The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. You wasted no time in getting to know your staff and the wider community, following your appointment as headteacher in September 2015. Very early into your headship, you found yourself managing significant levels of staff absence at deputy headteacher and senior teacher level. Despite two rounds of recruitment, you remain without a substantive senior leadership team. Such is your drive and professionalism that you are undeterred. Instead, you managed a very difficult period in the school’s history with great sensitivity, professionalism and stoicism. You have single handily improved the work of the school and established your very high expectations to all aspects of school life. At the same time, you have created a cohesive team of staff who are supportive of one another and who share your resilience and ambition. Although working without substantive senior leaders has been difficult and has increased your workload considerably, it has also enabled you to focus upon developing your middle leadership team successfully. You have provided extensive training and support to enable them to embrace their roles and develop their skills effectively. This was an area for improvement at the last inspection. Your strong vision and highest of expectations permeate all aspects of school life. It is your intention that all pupils will be successful and you ensure that they receive guidance and nurturing to be caring individuals, who will fulfil their role as exemplary citizens in the world. Governors endorse your vision and bring a wide range of skills to their roles. They are keen to use them to challenge you. Local authority officers conducted a review of their skills and the governors’ subsequent action plan is supporting their development further. You have an accurate evaluation of the school’s work and this enables you to quickly secure improvement when you identify a need. You then systematically unpick the issues and offer timely advice and support. Your development plans identify the correct priorities for improvement, but you accept that they would benefit from greater links to the intended outcomes for key groups of pupils and attainment at the higher levels. One of the areas for improvement from the previous inspection was to improve pupils’ outcomes in mathematics, which at the time were below national averages. You introduced an approach to the teaching of mathematics that ensures that pupils develop well the skills of arithmetic fluency, reasoning and problem-solving. Practice sessions at the start of each day and detailed planning tools for teachers have secured year-on-year improvement in pupils’ outcomes at both key stages 1 and 2. In 2017, pupils’ progress in mathematics was above average and in the top 20% of all schools nationally. Almost half of the children starting school arrive with skills that are lower than those typical for children their age, especially in the area of learning associated with communication and language. This is in part due to the growing proportions of children that enter school who are in the earliest stages of speaking English. They quickly settle because of the very strong bonds that are established. This continues throughout the school. Pupils in all years know that they are cared for and that there is always someone to look after them. Their personal development is given high priority and manifests itself in the exemplary behaviours seen in and around school. Pupils are welcoming to visitors, demonstrate good manners and are very keen to share their work and talk about their learning. These highly positive attitudes are testimony to the dedication of staff and conducive to the good outcomes evident. Safeguarding is effective. Leaders and governors place a high priority on all aspects of safeguarding and have ensured that arrangements are fit for purpose. You make rigorous checks on the suitability of all staff and volunteers to work with children. You promote a strong culture of vigilance and early response to identified issues. You have wellestablished relationships with a range of professionals who are helping the school to keep pupils safe. Staff and governors receive regular training to ensure that they are up to date with the most recent and relevant legislation. All staff understand the responsibility they have in keeping children safe. You have recently appointed a dedicated inclusion worker, who has made an immediate impact on strengthening bonds between home and school. She ensures that some of the most vulnerable pupils receive appropriate care and support in a timely manner.