Over time, leaders, including governors, have not taken the urgent action needed so that pupils experience a good quality of education. Although leaders and staff want the best for the pupils, they have not ensured that the curriculum is well planned. Pupils experience a disjointed series of lessons that do not help them to achieve well in a range of subjects. Pupils are friendly, well mannered and welcoming to visitors. School is typically calm. However, some pupils do not behave sensibly. They need support to listen to one another. Pupils learn about and understand what bullying is. They have concerns that even when they report bullying to adults, it does not always stop. Despite this, most say that they feel safe in school. Pupils talk with enthusiasm about their shared class books. They enjoy taking online quizzes to check their reading comprehension skills. This motivates them to read ‘more and more and more!’. Some pupils have benefited from experiences beyond the classroom, such as working with Bowes Museum to create an art exhibition. However, there is not a well-thought-out plan for how these experiences contribute to the curriculum. Some pupils are not getting a wide range of opportunities. The curriculum for personal, social, health and economic education (PSHE) is weak, which means that pupils are not prepared for life in modern Britain.