The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. Since arriving in January 2017, you have restructured your school teams to make teaching and learning a priority for all staff. You have made a real difference because you have identified clearly why further improvements need to be made and how these are going to have an impact on pupils’ outcomes. Your open, honest and inclusive approach to leadership means staff now have clear roles and responsibilities. They now have a much clearer understanding of what makes great teaching and effective feedback to pupils and what outcomes they need to achieve for pupils with different starting points. In recent years there have been many changes of staff and school leaders have found it difficult to find strong teachers to replace those who have left. Since joining in January 2017, you identified that a few teachers were not very effective and there were too many vacancies in the school. You made the decision to work closely with training providers to try to conquer this problem. As a result, your school is now well staffed with subject specialists who support your vision of effective classroom practice and have high expectations of what pupils can achieve. The governors have welcomed your open and honest approach. They are now more aware that processes in school need to be secure and effective in order to improve pupils’ outcomes in the future. Governors have welcomed the results of the independent reviews into safeguarding, the sixth form and the progress of disadvantaged pupils. This has given them new insight and has helped them to challenge school leaders on the progress of different groups of pupils, in different year groups. They also recognise that strong teaching staff are needed to ensure consistent outcomes. There is a strong Christian ethos that permeates the school. The school values and recognises each pupil as a unique, special individual who deserves the opportunity to learn and grow in a community where all are cared for. Respect, dignity and equality of opportunity are inherent in the day-to-day life of pupils at the school. These values underpin the inclusive culture across the school. The school is calm and well organised. Staff know their pupils well, and have high expectations of pupils’ conduct. Pupils are well behaved, respectful and friendly to one another. Behaviour continues to be typically superb. At the last inspection, inspectors identified the need to improve the consistency and quality of teaching by ensuring that teachers planned lessons to match the ability of their pupils, checked pupils’ progress using effective questioning and shared the good practice in marking and assessment of pupils’ work. In addition, inspectors asked leaders to focus on improving the sixth form, curriculum and quality of teaching so that more students completed their A-level courses and entered the next phase of their education, employment or training successfully. Leaders have taken, and continue to take, effective action to address these recommendations. Consequently, given the recent changes in staffing, there is a renewed focus on teaching and learning and continual professional training to ensure that teachers are reflective and develop their own best classroom practice. This helps them to identify the impact of strong planning on the progress of different groups of pupils. As a result, pupils understand and can explain what they are learning because their teachers share the key objectives and success criteria of the lesson, in line with school policy. Most teachers use the school policy on marking effectively so that pupils can see what they need to do to further improve. Pupils’ books are well looked after because they enjoy their learning. Consequently, teaching is improving but it is not consistent in all subjects. Leaders identified that the sixth-form curriculum was too narrow for some students. Changes now support different routes for students and they can now follow a vocational route as well as traditional A levels. You also identified the need to widen students’ research, analysis and communication skills. Recently, you added the extended project qualification to the Year 12 curriculum. Students told inspectors they are enjoying this new challenge. Leaders have invested in a team of staff including a dedicated sixth-form manager and head of sixth form to follow up on attendance, progress, work placements, use of study time and next step careers. This is helping some students attend more frequently and gain university places or jobs locally. Students’ outcomes at sixth form have improved, since the last inspection, but they are still not as strong as you would like them to be. Students studying vocational qualifications make stronger progress than those studying traditional A-level courses. You have identified that some pupils were still not attending as often as they should, while others had been accepted onto courses which were too challenging for them. Consequently, you have changed the school day, expecting all students to be on the school site all day. This is improving their attendance. You have also tightened the entry requirements so that students follow more appropriate courses. In 2016, the overall progress of pupils at the end of key stage 4, including that of disadvantaged pupils, was above national averages. Pupils, including disadvantaged pupils and those with low prior attainment, made strong progress in English and mathematics, achieving outcomes higher than others nationally with similar starting points. Some pupils studying humanities, technology and the creative arts made less progress in these subjects than other subjects. Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities have not made the same rapid rates of progress across a range of subjects. Provisional information on outcomes of pupils in 2017, at key stage 4, indicates that pupils’ attainment and progress in English remain a school strength. Improvements in literacy are enhancing the progress pupils make in their humanities subjects. However, there has been a decline in progress in some curriculum areas, including mathematics. While the most able pupils are now making accelerated progress in most curriculum areas, those with low prior attainment are making less progress than in previous years. In 2017, a group of pupils with very complex issues had a negative effect on school outcomes. Many of these pupils were disadvantaged and had special educational needs and/or disabilities. Some had refused to engage with education over a number of years. The actions taken to support a number of these vulnerable pupils did not help them to re-engage with their education. Since joining in January 2017, you have begun to tackle why some vulnerable pupils disengage from school life. You have changed the school day, enhancing the pastoral role of tutors so they focus on each pupil’s well-being as well as their academic success. You rightly see the importance of developing a positive attitude and a healthy mind as the key to increasing the progress of vulnerable pupils. Pastoral leaders have created a team of ‘peer supporters’ to befriend pupils who may feel isolated. Actions taken are improving the attendance of vulnerable young pupils and increasing numbers are engaging in their curriculum. Safeguarding is effective. The leadership team has ensured that all safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose and records are detailed and of high quality. Specifically trained safeguarding staff ensure that there is a strong culture of safeguarding across the school. Staff receive safeguarding training periodically throughout the year to keep up to date. Governors routinely check that all processes and policies meet requirements and that school records are thorough and complete.