The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. Ely St John’s Community Primary School is a calm, caring and creative environment in which positive relationships promote pupils’ progress well. Classrooms are attractive places in which to learn, and pupils often point proudly to their work that is on display. Staff plan engaging activities and have high expectations for pupils’ success in them and, as a result, pupils get down to work quickly and with enthusiasm. Pupils know what it is that they need to do because teachers make their ‘non-negotiables’ – the criteria for success in each task – very clear at the outset. Teachers help pupils to understand how to improve their work and give them the chance to make the necessary corrections or changes. This helps to develop pupils’ resilience and their ability to learn from mistakes rather than be discouraged by them. Outside of the classroom, pupils participate in the exceptionally rich range of musical, sporting and cultural activities that are open to them. Very many pupils play a musical instrument, including within the school’s 38-piece orchestra and the brass ensemble, which recently performed to an audience during a visit by Prince Charles to Ely. Others take part in dramatic productions, inter-school sporting competitions or they help to grow vegetables on the allotment. Pupils are encouraged to take risks under adult supervision, such as when gardening, making a den in the spinney, or lighting a bonfire and putting it out again. This helps them to develop the ability to keep themselves safe both at, and outside of, school. Many pupils also take on positions of responsibility, such as those who serve as playground activity leaders (PALs). These roles promote pupils’ personal development and the cohesiveness of the school community. Staff ensure that pupils behave very well both in the classroom and around the school’s large and attractive site. A very high proportion of parents who responded to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, agree that the school ensures that pupils are well behaved. In 2016–17, the proportion of pupils who were temporarily excluded from school was above the national average. Leaders have made changes to the school’s behaviour policy. These focus on encouraging positive conduct and are ensuring that those who have difficulty in managing their behaviour are supported to improve it. Leaders have created areas within school, such as the sensory room, that are welcoming and therapeutic spaces for such pupils. As a result, there are few serious incidents of misbehaviour, and the school has had little need to use the sanction of exclusion. Attendance is high and very few pupils are persistently absent from school. Many parents commented positively about the support that staff provide, including for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). As one parent put it, ‘The school is warm, friendly and inclusive, and this is bringing out the best in my children.’ Pupils who spoke with us made it clear that teachers help them to learn new things, and to broaden and deepen their understanding. As one pupil put it, ‘The best thing about this school is the teachers, and the learning.’ As a result, most pupils make good progress and achieve well at the end of Reception and key stage 1, in the phonics screening check and in the national tests at the end of Year 6. Together with other leaders, including governors, you are rigorous in checking the quality of the school’s work and relentless in pursuit of improvement. Pupils’ learning in science, for example, is preparing them well for the next stage in their education because of the recent changes that leaders have made. These are ensuring that pupils are developing the ability to make a hypothesis, test it, and draw appropriate conclusions from the results of an experiment. In mathematics, teachers have ensured that pupils in both key stage 1 and key stage 2 develop their reasoning skills and regularly apply their knowledge to real-world problems. Governors share your commitment to provide the best education and the fullest possible range of opportunities for pupils. They provide you with support and ask searching questions. Governors also develop their own ways to gain information about standards in aspects of the school’s work. These included the detailed annual safeguarding audit and the survey of health and behaviour that pupils complete. These, together with regular visits, develop governors’ understanding of the quality of provision at the school and hold leaders to account well. This work helps to promote improvement.