The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. You and other leaders have continued to focus strongly on ensuring that pupils receive the support that they need. This means that pupils make at least the progress that they should, both academically and in their personal development. You regularly check the quality of teaching and pupils’ achievement. In so doing, you are quick to identify where pupils are not making fast enough progress. The strategies you then use ensure that teachers plan effectively for pupils’ learning, and that pupils achieve well. As a result, above-average proportions of pupils in Years 2 and 6 reached at least the nationally expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics in 2017. You recognise the need to ensure that current pupils continue to achieve as highly, particularly in key stage 1. To this end, you have carefully reviewed how your teachers teach reading and mathematics to raise the proportions of current pupils who reach at least the expected standard and the higher standard. You are particularly determined that pupils’ achievement in reading matches their very high levels of achievement in mathematics. To improve the quality of teaching further, you have provided staff with regular opportunities to learn from each other’s practice. Teachers observe each other teaching. Teachers also regularly plan lessons together. You have provided these opportunities in response to the areas for improvement from the last inspection. You have also done so because you rightly recognise that these opportunities ensure that all of your teachers are effective classroom practitioners. Teachers carefully plan learning that meets pupils’ needs. They offer the right levels of support and challenge. In those lessons that I visited, pupils completed challenging work that secured their learning. Adults worked well with all pupils to check their understanding and resolve any misconceptions. Pupils engaged well with their learning because the work that they were completing was at the right level. You have ensured that pupils know to treat each other with kindness. Pupils understand the need to respect all people and to support their peers. For example, I observed older pupils who, as ‘reading champions’, worked well with younger pupils to help them with their reading. I met several ‘playground buddies’, whose responsibility at breaktime is to support other pupils who may be unhappy or who may have fallen out with their friends. These buddies spoke with pride about the importance of their role in helping other pupils. Attendance is improving. You encourage pupils to attend school regularly and behave well by celebrating good attendance and behaviour. You help pupils to develop into confident young people, who clearly enjoy learning. You rightly recognise, however, that the attendance of disadvantaged pupils is not yet high enough. Governors are as ambitious for the pupils and the staff as you are. They are fully aware of the school’s strengths and the areas in which it must improve further. The governing body provides you and other senior leaders with the right levels of challenge and support. This process ensures that pupils achieve well and make good progress in their personal development. Safeguarding is effective. You and other senior leaders closely check pupils’ welfare. You take timely and effective action when there is a safeguarding concern. Safeguarding leaders work closely with parents and carers and external agencies to ensure that pupils receive the support that they need. Leaders are also sensitive to safeguarding issues in the local area, and provide relevant support when these issues affect the pupils. You and other senior leaders have ensured that all safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose. Records are detailed and of high quality. All staff understand their responsibilities for keeping pupils safe. They receive regular training on safeguarding, as well as timely updates on any concerns that leaders may have about pupils’ welfare. Staff are aware of the different types of abuse and of the signs to look for. They know what action that they must take when they have a safeguarding concern about a pupil. The pupils I met said that they could speak to members of staff if they had a concern. They were confident that the staff would help them to resolve it. Pupils receive wide-ranging opportunities to learn how to be safe, through their lessons, assemblies, visits from speakers who work for other agencies, and the annual ‘happy and safe’ week. Pupils learn how to be safe online, when out in the community, when crossing the road and when on their bikes. Pupils know the different types of bullying, and say that bullying is very rare at the school. Pupils say that teachers deal with bullying effectively when it does occur. All of the parents who expressed an opinion on bullying in the online survey, Parent View, said that the staff deal with any such incidents effectively. Inspection findings In 2017, the proportion of pupils who attained the expected standard in all three of reading, writing and mathematics at the end of key stage 2 was well above the national level. This marked a significant improvement in attainment when compared with 2016. The rise was due to a large increase in the proportion of pupils who attained the expected standard in reading. This increase was because of the greater focus that teachers have placed on ensuring that pupils were secure in their reading skills, including in their comprehension skills. The school’s own performance information indicates that the majority of pupils in the current Year 6 are on track to reach the expected standard at the end of the year. They are making at least the progress they should. The pupils’ work that I looked at and the lessons that I observed confirmed this to be the case. Better teaching of reading skills has also led to an increase in the proportion of those on track to reach the higher standard. Leaders use pupil premium funding effectively to support pupils’ achievement. The difference in achievement between disadvantaged pupils at the school and other pupils nationally continues to diminish in all subjects in key stages 1 and 2. The proportion of pupils who attained the expected level in phonics at the end of Year 1 was at least in line with the national level in 2015 and 2016. This was due to the effective action that leaders took in responding to a recommendation at the last inspection to improve the teaching of phonics. The proportion of Year 1 pupils attaining the expected standard in phonics in 2017 was below the national average. You quickly took action to develop the way teachers and other adults support pupils to develop their phonic skills. This has led to an increase in the proportion of pupils in the current Year 1 who are on track to attain the expected standard in phonics. In 2017, the proportion of pupils who attained the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics at the end of key stage 1 was above the national average. This was due to teachers’ effective use of assessment information to set pupils work at the right level. Currently, the attainment of pupils in Year 1 is similarly high. Pupils in Year 2, however, are achieving lower standards in writing and mathematics than they should. Leaders have provided well-targeted support to improve pupils’ attendance. As a result, overall attendance is now closer to the national average. This includes for girls, whose attendance previously was too low and declining. While it is improving, the attendance of disadvantaged pupils remains below the national average for all pupils.