The leadership team has maintained and built on the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. As soon as you enter the school, the sense of high expectations and ambition for all pupils is apparent. Since your appointment in September 2016, you have brought a crystal-clear vision for every child to excel, which you articulate confidently to the staff team and the school community. You, along with other school leaders and governors, have an accurate and honest view of the school’s strengths and the areas that it most needs to develop. Pupils show excellent attitudes to learning in class; they are motivated and work hard, responding positively to adults and their peers. Parents and carers are very supportive of the school. There is a sense of everyone being on this very purposeful journey together. The deputy headteacher and middle leaders understand their roles in school improvement and direct the areas they have responsibility for well, setting high standards and leading by example in their classrooms. Senior leaders have built a culture of trust and support, and give precise direction to staff. Combined, these impact strongly on the improving outcomes, such as those seen at the end of key stage 2 in 2017. While outcomes in writing and mathematics are strong overall by the time pupils leave key stage 1, leaders have accurately identified that there is still more work to be done in improving outcomes in phonics through key stage 1 and into key stage 2. The governing body is focused, astute and ambitious for the school. It is determined to fully support school leaders in the recently accelerated journey to outstanding. Governors are confident that school leaders are taking appropriate actions and developing the positive culture that will make this happen. They use a wide variety of information from senior leaders, middle leaders, the local authority and peer reviews to inform and support their work. The school has a good partnership with the local authority through the focused work with the school improvement partner and the training provided for staff and governors. Staff and governors value their work with other schools in the Barton Local Collaborative Trust, which gives opportunities to share strong practice and moderate the school’s work and judgements. Writing was identified at the last inspection as an area to improve. Recent standards in writing and pupils’ work confirm that considerable work has taken place to support pupils in developing their skills in writing. Teachers use engaging and creative tasks across the curriculum to promote positive writing activities and experiences. Pupils speak confidently about how they enjoy the exciting tasks that link to their topic. They explain how they are supported to improve their work and about the awards they are motivated to achieve, such as gaining a spot on the ‘remarkable writers’ board. Leaders’ and teachers’ focus on making topics, reading materials and writing activities purposeful, accessible and inspiring for both boys and girls is paying off. Leaders’ understanding that vulnerable groups contain a high proportion of boys is helping them to address any potential barriers to pupils’ learning and direct support appropriately. During the inspection, boys and girls showed similarly positive attitudes to learning, and success in their activities, across year groups. The last inspection also highlighted that the quality of provision in the early years needed to improve. Particular direction was given to ensuring that the outdoor area promotes good progress in all areas of learning, and that well-structured tasks encourage pupils to become independent learners. Expectations in the early years have been raised since the last inspection. A strong team of practitioners has introduced ways to ensure that areas of the outdoor and indoor environment give opportunities for pupils of all abilities to move forward in their learning, such as through the ‘rainbow challenges’. All adults demonstrate skills in the way they model activities, and question, support and enthuse the children in their care. Tasks are demonstrated well by adults, so that children know how to be successful when they are working independently or alongside their peers. For example, during my visit, children were eager to join in with a tin-can alley activity outside. Supported well by an adult, children proceeded down the run up, counting the steps to 20 as they went. When they knocked over the tins with the ball at the end, they counted their score. The adult’s support and direction was appropriate to each child’s needs and moved them on in their learning. Children showed delight in the adult’s praise, the score they achieved and the physical and mathematical challenge of the activity.