The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. Leaders and governors are aspirational for pupils and committed to the continued improvement of the school. You have a precise and accurate understanding of the school’s strengths and areas for improvement. Parents hold the school and its staff in high esteem. Many of the parents who I spoke with and who responded to Ofsted’s online questionnaire commented on the welcoming, family atmosphere that you have created at the school. They also value how approachable and accessible senior leaders and teachers are. You have maintained the significant strengths noted at the last inspection, particularly in terms of pupils’ behaviour. Pupils are happy, confident and proud of the school. You ensure that the school’s Christian values are reinforced through assemblies and lessons. You also provide regular opportunities for pupils to learn about other cultures and religions. Pupils have a good understanding of diversity and inclusion. They told me that everyone is accepted, and that the best thing about the school is that everyone is one big team who work together. Pupils were excited to share their favourite line from the school song with me: ‘everything we do, we do together hand in hand’. Leaders have addressed the areas for improvement identified at the time of the last inspection. You provide appropriate training for all staff linked to whole-school developments and additional coaching for staff who need it. We saw together that all staff are consistent in their application of school systems and policies. This is helping to improve the progress which pupils make during their time at the school. You have made developing pupils’ writing a whole-school priority and provided additional training for all staff. Teachers are now much more confident about the new, national writing standards and what pupils need to do to achieve them. They make sure that pupils have a clear understanding of the features of different types of writing and how to plan and organise their work. Teachers consistently emphasise the importance of using correct grammar to pupils; this is helping pupils to improve their writing. Teachers provide pupils with challenging texts that engage their interests and develop their ideas for writing. For example, Year 6 pupils studied Tolkien’s ‘The Hobbit’, before writing their own descriptive poems. One Year 6 pupil wrote, ‘a puff of smoke ascends into the air, taking the deserted spotlight of the twilight shadows’. Pupils’ progress at the end of key stage 2 has been consistently at least in line with national averages in reading, writing and mathematics. However, leaders acknowledge that the proportion of pupils who reach greater depth in writing and mathematics across the school needs to improve. Pupils’ books demonstrate that the most able pupils have not consistently been given the challenge needed to make the rapid progress of which they are capable, particularly in key stage 1. Teachers have recently started to plan more opportunities for suitable challenge for the most able pupils. We saw evidence of this together on inspection. For example, in a Year 2 lesson, the most able pupils looked at division, and then went on to explore the relationship between division and multiplication. Safeguarding is effective. The leadership team has ensured that safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose and records are detailed and of high quality. You complete an annual safeguarding audit to check that safeguarding arrangements continue to be robust. All statutory checks on staff are carried out and recorded carefully. All staff receive regular and appropriate training and have a good understanding of their responsibilities to ensure children’s safety and well-being. The files you showed me indicate that staff make prompt referrals when they have any concerns. Leaders are tenacious in seeking external support when needed. Leaders, governors and staff undertake regular training relevant to child protection and safeguarding issues, such as the risks of extremism and domestic abuse. Pupils understand how to keep themselves safe. You have provided opportunities for them to learn about issues such as e-safety. Visitors, such as the police, also visit the school to remind pupils how to stay safe in the community. Pupils say bullying is rare, and if it does happen, they trust staff to deal with it quickly and 2 effectively. Inspection findings Since the last inspection, leaders have revised the mathematics curriculum and the school’s calculation policy, to provide pupils with more well-planned opportunities to develop their problem-solving and reasoning skills. Staff work with other local schools and within an East Midlands ‘mastery of mathematics’ group to share and learn from best practice. Staff encourage pupils to discuss and explain answers in mathematics through questions such as ‘prove it’ and ‘how do you know?’ This is helping pupils to have more confidence when facing mathematical problems independently. The governing body provides leaders with effective support and challenge. Governors make sure that additional government funding is used to have a positive impact on pupils’ well-being and progress. Leaders have ensured that there is an effective assessment and tracking system in place that provides you with a clear analysis of the progress and attainment of each pupil. Teachers have worked with other local schools to ensure that their assessments are accurate. Teachers use assessment information about pupils to plan learning that takes most pupils on from what they already know and can do. All pupils have learning journeys in mathematics and English which, alongside profiles, show recent examples of their work and what their next steps in learning are. Teachers share these regularly with parents, so that parents have a clear understanding of the progress that their child is making. Teachers and pupils have positive relationships, and pupils willingly follow teacher’s instructions in lessons. Teachers plan lessons which hold pupils’ interest and capture their imagination. Classrooms are attractive; displays celebrate pupils’ work and provide them with helpful prompts and examples of how to make their work better. Pupils develop their key numeracy and literacy skills through the wider curriculum. They are encouraged to discuss and explain what they are learning to deepen their understanding. Staff support pupils to be resilient and have a go when they are faced with a new challenge. This is reinforced through posters on classroom doors such as, ‘this classroom is a mistake making, laughter sharing, independence building, and brain stretching sort of place.’ The pupils who I spoke with said that they enjoy learning and challenge. Since the last inspection, children’s attainment in the early years and the proportion of pupils meeting the expected standard in the phonics screening check at the end of Year 1 have been consistently above the national average. Pupils are confident and enthusiastic readers and well prepared for key stage 1. Pupils’ attendance has been above the national average for the last three years. However, persistent absence for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities took a slight dip in 2016. This was mainly due to medical reasons and pupils who took holidays during term time. Leaders are taking all possible steps to maximise pupils’ attendance, and attendance this year is currently back in line with the national average. 3 Next steps for the school Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that: all teachers consistently provide suitable challenge for the most able pupils, so that more pupils achieve greater depth in writing and mathematics across the school. I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the director of education for the Diocese of Lincoln, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Lincolnshire. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website. Yours sincerely Sally Smith Her Majesty’s Inspector Information about the inspection During the inspection, I met with you and shared my key lines of enquiry. I also met with senior leaders and representatives from the governing body, including the vice-chair of governors. I spoke with parents before school and met with a group of pupils in key stage 2 to talk about their school experience. You and I visited all classes and examined pupils’ workbooks, as well as talking to pupils, to evaluate the quality of their learning. We also looked at a sample of pupils’ writing and mathematics books from different year groups. In addition, I scrutinised the school’s safeguarding arrangements and records, including the school’s record of safeguarding recruitment checks on staff. I evaluated the school’s documentation in relation to pupils’ attainment and progress and reviewed the school’s own evaluation of its work and improvement plans. I took account of the 41 responses to Parent View, Ofsted’s online survey, and the 40 responses from parents to the Ofsted free-text service. There were no responses to Ofsted’s online staff or pupil surveys to take into consideration.