You and your leadership team have maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. You have created a culture in which pupils and staff have excellent relationships based on mutual respect. Your ethos of ‘everyone matters and every dream counts’ is firmly embedded. Pupils value your support and support each other on their journeys through education. Parents, carers and staff are overwhelmingly positive about the quality of leadership and the experience of pupils on a day-to-day basis. A real strength is the extra-curricular provision, which affords pupils numerous opportunities to develop their skills and try new things. Pupils’ conduct in lessons and around school is exemplary. One member of staff commented, ‘I have never been to a school where so many pupils hold doors open for staff and one another.’ Pupils are polite and courteous and want to achieve well. They take pride in their work and are continuing to make good progress. They are confident and articulate. Following your appointment in September 2013, you have ensured that your vision for the school is communicated well to staff, pupils, parents and carers. Your staff are in full support of the journey that your school is undertaking. Along with your senior leaders, you have ensured that your assessment systems are robust and your curriculum is appropriate for your pupils. You have strengthened the system for performance management to ensure a constant focus on pupils’ outcomes and, through this, you have improved the quality of teaching and middle leadership. During the inspection, we agreed that there are areas that you are still working to improve. These include continuing to improve the quality of teaching and learning, reducing the number of fixed-term exclusions, improving retention in the sixth form and, although attendance overall is above the national average, work remains to be done to improve the attendance of disadvantaged pupils. Safeguarding is effective. The leadership team has ensured that all safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose and records are detailed and of a high quality. Leaders know pupils well and pupils say that they are confident in seeking support from adults if they need help. Staff undergo annual safeguarding training and receive regular updates throughout the academic year. Consequently, staff have a strong awareness of how to keep pupils safe. Links with parents are strengthened through the work of the welfare officer and this is helping to ensure good communication. Pastoral staff ensure that robust checks are carried out when pupils are absent. Pupils say, and records show, that bullying incidents are rare and have declined over the last three years. Pupils, staff and parents agree that, if bullying does occur, teachers deal with it swiftly and effectively so that there are no repeat incidents. Inspection findings Following some disappointing outcomes for disadvantaged pupils over time, leaders are taking appropriate action to improve outcomes for this group of pupils. A number of effective strategies are in place which are leading to better progress compared to the last academic year. Evidence for this progress is in pupils’ work, pupils’ attitudes to learning and from school information about their progress. Some initiatives are very recent and it is too soon to see their impact, for example from the ‘Toddlers to Teens’ project. Leaders undertake a programme of departmental reviews and quality assurance that ensures that areas for improvement are identified and actioned. Departments that have underperformed are reviewed and supported first, to ensure that progress improves for pupils. Through this, pupils are making better progress in subjects such as history and Spanish compared to that made in the last academic year. The curriculum is appropriate and all subjects are available to all pupils. Pupils receive support and guidance in choosing their GCSE options to ensure that their choices link to their future aspirations and their ability. In Year 8, pupils have the opportunity to take part in taster sessions so that they can try out subjects that are new to them, such as health and social care and business studies. This gives them confidence in making the right choices.