The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. When you became headteacher in September 2016 you quickly made very important strategic and structural changes which have resulted in substantial improvement. Pupils, staff, parents and governors speak very highly of the impact you have had on the school in such a short time. One comment from a pupil typifies views: ‘The headteacher already knows the school really well and has taken us out of our comfort zone.’ You have sought a wide range of external expertise to enable your leadership team and staff to come quickly to an accurate evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of your school. This external support has not created a culture of dependence but has strengthened the capacity of leaders. It has given your middle and senior leaders confidence in their own judgement. You have valued the knowledge and skills of long-standing teachers and leaders while ensuring that your school benefits from the appointment of new teachers and leaders recruited from outstanding and good schools. You immediately recognised that the curriculum provided did not give pupils the opportunity to make the progress of which they are capable. Too many pupils studied only one science and too many took low-level qualifications which are no longer eligible towards overall progress scores. You immediately put in place a curriculum which offers more challenge and opportunity. While it was not possible for leaders to change subject options completely for the current Year 11, they have done all that is possible to offer these pupils better opportunities to achieve well overall. You have planned further improvements to the curriculum from next academic year, including ensuring that all pupils receive their entitlement to study design and technology. Previously, there was too much unstructured time during the school day and too little time dedicated to lessons. As a result, in some subjects, particularly the humanities, teachers had too little time to cover the requirements of GCSE examinations. You quickly put in place interim arrangements to maximise the time available for lessons. This year no subjects lack adequate time allocation. An area for improvement in the school’s last inspection report was related to pupils not having opportunities to find things out for themselves. The allocation of more lesson time per week has enabled teachers to provide pupils with these opportunities. For next academic year you and your leadership team have devised a radical restructuring of the school day which better suits current curriculum requirements. Previously the school’s predictions of examination performance did not match actual results. Since your arrival you have acted to ensure that the assessment of pupils’ progress and attainment is now moderated with external support and is accurate. At the last inspection, an area for improvement was to ensure that activities matched the needs of all pupils. Good-quality tracking systems enable subject and progress leaders to gather a wealth of information on pupils’ performance with confidence. They use this information to support the planning of teaching and to arrange effective intervention for those who are falling behind. However, some teaching still does not provide enough challenge for pupils of middle and higher ability. You and your staff have appropriately prioritised improving pupils’ literacy. The way staff have used a structured reading scheme has been very effective. The improvement in reading scores of pupils in Years 7 and 8 has been dramatic and those who needed to catch up with their peers have done so very quickly. Pupils of all abilities clearly enjoy reading and read with confidence. This year leaders and teachers have been much more tenacious in following up lateness to school and lessons. Consequently, there has been a dramatic improvement in punctuality so that pupils no longer miss valuable learning time. Expectations of behaviour continue to be high. Your staff generate very positive relationships with pupils and as a result pupils are well behaved in lessons and around the school. The school is a very orderly and pleasant learning environment. Governors bring a wide range of academic, educational and financial expertise. They realise that in the past they were too ready to accept information provided by school leaders without question. They have now undertaken training from the local authority and receive much more detailed information about all aspects of the school. Minutes of meetings show that they now require clear explanations and swift action. Safeguarding is effective.