The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. You and your deputy headteacher work extremely well together. You both radiate utter devotion to Willowcroft pupils, determined to see them all succeed. Collectively, you evaluate the school’s strengths and weaknesses meticulously, leaving no stone unturned. You both have a deep-seated understanding of the needs of the families the school serves, holding these firmly at the centre of your work. As a result, you can pinpoint precisely what the school needs to do to continue to improve and, most significantly, serve its community well. The school’s ambition of ‘working together, we will bring the school to the heart of the community’ is fully exemplified by your work. The school’s population contains a significant proportion of disadvantaged pupils and pupils who have special educational needs (SEN) and/or disabilities. Pupils join the school with skills and understanding below those seen typically. You know that the school serves a high proportion of vulnerable pupils. Your work is characterised by ceaseless energy and effort to support pupils and their families to the utmost extent. Consequently, following the closure of the local children’s centre, you have forged strong links to outside agencies such as professionals in health care. One parent, echoing the views of many, commented: ‘Whenever I have had concerns about my children or problems that they may be facing, I have been taken seriously. They [the staff] go out of their way to resolve any problems or put extra support in place. The children’s well-being and education is their top priority.’ Over the last two years, you and your governors have monitored attendance closely and introduced new incentives to encourage pupils to attend routinely. However, you acknowledge that these measures, such as rewards, have not had a strong enough impact, particularly on those pupils who are persistently absent. Your dedication to encouraging pupils to attend repeatedly shines through. This year, you have adapted the school’s policy and included new, more stringent measures. Parents are fully versed in your raised expectations, and initial signs, albeit very early on in the academic year, are promising. Nevertheless, not content with this early success, you are determined to reduce further the rate of absenteeism for some pupils.