The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. Since your appointment as substantive headteacher, in September 2016, you have worked together with the executive headteacher to raise teachers’ expectations and bring greater consistency to the quality of teaching in the school. As a result, current pupils are now making more rapid progress in reading, writing and mathematics. Staff enjoy working for and with you to provide a good-quality education for the pupils of Seal Primary Academy. This is because staff find you supportive and approachable and feel you ‘still understand the reality of teaching,’ meaning that you can quickly assess how well new initiatives are working. When the school was inspected in 2014, it had been through a period of great change and rapid improvement. It was graded ‘good’ with some aspects of the school being identified as being particularly strong. Soon after the inspection, The Kemnal Academies Trust (TKAT), a large multi-academy trust (MAT) to which your school belongs, began to deploy the previous headteacher’s skills elsewhere in the trust. You became head of school and managed the day-to-day running of the school. During this interim period, the momentum of change slowed and initiatives that were put into place previously were given time to embed. Governors and directors from the MAT recognise this. At the time of the previous inspection, leaders were asked to ensure that teachers checked what pupils were learning, and that pupils were always given tasks that engaged and motivated them, particularly in writing. Since September 2016, you have tackled these areas with gusto and with very positive results. By introducing a whole-school approach that promotes writing by talking about stories and other texts, you have raised the profile of writing throughout the school. Pupils are enjoying their writing activities more. For example, I saw a group of Year 5 pupils enthused by the task of persuading people to take a holiday on a dilapidated ship. Pupils are also making faster progress in writing. This was shown by improvements in progress and attainment at the end of key stage 2 in 2017. While writing is now taught consistently in this way, you and your middle leaders recognise that there are some teachers who need additional support and coaching for their pupils to achieve the very best results for pupils. In recent years, pupils have made slower progress through key stage 2 than other pupils nationally in reading and mathematics. Middle leaders have developed their capacity to bring about improvements with support from you and the executive headteacher. They have put in place new initiatives that started in September 2017 and are already having an impact on raising standards. However, more could still be done to track how pupils develop their knowledge, understanding and skills in reading and mathematics, and to consistently challenge the most able pupils. All of the pupils I met are happy to come to school, enjoy their lessons and like their teachers. They find their work interesting and enjoy activities, such as learning to play brass instruments and studying on the nearby beach as part of the ‘wild beach’ curriculum. Most parents and carers are happy with the school; however, some parents do not fully understand what happens at school and worry about behaviour and bullying. I did not see any evidence of poor behaviour during my visit and the school’s records show that incidents of poor behaviour are generally minor. Where pupils do find it difficult to manage their behaviour, you have put in place systems to help them successfully improve over time. We agreed that you could do more to communicate the many positive things that happen at Seal Primary Academy to parents more clearly. Safeguarding is effective. The leadership team has ensured that all safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose. You and the other designated safeguarding leads have a wealth of experience and expertise that allow you to fulfil your statutory duties well. You completely understand the unique characteristics of the community you serve and the potential risks to pupils. Procedures to check staff recruitment, train staff and volunteers, and to share and record concerns, are all fully in place. You and your team work well with other professionals and with families. For example, your well-being leader works with the school nurse to offer a monthly drop-in for parents at a local café. You have worked hard to help pupils, and their parents, understand how to stay safe online. More could be done to help pupils and parents fully understand the difference between unkind behaviour and bullying.