The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. This has been a challenging year for the school, with several staff absences. Leaders have embraced the support that the local authority has provided from the headteacher of a nearby school. This has enabled the school to improve the teaching and learning of mathematics and to develop writing. School leaders, staff and governors are ambitious for the pupils. They are committed to developing teaching and learning and improving outcomes for pupils. Pupils are overwhelmingly positive about school. They behave well in class. They listen to their teachers and apply themselves to their work. They play together well in the playground and say it is easy to make friends. They know and use the school values and say that they try to remember and apply them during the day. Pupils have a good understanding of right and wrong. One pupil was very keen to tell me how important it was to tell the truth. They are proud of the responsibilities that they have in school as junior governors, science ambassadors, librarians, sports leaders and being part of the newspaper team. Pupils and parents appreciate the wide range of after-school clubs on offer. These broaden pupils’ experiences and enrich the curriculum. These are popular with pupils, who particularly enjoy the sports clubs. Pupils are keen to take part, find them fun and enjoy competing. They would like to develop their sports skills and win sports competitions. Many parents are supportive of the school. However, some parents would like to see improvements in communication and more challenge for the most able pupils. Some parents highly praise the provision for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), others do not feel their children are well provided for. The provision maps for SEND are of a high quality and well monitored by the special educational needs coordinator (SENCo), and pupils make good progress in targeted support sessions. In class, pupils with SEND are working alongside their peers and making progress at a similar rate as other pupils. Vulnerable pupils are tracked closely by staff. However, there has been less focus on pupils who are disadvantaged. Although the work in pupils’ books shows them to be working at the same standards as other pupils with similar starting points, their rates of progress are not well monitored. You realise you must raise your expectations for the pupils who are disadvantaged. You recognise that pupils do not always achieve as well as they should. You are training staff and putting new approaches in place to improve practice. Pupils’ work in mathematics has improved. The English leaders have raised the profile of reading and writing through the introduction of quality texts for pupils to read and use as a stimulus for their writing. Although there is improvement in pupils’ writing, pupils are not yet using the vocabulary, literary conventions and styles modelled in the texts sufficiently well in their own writing to write consistently at higher standards. Spelling and presentation in pupils’ books continue to be an area for development. At the previous inspection you were asked to ensure that pupils knew their next steps in learning, that teachers used assessments of prior learning to plan work and that senior staff and governors were more thorough in keeping safeguarding policies up to date and reviewed. Pupils know their next steps in learning and can transfer them into their independent writing. Teachers set targets and hold conferences with pupils so that the next piece of work is planned to meet pupils’ learning needs. Recently, a governor has taken the responsibility to overview policies and paperwork, and a sharper eye is being brought to this aspect of the school’s work. Safeguarding is effective. Leaders have ensured that practice is effective. All the relevant checks on staff working in the school are in place. You regularly monitor safeguarding in detail. Governors are skilled in this area and they also check. However, paperwork is held in a form that is hard to access and it makes monitoring laborious. Staff are trained to identify any problems that pupils may have and are watchful for signs that they may not be safe. Staff are very clear about what they need to do to protect pupils. They do not hesitate to report their concerns. This has resulted in well-documented, clear, early help plans for pupils. The school accesses a wide range of support from outside agencies such as social services, the school nurse service and speech therapy. These procedures are carefully monitored, and senior leaders ensure that support is appropriate and timely. Pupils feel safe and parents agree. Pupils say that there is no bullying, although there can be misunderstandings over games in the playground. These are swiftly resolved by the teachers, who the children say are good at sorting things out. Knowledge about bullying and what to do if it does happen is good. Junior governors are involved in the annual anti-bullying week and issue the children’s version of the anti-bullying policy each year. Pupils and parents are well supported to keep safe online. The school provides annual e-safety sessions for parents. There is a governor who can give specialist advice and there is support for parents on the school website. Pupils know what to do and are articulate in explaining how they stay safe. Attendance is above the national average for primary schools. It is monitored carefully, and parents are contacted when their children’s attendance slips. Reluctant attenders have been successfully brought back into school using early morning activities such as yoga. Inspection findings We agreed to focus on safeguarding, the work of the governors, and the school’s work to improve reading and writing. Governors are a strength of the school. They are realistic. They know the challenges that the school faces and keenly advocate and support school development. Following a change in the governing body this year they have effectively restructured and undertaken well-considered training to further develop their skills. With the skills that they bring from their daily lives they are a valuable asset to the school. They have a close working relationship with the staff and want the children to do well. They are proud that together they have maintained a wide curriculum in the face of financial constraints. Governors’ minutes show that they are asking leaders searching and knowledgeable questions and holding them to account for pupils’ progress and attainment. They are active in the school, monitoring their areas of responsibility and reporting back to the full governing body at every meeting. A governor has recently taken on the responsibility for pupils eligible for the pupil premium funding. She has requested additional monitoring and reporting from leaders and this aspect of the school’s work is now under closer scrutiny. The majority of pupils read fluently and well. The English leaders are knowledgeable and have analysed the school’s development needs for reading. They have reviewed and renewed the school book stock, ensuring that pupils now have higher-quality, more-demanding texts once they complete the reading scheme. Phonics is systematically taught throughout key stage 1. Outcomes have improved this year and pupils are above national average in the phonics check in both Year 1 and Year 2. Pupils move swiftly through the reading scheme and by the end of Year 2 over 70% have completed the scheme and go on to read books of their choice. Pupils are accessing reading and vocabulary at a higher level than they were in the past. Pupils are capably supported by parents in their home reading. Reading records are very well kept and show that pupils read frequently. Pupils also enjoy the opportunity to read every day in school, either to themselves or with support from skilled teaching assistants. Pupils make good use of their phonics knowledge when they decode words. The most able readers are very fluent and select and enjoy the more challenging books on offer. Some pupils, however, do not have sufficient guidance when selecting their books. They do not fully comprehend what they are reading and the books they have chosen are too difficult for their level of comprehension.