The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. Leaders, including governors, are providing stability and ensuring ongoing improvement through the changes in school leadership. You have been the full-time acting principal since September 2017 and know the school well through your substantive post as vice-principal. You and a strong team of senior and middle leaders are further improving outcomes for pupils. Accurate school self-evaluation has ensured that leaders are working on the right priorities. You and your team offer different areas of expertise, providing strong direction to staff. This has resulted in improvement in the quality of teaching and learning since the last inspection, for example in mathematics. Leaders’ commitment to providing high-quality training across teams has resulted in consistency in the teachers’ use of strategies and in the high expectations of pupils. The increased skills and confidence of key stage 1 pupils in using phonics to aid their reading and writing are a good example of this improvement. Provisional results for 2017 show that the proportion of Year 1 pupils meeting the phonics standard is better than that of pupils nationally. Where any aspects of teaching and learning are less than good, leaders respond with support and clear direction. As a result, the vast majority of teaching and learning is good or better. Leaders have identified that there is still more work to be done to ensure that more pupils reach at least the expected national standard in reading. Improved skills in phonics are having a positive influence in helping pupils to read with more fluency. However, leaders agree that pupils need to have more opportunities to read aloud throughout school. Teachers carefully balance strategies for pupils to gain a greater understanding of the text with activities that will inspire a lifelong love of reading. Teachers guide pupils in their reading choices with high-quality book recommendations provided by the trust and school leaders. Older pupils’ work shows the strong progress they are making in understanding different texts. Productivity is high and learning covers a wide range of skills and different text types. Last year, you held workshops for the parents and carers of pupils in Year 2, to raise awareness of the national expectations and discuss the strategies you use in school. This had been successful in supporting parents in how to help their children at home. Consequently, you have planned similar workshops for parents across school this term. You are keen to develop different ways to involve and inform parents, particularly as some parents say that communication could be improved. Most children start school with skills that are typical for their age in many areas. A few children have early literacy skills that are much lower. It is generally these pupils that make slower progress in reading throughout school. Leaders agree that these pupils need more precise support and direction to improve, as well as plentiful opportunities to read aloud throughout their time in school. In key stage 1, leaders have already put in place some activities to inspire pupils to read aloud. Pupils are eager to discuss their visits from Benji the dog. They explain how he comes into school and listens to pupils read. They say that they must try to read to him ‘calmly and with expression’. Parents have told you how these pupils are eager to read to their own pets at home. Governors have a very good understanding of their role. They know the school well. They value the governors’ training provided by the trust. They say that this has helped them to focus their support and challenge to school leaders. Governors are confident in the good job school leaders do in bringing about improvement. In turn, they are committed to making sure that they carry out their duties efficiently and effectively. They ask questions about the detailed information they receive from leaders. They regularly check the success of leaders’ work through school assessment information, visits to school and discussions with leaders, staff and pupils. Leaders gave a great deal of consideration to joining a trust and, indeed, to which was the right trust for the pupils at Fairfield. Leaders say the trust’s commitment to providing a wealth of enrichment opportunities has been one of the most positive aspects of the partnership for the pupils. Activities and events in sports and the arts are particularly high profile. For example, many pupils regularly take part in interschool sports events and drama opportunities, such as the Year 4 performance of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ at a Lincoln theatre last year. Pupils’ understanding across some aspects of the curriculum is not as strong. For example, they do not demonstrate a strong knowledge and understanding of different beliefs, faiths and cultures in society.