The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. You, the governors and leaders have continued to strengthen the school, particularly through the building of a rich curriculum. Pupils told me that they enjoy mathematics, music, art and physical education (PE). Displays across the school suggest that the quality of art work and PE is of a high standard. There have been few changes in staffing and pupils benefit from additional support provided by senior leaders and teaching assistants. As a result, Year 6 pupils’ achievement at Queenswell Junior School in reading and mathematics is well above the national averages. You recognise that pupils’ progress and attainment in writing are not as high as you would like. Safeguarding is effective. The overwhelming majority of parents who responded to Ofsted’s online questionnaire and free text would recommend the school to others. Additionally, three parents wrote letters to me praising the school. Parents commented on how their children feel safe and supported in school and appreciate the range of extracurricular activities that are available to them. The vast majority of parents said that their children are happy at the school. There is a clear culture of safeguarding that is promoted strongly by school leaders. Leaders ensure that safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose. All preemployment checks for adults working at the school meet statutory requirements. Induction for new staff always starts with safeguarding. The appropriate sharing of information between leaders is managed extremely well. Highly effective systems are firmly established for ensuring that pupils’ safety and well-being are central to the work of the school. Leaders are tenacious in ensuring that outside agencies fulfil their responsibilities in supporting vulnerable and at-risk pupils; this work is a strength and is seen as pivotal to keeping pupils safe. Systems for identifying, recording and reporting any concerns relating to pupils’ safety and well-being are systematic, rigorous and understood by all staff. Training for staff is matched well to the particular needs of individuals. Leaders demonstrate a sound understanding of the local community and its needs. Pupils develop a good understanding of how they can keep themselves safe, including when using the internet. The curriculum supports pupils’ personal and social development and their ability to keep themselves safe, for example in workshops with the NSPCC and in teaching the ‘Underwear Rule’. Pupils in Year 5 and Year 6 tackle difficult issues, such as the dangers of gang culture and female genital mutilation. Pupils say that the school is friendly. They are proud of their school and said that they enjoy their learning. This is a happy and inclusive school, where pupils thrive because of your commitment to their development and well-being. One Year 5 pupil remarked: ‘The best thing is that the school is open and friendly.’ Inspection findings At the start of the inspection, we agreed four areas of focus. The first of these was to look at the impact of leaders’ actions in improving pupils’ progress in writing, particularly for higher-attaining pupils and disadvantaged pupils. This was chosen because, in 2017, progress in writing was in line with national figures, but not as strong as in reading and mathematics. Senior leaders have correctly identified the need to further improve writing, and it is a focus for the school’s work this year. Team teaching with the subject leader has increased the level of consistency of the teaching of writing across the school. Staff value this immensely. The profile of writing has been raised by the competitions run by the ‘children’s parliament’. There are rich opportunities in the wider curriculum for pupils to develop their knowledge and understanding to aid their writing. For example, in Year 3, pupils used the ‘Moon Man’, linked to their art work, to help them write diary entries and persuasive texts. However, pupils’ standards of writing in the wider curriculum are not as high as the writing lessons. Opportunities to apply their writing skills in extended pieces are not as developed as they could be in these subjects. In our book scrutiny, we all found that extended pieces of writing, applying the skills that pupils had learned, were rare. When teachers were explicit with appropriate writing objectives, for example the diary entries for ‘Germans in the Woods’, the work was of a high standard. Where learning objectives were ambiguous, the quality was not as good. Typically, pupils make secure progress in their writing from their starting points. However, most-able pupils did not receive many tasks that gave them challenge.