The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. The school converted to academy status in 2014, becoming part of the Transform Trust. Since your appointment as headteacher in September 2015, you have taken decisive action to eradicate previous weaknesses and address the decline in standards which had taken place from 2013 to 2015, with particular regard to pupils’ progress in English and mathematics in key stage 2. As a result of your actions, standards improved significantly in 2016 and achievement in all subjects was in line with national figures. Evidence from a wide range of inspection activities confirms that the improvements have been sustained for a further year. The school’s latest assessment figures show that current pupils remain on track to make good progress by the end of the year. Pupils in the current Year 6 class are making particularly good progress in all subjects. As an experienced and effective headteacher, you have accurately identified the school’s key strengths and areas for improvement. You have produced clear action plans which reflect your ambitious vision for the school. Under your determined leadership, others now share a decisive grasp of the school’s current strengths and weaknesses and there is a good capacity to drive improvement. You have rightly decided to focus on pupils’ writing as an area for improvement, with particular emphasis on the progress of the most able pupils, so that more will go on to achieve at greater depth by the end of the year. The positive impact of this work is already clear to see in pupils’ books and in their attitudes to learning. Following a period of staff turnover, a settled team is now in place. This includes the appointment of a new deputy headteacher who is due to take up his post in April 2017. The multi-academy trust has supported the school effectively by providing a part-time interim deputy headteacher for the spring term. This additional support has ensured that planned actions have gone ahead uninterrupted and school improvement has continued at a good pace. You have created a vibrant and happy school which is praised by pupils, parents and staff. Pupils say, ‘It’s a great, friendly school’, and all of the parents with whom I spoke were warm in their appreciation of the care and support their children receive. In particular, a number of parents expressed heartfelt thanks for the speed with which their children were supported to learn English. Newly arrived pupils speak exuberantly about the support they receive to learn English and many good examples of such support were observed throughout the day. The school’s exemplary work in this regard is a strong feature of its provision. You are justifiably proud of the work you do to integrate pupils quickly and effectively into the school. This view is shared by parents, governors and trust members. Together, you are keen to extend this work further; for example, you are currently exploring ways to translate key documents on the school’s website, in order to improve accessibility for parents. You and your staff have made sure that classrooms are attractive, creative and inviting spaces; the outside areas are safe and well resourced, giving plenty of opportunities for physical exercise and healthy social development. The full impact of your current improvement work is yet to be measured through the end-of-year outcomes. Your whole-school focus on the progress of the most able pupils must continue. There is more work to be done in strengthening the staff team. In particular, the newly appointed deputy headteacher must be inducted into his role quickly and smoothly so that he becomes a key factor in driving school improvement. Expertise needs to be shared among the wider staff team so that they will become ready to take on future leadership roles within the school. Safeguarding is effective. All policies and procedures are fully compliant with regulations. All checks are scrupulous and training for staff and governors is up to date and carefully documented. A culture of safety and care runs through all of the school’s work; all lessons and activities observed were orderly and calm and pupils move around the school in a well-controlled manner. Pupils say that they feel safe from harm, describing the school as ‘nice and fun’, and they appreciate the ‘lovely children, supportive teachers and lots of fun activities’. They also say, emphatically, that there is no bullying in the school. Pupils have confidence in the staff to ‘stop it quickly’ when disagreements or misbehaviour occur. Inspection findings Following your careful analysis of pupil outcomes, you have rightly identified a focus on writing as an area for improvement, with particular regard to the most able pupils, including those who are disadvantaged. Evidence of the positive impact of this work is seen in pupils’ books, through the high standards they are currently achieving and the obvious pride they take in their work. Samples of books from the most able writers showed an impressive use of ambitious vocabulary such as ‘her voice reverberated’, ‘a collective gasp resounded across the area’ and ‘he was eccentrically dressed’. Pupils in key stage 2 were observed to use devices such as rhetorical questions and complex sentences in their writing, inspired by their topic work on Vikings or by a literature theme. You and your staff have worked hard to teach pupils how to edit and improve their work and they now have a clear understanding of the skills involved. They readily and confidently explained to me how they use their ‘green time’ for correcting their work and also about the ‘bubble and block’ editing system. Pupils say that they like work that makes them think and if they finish something quickly they can follow on with a ‘challenge activity’. Your work to support the particularly large proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is varied and effective. For example, in the early years there is a regular feature called ‘language of the month’ which celebrates individual children’s heritage and encourages respect and tolerance on the part of others. The use of visual learning resources is embedded across the school as part of the regular teaching. In advance of lessons, teaching assistants will often draw pupils aside to ‘pre-teach’ key aspects of the curriculum to be encountered later in the day. Within lessons, staff were observed supporting pupils unobtrusively with their language needs. Some of these staff can also speak a range of languages. You have employed an additional teacher who works regularly with those pupils who are completely new to English. She is experienced in this field and works intensively with pupils to ensure a swift re-integration into mainstream classes. As a result of these coordinated efforts, pupils across the school are making good progress in their language development and in their general learning. You are aware that the school’s absence and persistent absence figures were above national figures in 2016. Encouragingly, the current 2016/17 figures to date point to an improving picture. You have very robust systems in place to record and track absences and also to establish the whereabouts of any pupils taken off roll. Attendance figures are closely and regularly analysed and patterns of concern are quickly identified. You make sure that the school works directly with families to support good attendance, for example through the wise deployment of the experienced and knowledgeable attendance officer. In addition, good attendance is celebrated with pupils; governors offer prizes and incentives as motivation for pupils to avoid absences. There is a thorough attendance policy on the school’s website. You intend to revise and simplify this policy to make it more accessible to parents; this is part of a wider scheme to simplify documents and offer translated versions to parents. Governors have a sound overview of the work of the school and they are especially mindful of the needs of the local community. They are rightly focused on pupils’ well-being and progress and are ambitious for the school. Governors fulfil their statutory responsibilities effectively and have undergone all of the appropriate checks and training. The new chair of governors works closely with senior leaders to monitor standards and oversee statutory duties, striking an appropriate balance of support and challenge. As a result of these concerted efforts, the school has reversed the period of decline which occurred during 2013 to 2015. It is once again a good school, with a strong capacity to sustain the current high standards. Next steps for the school Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that: the most able pupils continue to be challenged to improve their skills so that a larger proportion go on to achieve at greater depth, especially in writing the new deputy headteacher is inducted into his role quickly and smoothly so that he becomes a key factor in driving school improvement and the current degree of support from the multi-academy trust can be reduced expertise is shared among the wider staff team so that they become ready to take on future leadership roles within the school. I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the chief executive officer of the multi-academy trust, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Nottingham. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website. Yours sincerely Christine Watkins Ofsted Inspector Information about the inspection I met with you and the senior leadership team. I met with groups of pupils, the chair of governors, a parent governor and a trust governor. I also met with the chief executive officer of the Transform Trust. I listened to pupils read and looked at samples of pupils’ written work. We conducted a tour of the school together and visited many lessons and activities. I observed pupils’ behaviour in lessons and around school. I met a number of parents informally at the beginning of the school day and during a phonics workshop for parents. I considered the views of parents expressed in four responses posted on Ofsted’s online survey, Parent View. I evaluated a wide range of documents, including minutes of governors’ meetings, monitoring reports and safeguarding documentation.