The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. You are a highly ambitious headteacher and are uncompromising in your desire for the school to continually improve. You inspire others and have engaged the whole-school community in Brandesburton Primary School’s journey of success in your time as headteacher. You have created a positive learning culture through your intent to share responsibilities, increase accountability and give staff ownership of systems and routines. As a result, staff morale is high and together you take collective responsibility for pupils’ outcomes. A key area for development identified at your previous inspection was to improve provision in the early years. The governors’ appointment of a very skilled and knowledgeable assistant headteacher has supported you well. She has transformed the quality of teaching, learning and assessment in the early years since the previous inspection, establishing a very positive learning environment where children flourish. The early years is now one of the school’s greatest strengths. Consequently, the proportion of children achieving a good level of development continues to increase and has been consistently above the national average over the last three years. You are now keenly focused on increasing the proportion of children who exceed the early learning goals by the time they leave Reception. By the end of key stages 1 and 2, the proportion of pupils achieving the expected standard has been in line with the national average over time in reading, writing and mathematics. In 2016, at key stages 1 and 2, attainment at the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics was above average. However, progress from key stage 1 to 2 was broadly average. You have rightly identified that a priority for leaders is to improve standards further so that a greater proportion are able to exceed the expectations and make even better progress. The strong leadership team you have built has the capacity to bring about these improvements at an accelerated pace. You have created a culture where pupils are at the heart of the school. Staff know every pupil as an individual and take a personalised approach to meet their differing needs. There is a strong sense of community and belonging which parents value highly. Pupils are incredibly proud of their school and enjoy contributing to the whole-school community. They take on boundless responsibilities, such as eco warriors, school councillors, road-safety officers, peace makers and play leaders. They do this with great confidence and enthusiasm and are developing as responsible citizens and confident learners as a result. Leaders have ensured that pupils have access to enriching learning experiences due to the vibrant and welldesigned curriculum. Effective links between subjects provide meaningful opportunities for pupils to use and apply the skills they have been taught in mathematics and English. Safeguarding is effective. There is a strong culture of keeping pupils safe. You have ensured that all safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose and records are detailed and of high quality. You work closely with other professionals and services to ensure that children and families receive timely and effective support. Robust systems are in place for the recruitment and induction of new staff. The training staff receive means they are effective in recognising and responding to signs of concern. Pupils say they feel safe and well looked after and parents agree. Pupils have complete faith that adults in the school will listen to them if they are worried at all. They do not feel that bullying is an issue. They are confident that staff deal with any rare issues of poor behaviour firmly and fairly. The curriculum provides countless opportunities to support children in being safe and, consequently, pupils talk confidently about how to stay safe, for example when they are online, crossing the road or riding a bicycle. Inspection findings You know your school incredibly well. You have ensured that every member of staff works together in an honest and open manner. This means that staff and governors are keen to learn from each other as relationships are built on trust. Governors use their skills to provide exceptional support and challenge for school leaders. Your accurate evaluation of the school’s work very precisely draws out the right priorities to move the school continually forward. By involving all staff, governors, pupils and parents in your evaluation of the school, you gain a useful insight from a wide range of stakeholders. This secures everyone’s commitment to working together to reach the same aims. The resulting school improvement 2 plan has clear targets and is underpinned by robust and rigorous monitoring systems. This helps leaders and governors check progress towards achieving the intended outcomes. I was keen to see how well teachers are challenging all pupils, and particularly the most able, to enable them to reach the higher standards at the end of each key stage. A greater proportion of pupils than average achieved higher standards in key stage 2 in 2016. However, at key stage 1, achievement at a greater depth was only in line with the national average for mathematics and writing, and just below average in reading. Pupils show great responsibility for their learning and confidently explain what they are learning, how they know they are making progress and how they intend to improve further. They particularly enjoy the challenge they receive in lessons and are pleased that teachers do not give them the correct answer if they are stuck but, instead, support them to reach the answer themselves. Achievement at the higher standards has been a focus of school improvement for leaders. It was evident in lessons, pupils’ books and from school assessment information that actions taken are resulting in an increasing proportion of pupils set to achieve the higher outcomes this year. You acknowledge that leaders need to sustain these improvements so that progress across key stage 2 improves further. I was interested to see how leaders’ actions are supporting pupils to meet the expected standard in the Year 1 phonics check. In previous years, although 100% of pupils have met the standard by the end of Year 2, by Year 1, the proportion of pupils meeting the standard has not always been in line with the national average. Leaders are very carefully tracking pupils’ progress in phonics and are providing small-group work for the minority of pupils who need to make accelerated progress to catch up with their peers. This, combined with working with parents and effective transition between Reception and Year 1, is resulting in a greater proportion of pupils being on track to meet the standard this year. My pre-inspection preparation identified that while there are only small numbers of disadvantaged pupils, they do not always make as much progress as their peers. This means that the difference between their attainment and that of other pupils nationally is not diminishing as rapidly as it could. However, leaders’ procedures for continually improving the impact of teaching, learning and assessment have been instrumental in improving the progress that current disadvantaged pupils are making. For example, an increasingly accurate assessment system successfully identifies pupils who are not making sufficient progress. Focused and personalised teaching is then put in place to address specific gaps in pupils’ learning. All of the improvements you are successfully securing are the result of the rigorous and robust monitoring procedures that leaders have established. Regular analysis of this information, in meetings between leaders and teachers, is creating a professional dialogue about the impact of teaching on pupils’ learning. This is supporting teachers in continually reflecting on their practice and making sure that learning tasks are more precisely matched to pupils’ learning needs, paying particular attention to disadvantaged pupils and pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. Subject leaders also provide subject-specific support to aid this process. By linking performance management targets to 3 school improvement priorities and leaders’ knowledge of teachers’ areas for development, you are very effective in continuing to secure school improvement. Next steps for the school Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that: leaders’ actions continue to increase the proportion of pupils who exceed the expectations at the end of each key stage in reading, writing and mathematics. I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for the East Riding of Yorkshire. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website. Yours sincerely Kirsty Godfrey Her Majesty’s Inspector Information about the inspection During the inspection, I held meetings with you, the assistant headteacher, subject leaders and members of the governing body. I also discussed the school’s work with a representative from the local authority. I evaluated documentation, including: the school improvement plan; information about pupils’ progress; governing body minutes; attendance and behaviour records; and information about safeguarding. I spoke with a range of parents and carers and considered responses from Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View. We visited classrooms together to observe teaching and learning and we spoke to pupils and scrutinised their work.