The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. Your happy and welcoming school is firmly established in the heart of the community. Governors and staff are rightly proud of the school’s open and inclusive culture. Nearly all parents and carers who spoke to me and who contributed their views to Parent View, Ofsted’s online survey, hold the school in high regard. Many commented on how happy their children are, the care they receive and how much they enjoy learning. Pupils told me how they work together as a team, enjoy all the different activities on offer and feel secure and safe. Since the last inspection, you and your senior team have honestly evaluated the school’s strengths and weaknesses. You have raised expectations of what pupils are able to achieve by firmly and sensitively insisting upon high standards of teaching and accurate assessment. You have also made sure that all staff learn and develop from good-quality training and opportunities to share good practice. You and your senior team have drawn up appropriately ambitious plans to improve the school. You are closely focusing on increasing rates of progress, including for the most able pupils. You have wisely made the decision to start at the very beginning and make key improvements to provision in the early years. As a result, increasing numbers of pupils are now making good progress in all areas. More pupils than in the past are reaching higher standards overall. However, you correctly acknowledge that pupils in key stage 1 are not progressing as well as they could, particularly in writing. Governors and the local authority challenge and support the school to do better. In typical fashion, you and your team look outwards and value the advice you have been given by the local authority school improvement partner. Governors have an accurate view of the school’s performance and make it their business to question and challenge leaders for answers. Governors demonstrate a strong understanding of how accountable they are and take their duties seriously. However, during this inspection, I identified that governors had not ensured that leaders provided a thorough enough analysis of the impact of pupil premium funding. A very small number of parents expressed some concerns about some pupils’ behaviour towards others during lunch and breaktimes. However, these views were untypical. I found much evidence of pupils’ respect and kindness to each other, right from the early years onwards. I also noted how much support the school gives to families, treating parents and pupils with respect and consideration. Safeguarding is effective. Leaders and governors have made sure that arrangements for safeguarding are effective and meet all statutory requirements. You have made sure that leadership in this area has been strengthened. The team of designated safeguarding leaders (DSLs) work together as a team to support each other. In this way, you ensure that concerns are shared and acted upon quickly. The DSLs and staff have been trained effectively to note and report the signs of harm, including neglect. When child protection referrals are made, the DSLs are tenacious in pursuing other agencies for responses and support. Staff are confident about what to do if they are worried about a pupil’s welfare. They know that they must not ignore minor worries, because these may point to more serious risks of harm. Staff are equally confident that when they raise concerns, these will be acted upon. All required checks on adults working in the school have been made and are regularly overseen by governors. Inspection findings During this inspection, we agreed to focus on the following areas: how leaders are raising teachers’ expectations so that more pupils achieve higher standards; improvements to pupils’ writing in all key stages, including the early years; and the impact the school is making on pupils’ attendance. As part of our focus on raising expectations, we also took account of improvements you are making to the teaching of mathematics. School leaders and governors are resolutely committed to raising standards. You are all determined to increase rates of progress and ensure that more pupils than in the past achieve greater depth in all their learning. You and your team of staff know pupils very well and respond effectively to their different needs and difficulties. For example, you have identified that some pupils are not adept with their number work, which holds them back when solving mathematical problems.