The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. You lead your school in a calm but passionate manner. It is to your credit that the staffing at Northfields has been very stable for a number of years. Staff say that they are very proud to work in the school where ‘there is a culture of collaboration and support’. You are excited by the recent appointment of two new teachers and looking forward to embedding the role of the relatively new special educational needs coordinator. Since the previous inspection, almost the entire governing body complement has changed. A new vice-chair of governors and several very recently appointed governors support the chair of governors well in her role. Parents are effusive in their praise of the school and your staff. As one parent put it, Northfields provides ‘a brilliant platform from which my son can express himself’. It is clear that you, your staff and governors have not stopped working to continually improve aspects of the school since the last inspection. The areas for improvement from the previous report have been tackled with vigour. You and your leaders set high expectations. Teaching, therefore, is never less than good over time. However, teachers are in different year groups from last year and a quarter of teachers are also new to the school. Because the new teachers have no previous pupils’ work to show yet, the impact that they are having on pupils’ progress is not as evident as that of other members of staff. You recognise that there is potential for a lack of consistency and have stated that this is an area that you will be looking at closely. Staff are used to your ‘challenging conversations when necessary’ because you all share a collective desire to do the best for all children and pupils. As one member of staff said to me: ‘I will go the extra mile, because the children are important. I want to get it right, to be a support network for children and families.’ You are all constantly reviewing the curriculum to ensure that it suits the needs of the particular children and pupils you have at any one time. For example, your early years leader and her team have made great strides in working with parents to ensure that the best possible provision is in place for all children. You and your governors are rightly proud of this work. ‘They listen to parents and I have felt informed and actively involved in moving my daughter forward in her learning’ was one parent’s comment among many. In your previous inspection, governors were asked to improve the effectiveness with which they check the effective use of additional funding. Following an audit, leaders and governors proactively recruited new governors with specific expertise and skills, and made considerable alterations to the way the governing body functions. As a result, it is now working very effectively with parents, leaders and members of staff. Governors work alongside class teachers in each year group to follow a cohort of children and pupils through the school. This has enabled them to have an appropriate and in-depth knowledge of how well children and pupils are doing. Governors are, therefore, able to effectively question and challenge leaders to ensure that disadvantaged pupils and those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities make as much progress as they can. Safeguarding is effective. You and other leaders ensure that all safeguarding procedures are robust and fit for purpose. All of your staff are rigorous in their approach to, and vigilance in, keeping children and pupils safe. Records are of good quality and demonstrate that you pursue any concerns tenaciously. As a result, children and pupils learn in a safe environment, both inside and outside the classroom. Governors are equally vigilant in their checking of safeguarding procedures. They undertake regular checks of the single central register and ensure that they are trained, for example, in safer recruitment. This ensures that appropriate checks are made on the suitability of staff to work with children and pupils. All parents who responded to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, agree that their children are safe, happy and well looked after in school. Pupils love coming to school, where learning is ‘fun and interesting’. They say that they feel safe and know who to go to if they have any worries. For such young pupils, they are very confident about how to keep themselves safe. For example, when using computers, they know not to give their password to anyone else and ‘not to go on a computer without the consent of an adult’. Inspection findings I pursued a number of lines of enquiry to ensure that the school remained good.