The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. Since your appointment in September 2017, you have led the school with passion and a commitment to ensure that the school fulfils its core aim of providing ‘excellence in early education’. Your ambition and high expectations are shared by governors and staff. Parents and carers speak highly of your leadership and are appreciative of the new initiatives that you have introduced to support pupils’ learning at home. One parent commented that your, ‘passion for getting the best out of everyone was clear from the start’. Pupils enjoy school and are enthusiastic about their learning. In early years, there is a plethora of indoor and outdoor activities available for children to explore. Children communicate well with each other during group activities and listen well to adult instruction. When asked what they most enjoy about coming to Nursery, one child commented that they enjoy Nursery because, ‘this is where we learn’. As a result, children in early years make strong progress in all aspects of their learning. You and governors have successfully identified the school’s strengths and weaknesses through an accurate self-evaluation process. You have identified what the school needs to do to improve and have clear plans in place to address key areas. For example, you have identified the need to improve pupils’ outcomes in mathematics and improve the attendance of groups of pupils. You make good use of the support provided by your school improvement adviser. For instance, you have worked well together to develop middle leadership roles and leaders’ understanding of the subjects they manage. Governors meet with you and other school leaders to challenge and question leaders about how well current pupils are performing. For example, they ensure that additional funding, including that for disadvantaged pupils, is spent effectively. At the time of the last inspection, inspectors highlighted the many strengths of the school, including the quality of teaching and learning in Nursery and Reception. They also identified the need for leaders to ensure that the school’s assessment system for tracking pupils’ progress identifies quickly when pupils are falling behind and that teachers consistently correct errors in how pupils record their number work. Leaders have dealt with these matters successfully. Teachers accurately identify pupils’ misconceptions, and most pupils are making good progress across a range of subjects. Precise tracking of how well pupils are doing has ensured that leaders swiftly identify any pupil at risk of falling behind. Safeguarding is effective. School leaders and governors have ensured that all safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose. Staff understand the importance of reporting any concerns and know how to take action if they are worried about the well-being of pupils. Leaders’ checks on staff members’ understanding of their safeguarding responsibilities ensure that pupils are safe at school. You take your role as designated safeguarding lead incredibly seriously. You liaise effectively with external agencies to support vulnerable pupils and their families beyond the limits of the school gate, keeping meticulous records, which you review regularly. You have recently introduced changes to the way that staff record behaviour incidents. Consequently, staff consider any change in a pupil’s demeanour as a possible safeguarding concern. Governors take their responsibilities to safeguard pupils seriously. They carry out regular, well-informed checks on the school’s safeguarding systems, and provide support and challenge to leaders when necessary. Inspection findings During this inspection, we agreed to look at: the effectiveness of safeguarding; the impact of leaders’ responses to the decline in standards in reading, writing and mathematics at key stage 1 in 2017; how leaders are ensuring that disadvantaged pupils are supported to achieve well; and how the school is addressing pupils’ poor attendance. Historically, pupils’ outcomes at key stage 1 have been broadly in line with the national average. However, in 2017, pupils’ attainment in reading, writing and mathematics dropped below this level. Leaders have taken effective action to halt any further decline, and scrutiny of pupils’ work shows that most pupils are working at age-related expectations and making good progress.