The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. You were appointed to the headship at the start of the academic year, after a period of time at the school as a successful deputy headteacher and the special educational needs coordinator (SENCo). You have started a sensible process of moving the school forward, building on its many strengths. You are also taking decisive action to deal with those areas which remain in need of further improvement. The staff team wholeheartedly support these initiatives and cooperate well with you and each other to raise standards higher. You are ably supported by a stable and secure board of governors. Governors have a very clear understanding of their roles and responsibilities. They hold you to account for the performance of the school, but also support you well when necessary. Together, you have addressed successfully some weaknesses in previous practice. For example, the school’s finances are now based on sound and reliable information, which enables you to make effective and creative use of the resources at your disposal. You work well with the Friends of Launton School who, through their fundraising efforts, contribute to the overall health of the budget. The vast majority of the community is working collaboratively, for example on the development of the rear field, to aid pupils’ physical well-being and to increase opportunities for them to participate in sports and games. You support the staff team well, while setting high expectations and holding them to account for the performance of the pupils in their classes. You ensure that they are well trained for their roles, notably finding professional learning opportunities that increase individuals’ own knowledge, skills and understanding, but which also lead to improvements in the quality of the pupils’ education. Staff enjoy working at the school and operate efficiently as a flexible team. Teaching is purposeful in all classes. It is based on a firm set of values and principles that you communicate clearly to your staff. You are determined that pupils will benefit from a wide-ranging curriculum and showed me samples of the positive outcomes of pupils’ work in ‘topic’, design and technology, and art. You are committed to building on the strong start children make in the early years. Pupils make good progress across the school. However, the most able do not fully reach their potential because tasks are not sufficiently challenging for them. Pupils do well in the phonics check in Year 1, and the vast majority apply the skills learned there in their reading higher up the school. Similarly, there is strong support for the development of children’s writing, from early mark-making to the formation of proper sentences by the end of Reception. This sets up pupils for good-quality writing in key stage 2. Their ‘special’ writing books show this clearly. Examples of their writing are drawn from across the curriculum and, as such, also show the school’s strong contribution to pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Safeguarding is effective. Leaders’ work to keep pupils safe is effective. All statutory requirements relating to safeguarding are met. You ensure that all staff have been trained to exercise their responsibilities with regard to safeguarding. You have a plan in place to update safeguarding training in the autumn, following the release of the updated document ‘Keeping children safe in education’ (2018). Security arrangements at the front of the premises are exemplary, especially given the close proximity of the school to the village’s main road. Leaders maintain good levels of supervision on the rear field when the weather permits its safe use. This means that pupils can play together happily. You are taking the opportunity to develop the outside spaces at the school. This is so that pupils can benefit from even more resources to help them become active, stay fit or participate in more sports and games. Pupils have achieved sporting successes thanks, in part, to the judicious use of the primary physical education and sports premium. The vast majority of pupils say that they feel safe in school. A few parents and carers believe that their children remain subject to bullying despite the extensive work that the school undertakes to prevent it happening. Pupils receive very clear messages about bullying and what to do should it happen. They also know what to do if they are uncomfortable or worried about something someone has done or said to them. You agreed that there is still more work to be done to help a minority of parents understand the school’s approach to dealing with bullying. This is also the case for some parents’ understanding of the reasons why you ask some teachers to teach other classes from time to time.