The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. Working alongside a hardworking and supportive governing body, your skilful leadership has brought about improvements to teaching and learning. You have successfully steered the school through challenging circumstances created by changes in staffing and leadership, not taking your eye off the ball in continually making improvements to pupils’ learning. There is a tangible drive and sense of urgency to provide high-quality opportunities that allow pupils to thrive. You maintain that leadership is the responsibility of all staff, and you have created a skilful and highly effective school team in which morale remains high. The whole-school ethos is one of raising aspiration for all and is underpinned by a dogged determination to eradicate second best. It is easy to see why the school’s motto, ‘work, play, pray – together’, is so apt. Improvements in the quality of teaching, learning and assessment are accelerating quickly the rates of progress of current pupils across the school. The whole school team has diligently addressed issues raised at the last inspection, and successfully eradicated any weaknesses. Pupils’ progress in writing has improved significantly, as has the quality of teaching in school. Teachers routinely establish high expectations. They accept no excuses for failure and work collaboratively to address issues that arise. You, governors and other school leaders keep a close eye on the quality of teaching, undertaking monitoring of teachers’ planning for lessons and analysing work in pupils’ books. You hold discussions with pupils about their learning and also spend time visiting classes to observe teaching and learning. You acknowledge that pupils’ progress and attainment in reading by the end of key stage 2 were not as strong as those found in writing and mathematics, although still higher than those found nationally. You have made this a key priority, and already there are improvements in the provisional assessments at the end of Year 6. Similarly, you acknowledge that the early writing skills of boys lag behind those of the girls, but high-quality planning and innovative teaching are reversing this trend. Pupils respond well to the high expectations of staff and this is seen in their mainly excellent attitudes to learning in lessons. Pupils’ strong relationships with adults remain a key strength of your highly inclusive school. Pupils develop excellent citizenship skills, being keen to take on responsibilities through roles such as being a member of the school council, a house captain, a pastoral care captain, a monitor role in each class, or aspiring to represent the school as head boy or head girl. Pupils take pride in the well-ordered and extremely tidy school environment, benefiting from high-quality displays in classes and shared areas. Pupils’ behaviour in class and around school remains exemplary and the vast majority are very eager to work hard. You have worked hard to develop a curriculum that meets the needs of your pupils, and fires their interest through visits to important sites across the region linked to their topic work. For example, areas of study such as the Romans, Egyptians, transport or rainforests have resulted in visits to local Roman forts, the Great North Museum, Shildon Railway Museum and Sunderland Winter Gardens. Teachers are skilled in following up pupils’ interests, such as work on the local coastline leading to cycle trips and residential visits. Pupils are also gaining an appreciation of multicultural Britain and a deeper understanding of the wider world beyond their immediate locality. Safeguarding is effective. In your role as designated safeguarding leader, you ensure that policies, procedures and records are of high quality and up to date. Your determination to leave no stone unturned in your duty to keep pupils safe is exemplified by your desire to improve systems further through the introduction of an online system to report and maintain detailed records of concerns and incidents. All staff are appropriately trained and have access to well-written policies and guidance. As a result, they have a secure understanding of their individual responsibilities for safeguarding. Pupils are very knowledgeable about bullying and e-safety. They understand how to avoid situations that may prove dangerous when not at school. A small number of parents responded to the online questionnaire, Parent View, but all were crystal clear that the school keeps their children very safe.