The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the previous inspection. You have established a safe and stimulating environment in which pupils thrive and flourish. Parents and carers value the quality of care provided for pupils. This is reflected in the comment made by one parent who wrote: ‘I can’t quite believe the lengths that this school goes to support my child.’ You have successfully managed a period of considerable change in staffing over the last few years and have developed a team that is committed to taking responsibility for improving pupils’ outcomes. Staff take ownership of their professional development and are very motivated to support school improvement in their areas of responsibility. The senior team has worked successfully to embed a culture of achievement and quality teaching across the school. Carefully targeted interventions have made sure that pupils at risk of falling behind are well supported. Additional adults supporting pupils are well trained. They know their pupils’ needs well and provide good support. Despite this, you were disappointed by the proportion of pupils reaching expectations in national tests for Year 6 in 2017, particularly in reading. A thorough review of provision is under way and pupils across the school, including those who are disadvantaged, are now making good progress. Since the previous inspection, you and the school’s senior leaders have secured good and improving teaching. As a result, outcomes are improving for all groups of pupils, including in science. The proportion of children reaching a good level of development by the end of the early years has been at least in line with or better than the national average since 2015. The proportion of pupils reaching the expected standard in phonics has been above or in line with the national average since 2015. Likewise, attainment in reading, writing and mathematics at the end of key stage 1 has also been positive since 2015. However, you are acutely aware that pupils’ progress in reading by the end of key stage 2 in 2017 was well below average. You have correctly identified reading as an area for development and while there have been some improvements in pupils’ outcomes you acknowledge that there is still more to do to ensure consistently strong progress for pupils. You have ensured that the school’s ethos and values underpin all aspects of its work. You and your staff provide pupils with very high-quality care. The school plays an important role within the local community and as such is part of a large family. Pupils behave exceptionally well, showing respect to each other as well as to adults. Pupils told me that other pupils behave well and that incidents of poor behaviour are rare. They agree that staff help them learn and make school an exciting place. Safeguarding is effective. Safeguarding arrangements are thorough. New staff and volunteers working at the school are rigorously vetted. Governors check the school’s safeguarding records and undertake an annual safeguarding audit. All staff have appropriate training and take safeguarding very seriously. Staff are vigilant and they know what to do if they have any concerns. Pupils know how to keep themselves safe. They have a good understanding of esafety and how they can protect themselves. Behaviour is excellent and pupils play safely. Pupils keep a watchful eye on those who may be upset or unhappy. If they felt the need to report someone for not being kind, they are confident that their concerns would be taken seriously by any of the adults in school. The school has a very effective culture of safeguarding in which pupils are safe and staff are vigilant. Inspection findings You and your governors have successfully addressed the areas for improvement from the previous inspection. Most-able pupils are provided with challenging work, and, as a result, achieve well over time. Pupils’ progress in science is strong because of the considerable focus you have given to improving the curriculum which is taught across the school. Pupils’ books show that there are regular opportunities for scientific enquiry and investigations. Following the disappointing results in the key stage 2 national assessments for reading in 2017, leaders have begun a thorough review of how reading is taught. Good resources have been purchased to encourage reluctant readers to engage with reading and to read more regularly. Guided reading is taught well, and staff ask questions which develop pupils’ higher-order reading skills, including inference and deduction. Pupils read well and show very good attitudes to reading. Most read fluently and confidently apply their knowledge of phonics to read unfamiliar words. Older pupils read with expression and talk confidently about the books they read. Teachers’ assessments alongside the school’s careful tracking of achievement confirm that pupils are making good progress in their reading. Despite this, the school’s leaders are investigating how pupils answer questions in their reading, to ensure that they are equipped with the necessary skills to make sense of what they read. Staff are also promoting reading in other curriculum areas so that pupils have more opportunities to read. Leaders have accurately prioritised areas for improvement in the school’s development plan. However, you are keen to sharpen the success criteria so they are more precise and measurable and related to pupils’ progress. You acknowledge that this will increase accountability and support leaders in checking the effect of improvement actions. Pupils from low- and middle-ability groups have historically not always achieved as well as their peers, particularly in mathematics and writing. However, you acknowledge the need to increase the proportion of pupils who reach and exceed the expected standard, particularly by the end of key stage 2. Leaders have prioritised the development of pupils’ mathematical skills and, as a result, pupils enjoy their mathematics lessons. This is because teachers provide a variety of tasks that engage their interest and allow them to develop a deep understanding of the subject. For example, in a Year 1/2 lesson, the teacher asked pupils to prove or disprove that a number sentence was correct. Pupils used mathematical apparatus to assist them to test out whether answers were correct, and were invariably able to explain their methods. It was evident that pupils’ mathematical understanding and mastery of the subject were strong because they had been taught to use the apparatus to help them calculate. Leaders are also promoting more consistency across the school in the approach to teaching writing. You and the school’s senior leaders have identified the development of pupils’ skills in spelling, punctuation and grammar as a next step in this process. You also acknowledge the need for pupils to be given more opportunities to write at length to improve their writing stamina. Next steps for the school Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that: the school improvement plan contains more precise success criteria relating to specific progress outcomes for pupils the school builds on the work already done in its evaluation of the teaching of reading so that pupils’ reading progress is accelerated pupils’ writing progress is accelerated so that an increasing proportion of pupils reach and exceed the expected standard by the end of key stage 2. I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the director of education for the Diocese of Peterborough, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Northamptonshire. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.