The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. You have a clear vision for the school. Together with staff and governors you are determined that St Anne’s should be a vibrant and happy learning community. This vision drives the ethos of the school and results in an environment in which pupils thrive. Partnership with parents is a key component of this vision. Most parents appreciate the caring nature of the school and high levels of commitment by staff to the pupils and their families. One succinctly summed up the views of many, describing the school as feeling like a ‘big family’. Parents appreciate the clear and well-developed religious identity of the school. A few parents have had concerns about recent staff changes and some elements of pupils’ behaviour. Leaders have responded by reviewing and refining systems for behaviour management. During the inspection, behaviour in classrooms was good. Pupils collaborated happily and productively with each other. Conduct around the school was exemplary. Pupils were friendly and polite. Pupils enjoy coming to school. They are engaged by the exciting curriculum opportunities provided by topics such as the Romans and Egyptians. They told me that there is always something to look forward to. Pupils know that their voice is valued and listened to if they have worries. They told me that teachers help them resolve friendship problems. They are encouraged to resolve smaller issues by themselves, knowing support is there if they need it. Their views are regularly sought about their school by leaders, including governors. For example, pupils were involved in developing a theme for revamping the library. They decided on Harry Potter, following a vote in assembly. The parent teacher association then created an exciting and engaging environment which pupils told me ‘inspires’ them. The community feel of the school was exemplified by the pupil who told me that ‘it is not always just the teachers as we are a team and everyone puts in effort to make our school better’. Leaders have taken effective action to address the improvement areas in mathematics from the last inspection. In the 2017 key stage 2 national assessments, girls made more progress from their starting points than boys. However, leaders acknowledge that there is further work to do to embed recent improvements in writing and to ensure consistently high levels of challenge across the school. There has been a period of staff change and recruitment challenges which has impacted on the leadership capacity to drive forward some improvements in teaching and learning. However, recent recruitment and refined tracking systems have now increased capacity and enabled more leaders to give more attention to the accurate evaluation of where improvements are needed. Staff morale is high and outcomes for pupils are strengthening across the school. Safeguarding is effective. The leadership team has ensured that all safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose. All appropriate recruitment and background checks are completed before adults can work with pupils in school. Record-keeping is meticulous. Staff receive regular training and are aware of what to do if they have worries about a pupil. Concerns are reported, carefully recorded and acted on in a timely fashion. The school works effectively with other agencies when it is appropriate to do so. Governors complete regular checks on the school’s safeguarding practice to ensure everything is as it should be. Staff are vigilant and ensure the good welfare of pupils. All the staff and almost all of the parents who completed the Ofsted questionnaires felt that pupils were kept safe at school. Pupils told me that they feel safe and that ‘staff look out for you’. They benefit from involvement in regular curriculum activities focused on safety and safety-awareness days. Pupils who spoke to me demonstrated an awareness of esafety. However, you review pupils’ understanding regularly to help ensure that pupils are confident in applying this learning to everyday life. You also endeavour to support parents in working with you in this area. Inspection findings During the inspection, we looked closely together at the teaching and learning in mathematics across the school. In the 2017 end of key stage national assessments, the proportion of pupils achieving typical standards was below national comparisons at the end of key stage 2. At the end of key stage 1, the proportion of pupils attaining at the available higher level was below that seen nationally. School information and work in pupils’ books indicates that most current pupils are making strong progress from their starting points in developing numerical skills. However, the development of reasoning and problem-solving is less evident. Some pupils in key stage 1, particularly the most able pupils, are not regularly set work that matches their abilities well enough to provide the challenge that they need. In some year groups, opportunities to develop meaningful mathematical applications across the curriculum are grasped, particularly in science. However, this is not so across the wider curriculum. We also looked together at the teaching and learning in writing across the school. Leaders were disappointed with writing outcomes in the end of key stage national assessments in 2017. A below-average proportion of pupils attained in line with the national figures in both key stages. As a result, a school development priority to develop pupils’ writing has been effectively implemented. Work in most pupils’ books shows good amounts of sustained writing. Their writing contains a rich range of vocabulary and accurate sentence construction. In most year groups high expectations of writing transfer well across the curriculum. This is particularly evident in religious education. Some work has taken place to develop punctuation and spelling, but leaders acknowledge that there is more work to do to ensure that pupils make accurate spelling choices and systematically punctuate their work correctly. We also explored how well pupils are supported to attain at the available higher levels, particularly in key stage 1. In the 2017 end of key stage 1 assessments, the proportions of pupils attaining at the available higher levels were below national figures in reading, writing and mathematics. This did not represent strong progress from pupils’ starting points for this particular cohort. More current pupils than previously are attaining highly. However, leaders acknowledge that classroom practice does not consistently provide pupils, particularly the most able, with the challenge that they need. Planning does not always take account of what pupils can already do, so pupils’ rates of progress slow. Next steps for the school Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that: work is sufficiently well matched to pupils’ needs to provide regular challenge, particularly, but not exclusively, in key stage 1, and for the most able pupils standards of spelling and punctuation are improved across the curriculum. I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the director of education for the Diocese of Arundel and Brighton, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Surrey. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.