The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. You and your staff provide a very positive ethos across the school that nurtures pupils’ academic and personal development and enables them to thrive as learners. As we visited lessons together, you demonstrated an in-depth knowledge of your staff and pupils and showed an astute analysis of the effect of teaching on pupils’ learning. You have managed recent changes to the senior leadership team exceptionally well. As a result, you have created an effective team of leaders that gives you strong support. Members of the team assist you in leading the school with energy, drive and a clear focus on what will make the most difference to pupils’ learning and personal development. The leadership team has a good understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the school and acts swiftly to address any issues of underperformance. Consequently, most pupils achieve well. Overall, results at GCSE are above average and reflect an improving trend. You and your leadership team are continuing to improve the quality of teaching, particularly questioning, and ensuring that work is sufficiently demanding, both of which were areas for improvement from the school’s previous inspection. We saw many examples of good questioning by teachers that helped to deepen pupils’ understanding of their work. We also saw some examples of less effective questioning, including in the sixth form, which did not extend learning enough. You are working to improve this and it was clear where these efforts to continue to improve teaching have yielded success. In most cases, the work pupils are given provides them with an appropriate level of challenge. You are also ensuring that pupils get enough done and do not work too slowly in lessons. We agreed, however, that there is still work to do to ensure that teachers consistently set work at an appropriate level for different ability groups, especially the most able, including the most able disadvantaged pupils. Overall, the school provides a productive and purposeful learning environment, and pupils concentrate well on their work in lessons. They are very good at working with one another to discuss their ideas and deepen their thinking. Consequently, pupils are able to explain their work and show effective understanding of what they are expected to learn. Around the school, pupils are polite and courteous. They are considerate of others, and treat one another and adults with respect. Pupils have positive attitudes to school and want to do well. They participate well in the wide range of enrichment and extra-curricular activities offered by staff. Pupils feel safe, well looked after and supported in school. Most parents are very positive about the school and the education it provides for their children. The vast majority of those who provided written comments were fulsome in their praise, making points such as ‘Teachers go the extra mile in ensuring that classes are engaging and encouraging, as well as educational.’ Parents of Year 7 pupils who responded were particularly pleased about the successful start their children have made to their secondary education. Pupils attend regularly and the school has put in place effective systems to address past issues of lower attendance for disadvantaged pupils and those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. Hence, attendance rates for these groups are now rising rapidly. Governors provide good support to the school and question and challenge leaders effectively about its performance. They think strategically about the school’s future and its place within the local community. Safeguarding is effective. The school has systems in place to safeguard its pupils. All adults who work in or visit the school are carefully checked and vetted to ensure that they are suitable to work with children. Staff are well trained so that they know how to identify and deal with any safeguarding or child protection concerns. Safeguarding records are of high quality and well maintained. Staff with responsibility for safeguarding are able to track progress in dealing with safeguarding issues that have been identified. The school works effectively with other external agencies and professionals to safeguard its pupils.