The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the previous inspection. Based on the evidence gathered during this short inspection, I am of the opinion that the school has demonstrated strong practice and marked improvement in specific areas. This may indicate that the school has improved significantly overall. Therefore, I am recommending that the school’s next inspection be a section 5 inspection. St Michael’s Catholic Primary School provides a warm and nurturing environment for all pupils. Since the previous inspection, the proportion of disadvantaged pupils has risen steadily and is now more than double the national average. Consequently, you and your staff are committed to ensuring that all pupils get the best possible start to their education. Pupils are well prepared for the next stage in their education, emotionally, socially and academically. You provide strong and effective leadership and have a clear vision for continued improvement. Under your direction, the school has improved significantly since the previous inspection. Quite simply, in 2018, the progress made by pupils at the end of key stage 2 in reading, writing and mathematics was outstanding and among the best in the country. Particularly noteworthy was the progress that disadvantaged pupils made in reading and mathematics, which was significantly above the national average for other pupils. Your staff are a close and tight-knit team. They are very proud to be part of this school and share your aims and ambitions. Several told me about the opportunities afforded to them to visit European countries to learn about alternative approaches to education. What they have learned has influenced their practice. The following comment sums up the feelings of your staff: ‘We want the children to have a real love of learning, high aspirations and the belief that they can be anything they want to be.’ Virtually all parents and carers have the highest admiration for you and your staff. They are quite rightly proud of the progress that their children make. Parents described the levels of communication between the school and themselves as ‘excellent’. They told me that they are kept very well informed about their children’s progress. Parents of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities were keen to tell me about the ‘superb’ levels of support afforded to their children. The following comment typifies the views of many: ‘A truly amazing school with dedicated staff, outstanding results and first-class pastoral care.’ This view is also shared by your school improvement partner, who described the school as ‘a shining example’ to others. As we toured the school, I observed pupils who displayed a real love of learning and a thirst for knowledge. Relationships at all levels are highly respectful and the standards of behaviour that I observed on the day of the inspection were excellent. You have created an atmosphere of excitement for learning among pupils. They took delight in telling me about the exciting range of trips you and your staff arrange to inspire their learning and arouse their curiosity. Pupils thoroughly enjoy coming to school and feel safe. They talked to me in depth about the knowledge and skills they are acquiring in subjects such as science, history and geography. They proudly showed me work in their books and on display which confirms that this is the case. Pupils are very aware of the school’s core values and talked about what they mean to them on a personal basis. Raising money for a wide variety of charitable causes is a regular activity at St Michael’s. This helps pupils appreciate that there are many people facing challenging circumstances. Like you, governors are keen that all pupils achieve their best. They visit the school regularly and have a secure understanding of its many strengths and priorities for development. They set you challenging, but realistic, targets, which are regularly reviewed. They are very supportive of you, but not afraid to ask challenging questions should the need arise. Following the previous inspection, you were asked to ensure that all pupils were challenged in lessons and that there were more opportunities for them to write across the curriculum. Both issues have been resolved. Pupils now write at length in subjects such as science, history and geography. The significant improvement in published results demonstrates that pupils are now challenged to think more deeply in lessons.