progress key stage 2 pupils make in mathematics. Leaders swiftly and accurately identified the reasons why pupils did not achieve as well as they could have in 2017. Numeracy leaders provided teachers with appropriate training and support to further enhance their confidence when teaching mathematics, especially in developing pupils’ reasoning skills. Work in pupils’ books shows that, as a result of teachers’ careful structuring of learning activities, pupils develop a secure understanding of basic mathematical knowledge and skills. Pupils then reflect upon and consolidate their understanding. They are increasingly confident in applying their knowledge and do so successfully. Pupils are happy taking on and completing more complex mathematical problems and would welcome the opportunity to do so more often. Inspection evidence, including the school’s accurate assessment information, supports pupils’ views that in some instances, they could be moved on more swiftly to achieve the higher standards of which they are capable. My final line of enquiry was to determine how well leaders adapt provision to meet the needs of different abilities of pupils in the school’s three mixed age classes. Leaders place great emphasis on ensuring the accuracy of teachers’ assessments. As a result, adults know what each pupil is capable of achieving. Teachers and leaders track and review pupils’ progress with great care through the school’s systematic monitoring system. Teachers put in place well-judged support to make sure that pupils do not fall behind. Pupils told me, ‘Teachers match work to our stage of learning.’ Pupils are set personal learning targets, which they know and understand. These help them to reflect on their own learning and to make greater progress. In subjects across the curriculum, pupils, including those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, are provided with suitably amended work. Teachers and teaching assistants then use good subject knowledge and skilful questioning to support and challenge pupils well. A scrutiny of pupils’ books demonstrates that pupils typically present their work well and make good progress across the curriculum. However, not all teachers apply consistently high expectations of what pupils can achieve in subjects such as history and geography. Where this is the case, tasks are less well matched to pupils’ needs and pupils achieve less well than elsewhere as a result. Next steps for the school Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that: teachers apply consistently high expectations of what pupils can achieve in all subjects across the curriculum in mathematics, all teachers have the confidence and skills to move pupils on to higher standards of work in a timely way work underway to further improve the quality of pupils’ spelling, punctuation and grammar is accelerated so more pupils make good progress. I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the director of education for the Diocese of Norwich, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Norfolk. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website. Yours sincerely John Lucas Her Majesty’s Inspector Information about the inspection I held discussions with you about the key lines of enquiry for this inspection, leaders’ evaluation of the quality of education, plans for future improvement and information about current pupils’ learning. I met with other senior leaders, a group of teachers and teaching assistants and the chair of governors together with five other governors. I held separate telephone conversations with two representatives of the local authority and a representative from the Diocese. Documents such as: the school’s improvement plans; leaders’ monitoring of the quality of teaching, learning and assessment; leaders’ monitoring and analysis of the progress pupils make; pupil premium reports; and the school’s safeguarding arrangements, records, files and documentation were examined. Together with you, I observed children and pupils learning in each class. We looked at examples of children’s and pupils’ work to explore the progress they are making over time. I spoke with two groups of pupils and also with others informally during lessons and breaktime regarding their learning. I also considered the views of 15 pupils who responded to the online survey. I considered the views of parents I spoke with at the start of the school day as well as those of nine parents who responded to the Parent View free-text service. There were too few responses to the Parent View survey to be analysed. However, I took into account parents’ views expressed in the school’s own surveys over the past three years. The views of 11 staff who completed Ofsted’s staff questionnaire were also taken into account.