The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. You are justifiably proud of the school’s exciting learning environment. The high-quality work on display reflects clearly the school’s aim to ensure that ‘achievement and enjoyment walk hand in hand’. Pupils report that they love coming to this school because there is ‘a perfect balance of work and fun’. The success of your inspiring approach to learning is shared among other local schools and provides them with the support they need to improve. You and your deputy headteacher share an uncompromising drive towards excellence and have successfully tackled the areas that needed further improvement. You are supported very well by your governing body, who provide rigorous challenge. The vast majority of parents expressed their satisfaction with the school. The views of parents can be summed up by one who explained that ‘pupils are learning at a good pace … lessons seem fun but not compromising the learning side of things ... the school is managed well by the headteacher and staff. They all have a great passion for the children which makes it a great school.’ At the time of the last inspection the school was asked to ensure that pupils were challenged more in their learning and given greater opportunities to think for themselves. You and your teachers have a bespoke approach to learning where pupils are given a wealth of opportunities to apply their knowledge and skills to solve problems. Pupils make good progress in all areas of the curriculum because they are required to think how they might resolve a question and establish the approach they will need to take to achieve an accurate answer. It was also noted at the time of the last inspection that the skills of the newly appointed middle leaders required development so that they could participate fully in school improvement. Their success in a range of training programmes has resulted in a strong tier of middle leaders who are actively involved in leading and evaluating initiatives in their own subject areas. They have a clear understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of their areas of responsibility. Their proactive role in meetings within the local cluster of schools enables them to share good practice with other colleagues and moderate pupils work together. Safeguarding is effective. Pupils report that they feel safe in school and are confident that if they have a problem or concern there is always an adult or a friend they can turn to for help. They understand about how to keep safe when walking or cycling and are very clear about the dangers of smoking. Pupils understand the potential dangers when using the internet and social media sites and know how to keep safe and secure when using information technology. The leadership team has ensured that all safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose and records are detailed and of high quality. Rigorous recruitment and vetting procedures, and detailed checks to any visitors to the school site, ensure that pupils are not put at risk. Your well-trained staff and governors are very alert to any vulnerable pupils and demonstrate a secure knowledge of the signs of abuse, radicalism, extremism and child sexual exploitation. The school’s purposeful working partnerships with specialist agencies and organisations ensure that wider family issues are supported through a strong team approach. The vast majority of parents who responded to Parent View, the online inspection questionnaire, agreed that their children feel safe in school and are well looked after. The views of most parents are summed up by one who explained that ‘my children feel safe and are happy’ at school. Inspection findings We agreed that during my visit I would explore the reasons for the disappointing outcomes in the 2016 national tests at the end of Year 2, the actions taken to accelerate this cohort’s progress in Year 3 and the attendance rates of a small minority of pupils. I also agreed that I would look at the school’s innovative approach to teaching key skills across the curriculum. You and your leaders took swift action following last year’s key stage 1 outcomes in reading and mathematics. You recognised that staffing changes slowed down the progress of pupils in this cohort. You and your leadership team also identified that, although pupils could work out unknown words, they did not always have the skills to understand exactly what they were reading.