The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. You and your governing body have strengthened the amalgamation between the junior and infant schools by moving to one site. Your drive and high expectations have improved the quality of education and raised standards in the early years and key stage 1. The school is popular with parents. The last inspection report asked you to improve the teaching of reading. You put the teaching of phonics at the centre of your mission to raise standards in reading and writing. Effective leadership and well-targeted training and development in phonics teaching have resulted in a year-on-year improvement in phonics outcomes. Leaders manage pupils’ progress through the phonics programme carefully. Staff adjust the teaching to pupils’ stage of development and promptly give extra support for pupils who need it. Your regular checks on the quality of phonics teaching ensure that pupils’ learning is systematic and consistent. Pupils apply their phonic knowledge well, for example by writing words and sentences. In the early years, leaders are tackling the weaker attainment by boys in phonics by giving more opportunities for children to read and listen to stories that repeat the phonic sounds and letters they are learning. Pupils are making rapid progress in the early years and at key stage 1. As a result, in 2018, the proportion of pupils that reached the expected standard at the end of key stage 1 was at, or close to, the national averages in reading, writing and mathematics. Attainment in reading at the end of key stage 2 has increased year on year since the last inspection. However, the progress made by Year 6 pupils in reading has not been as strong as in writing and mathematics. Your comprehensive and well-organised reading strategy has increased opportunities for reading. All pupils have reading records and read regularly at home, school and in guided-reading sessions. You target accurately those that read less often. You check pupils’ reading age frequently and you provide a wellconsidered balance of phonic and non-phonic books as pupils develop their reading skills. You are providing more reading material to interest boys to help them catch up with the girls. Teachers promote the enjoyment of reading well by regularly reading stories to their class. The ‘must read’ list of books for each year group is encouraging all pupils to read a range of recommended books. Some older pupils take part enthusiastically in an annual reading competition with other schools. All pupils take part in the reading buddy scheme where older pupils act as reading buddies for younger ones. The well-trained reading buddies ask good comprehension questions. They record younger pupils’ answers accurately and provide a good model for younger pupils. Year 6 pupils enjoy their leadership responsibility for managing the well-organised reading shed in the playground and for recording books borrowed. You are taking effective steps to develop parental engagement to support pupils’ reading. You are reviewing the use of guided reading to enable pupils to engage more deeply in exploring the meaning of texts to reach the higher standards of attainment in reading, particularly at key stage 2. Safeguarding is effective. The leadership team has ensured that all safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose. Safeguarding policies and staff training are up to date, including about the risks of extremism. Several leaders have a responsibility for safeguarding which results in a prompt response to any emerging concerns. Leaders document cases scrupulously. Accurate records are accessible to key staff. Leaders take great care to support the individual needs of vulnerable pupils. They are tenacious in their advocacy of the needs of pupils. Staff work effectively with other agencies to support children and their families. Leaders take proper action if a child is missing from education. Pupils have good opportunities to voice any concerns to trusted adults. The curriculum gives well-planned opportunities for pupils to learn about staying safe on a mobile phone, knife crime, and railway and water safety. Staff communicate well with each other and with parents. The positive school culture, well-organised systems and caring ethos promote the safety of pupils effectively.