The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. You provide clear, determined and effective leadership, ably supported by the head of the junior school. You have established a cohesive and consistent approach to the teaching of skills, such as phonics and formal calculation in mathematics, since the junior school’s federation with the infant school in January 2010. As a result, learning builds more securely than previously on pupils’ knowledge from key stage 1 as they move up through key stage 2. Your school’s friendly, inclusive atmosphere ensures that pupils feel valued and welcomed. Pupils want to do well and work hard. They speak about their school and their accomplishments with pride. Most pupils behave well and follow the school’s rules. They move between classrooms sensibly and settle to work quickly. Clear expectations and routines effectively support the small number of pupils who find it hard to behave consistently well. You and your team have strengthened communication with parents so that they know how they can help their children’s learning at home. You have increased opportunities for parents to visit the school and find out about the school’s work through events such as class assemblies. During the inspection, pupils thoroughly enjoyed sharing their work with the large audience of proud parents. The growing numbers of pupils transferring from the infant school in the federation to the junior school illustrate your success in winning parents’ confidence. In the past few years, variations in the quality of teaching, combined with numerous changes in teaching staff, hampered pupils’ learning and frustrated your efforts to improve the school’s performance. However, throughout this unsettled period, you and your team have sustained a strong focus on improving teaching. You have successfully tackled some weaker teaching which was hindering pupils’ progress. You have provided effective training and support for your team of teachers and teaching assistants, which has strengthened teaching in a range of subjects. You look carefully with teachers at groups of pupils’ and individuals’ progress, identifying further support for them where needed. The quality of teaching has improved, pupils’ progress has accelerated and staff morale is high. However, improvements in teaching are not yet fully established in all classes. Teaching is not yet sufficiently strong across the school to ensure that the most able pupils learn deeply enough. You and your team are wholly committed to ensuring that pupils of all abilities and backgrounds gain the most out of their time in school. You were rightly concerned about lower standards in reading and mathematics at the end of Year 6 in 2016. Since then, you and your team have made sensible adjustments to teaching to ensure that pupils are more confident about working in test conditions. The work in pupils’ books indicates that they are tackling a wider range of reading and mathematics tasks more confidently and successfully as a result. You have addressed the issues for improvement identified at the time of the previous inspection effectively. The inspection team asked you to improve teachers’ questioning and to develop the teaching of French. Teachers use questioning increasingly well to check pupils’ understanding during lessons, often asking challenging questions which make pupils think hard about their answers. You have made alterations to the teaching of French so that pupils in all year groups learn how to use words and phrases with increasing confidence. Safeguarding is effective. You and your staff are committed to ensuring that every pupil is safe. Strong relationships between staff and pupils mean that pupils feel safe in school and appreciate the welcoming environment. They are supported to behave sensibly and to follow the school’s rules. You and your leadership team ensure that all safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose. Since the previous inspection, you have worked effectively with the governing body to review and update all safeguarding policies and procedures. You have established clearly defined roles and responsibilities for members of your leadership team in order to keep pupils safe. You and your colleagues respond promptly and seriously to any concerns about pupils’ safety which arise. You contact parents quickly to discuss any concerns and keep them informed of developments where appropriate. Strong partnerships with external agencies ensure the appropriate sharing of important information wherever necessary to ensure pupils’ safety. Your administrative officer makes sure that recruitment checks are completed fully and in good time. High-quality and detailed records contribute well to pupils’ safety and well-being. Inspection findings During this inspection, I focused in particular on: how well teaching ensures that all groups of pupils achieve well, particularly in reading and mathematics; how effectively leaders use the pupil premium to support disadvantaged pupils’ achievement; how well leaders and governors ensure that pupils are safe and attend well; and how effectively leaders have planned the curriculum to ensure that pupils study a broad and balanced range of subjects. The quality of English and mathematics teaching has improved in the past year so that teaching builds more securely on pupils’ previous learning. Arrangements for pupils who have gaps in their learning, including extra lessons and focused support for individual pupils, are accelerating their progress. As a result, pupils’ outcomes are rising across the school, particularly in reading and mathematics. However, while pupils achieve increasingly well, the quality of teaching is not yet consistently strong enough to ensure that the most able pupils achieve well. Leaders have improved the teaching of reading during the past year. They have strengthened teachers’ subject knowledge so that teaching focuses more sharply on developing specific reading skills. Leaders ensure that reading is given an appropriately high priority. They make sure that pupils have frequent and regular opportunities to read, particularly those pupils who do not read regularly at home. Pupils enjoy reading. Teachers have higher expectations of pupils’ learning in mathematics than in the past. They set pupils increasingly demanding tasks, giving them frequent opportunities to use mathematical vocabulary to explain and record their work. Pupils use mathematical language with increasing confidence during mathematics lessons as a result. Improvements in teaching mean that disadvantaged pupils make better progress than previously. They make the same good progress as their classmates. Teaching assistants provide high-quality support for disadvantaged pupils, including those pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. Teaching assistants respond sensitively when pupils find learning more difficult, combining high expectations with understanding. School leaders give safeguarding a very high priority. Your team of specialist teachers and teaching assistants, including those in the special resource unit (‘Meerkats’), makes a particularly effective contribution to ensuring that pupils feel secure. Staff have a deep understanding of pupils’ emotional, behavioural and learning needs. They have very high expectations of pupils’ behaviour and learning, and treat pupils with respect. Pupils thrive in their care, making remarkable progress in developing the personal skills and self-esteem required to learn successfully. Leaders’ actions have secured significant improvements in individual pupils’ attendance. Leaders regularly check information about pupils’ attendance. They follow up any unexplained absences quickly, particularly where pupils are considered to be vulnerable. The home school link worker plays an important role in supporting pupils’ personal development. She works effectively with senior leaders, parents, agencies and other schools, so that she and her colleagues can provide the best possible support for pupils’ attendance and behaviour. Leaders have improved the curriculum since the previous inspection. They work closely with the infant school in the federation to ensure that learning builds consistently across the two key stages. Pupils learn a broad, balanced and interesting range of subjects. The school’s success in developing pupils’ personal skills is a particular strength. Pupils in Year 6 are increasingly well prepared with the good work habits and positive attitudes needed to be successful in the next stage of education and for life in modern Britain. Next steps for the school Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that: improvements in teaching are fully established in all classes teaching deepens and extends learning for the most able pupils more effectively. I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Hampshire. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website. Yours sincerely Julie Sackett Ofsted Inspector Information about the inspection I visited all classes with you and your head of school. I also visited the specialist resource provision (‘Meerkats’). I looked at work in pupils’ books during lessons, as well as scrutinising separately a sample of pupils’ work with your two phase leaders. I talked with pupils in the playground and during my visits to the classrooms. I met with you and your head of school during the inspection. I also met with the head of the infant school, the chair of governors and two additional governors. I spoke with a local authority representative by telephone. I took account of seven responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, and spoke with parents informally at the start of the school day. I considered 26 responses to Ofsted’s online staff questionnaire and 16 responses to Ofsted’s pupil questionnaire. I reviewed the school’s website and considered a range of documents, including your summary of the school’s effectiveness, the school’s improvement plan and local authority reports. I also looked at documents about safeguarding and attendance.