The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. You have created a nurturing environment for pupils and, along with your staff, have high aspirations of what pupils can achieve. Staff morale is high and one member of staff commented, ‘I am proud to be part of such a hard-working and dedicated team.’ You and other leaders, including governors, use your wide range of skills and clear understanding of priorities to develop focused action plans to drive improvement. For example, you have recently taken steps to improve mathematics teaching so that pupils develop their reasoning and problem-solving skills. You agree that further developing governors’ skills in carrying out their monitoring role will help them to evaluate the quality of education at the school more effectively. You aspire to become an outstanding school and strongly believe that sharing good practice is the key to improvement. As a result, you have developed a mutually supportive federation with Hannah More Infant School. At the previous inspection, you were asked to improve teaching to increase the level of challenge for pupils and improve progress for lower-ability pupils in Year 3. These aspects have been successfully addressed. You make good use of meetings with teachers and other leaders to identify how well pupils are achieving. However, you are aware of the need to improve the accuracy of assessment so that teachers understand precisely what pupils know, understand and can do and can thus check on progress more effectively. Pupils enjoy school and work happily and enthusiastically to improve their learning. They are keen to challenge themselves. For example, one pupil commented, ‘I am doing the more difficult work because I want to show my teacher what I can do.’ The vast majority of parents are very supportive of the school. They comment on the wide range of opportunities the school provides and say that their children are very happy here. Many parents comment that you are well respected and valued as headteacher. You recognise that the unavoidable closure of the school’s breakfast club has understandably upset parents. As a result, you have taken immediate action to secure alternative provision. It is clear that you are dedicated to maintaining close communication with parents to secure their confidence and support. Safeguarding is effective. You have created a strong and caring safeguarding culture in the school and staff know pupils well. Staff and governors have received up-to-date safeguarding training and have a good understanding of their responsibilities for keeping pupils safe. You have developed close links with parents, which ensure that pupils, particularly those who are vulnerable, are well supported. As a result of wellplanned support, attendance for all groups of pupils is improving. Staff know how to recognise the signs that a child might be at risk and can explain what to do if they have a concern. All concerns are recorded in detail and robustly followed up. The school site is secure and you undertake routine health and safety checks to ensure that all aspects of safeguarding are maintained. Pupils are taught how to stay safe in different situations. For example, they can explain the possible dangers of using the internet. Pupils feel safe in school and know who to go to if they have any problems. They understand what constitutes bullying and know that it is not tolerated. They believe that bullying is rare but are confident that it would be swiftly dealt with if it occurred. Pupils who have medical needs are well supported by staff who are trained to administer medicines and first aid. Parents are very appreciative of this support. Inspection findings We agreed that my first line of enquiry was to determine how effectively the school is improving outcomes for pupils with low prior attainment, particularly in mathematics. This was an area identified for improvement in the last inspection and, in recent years, fewer low-ability pupils achieved expected standards compared to other groups. My second line of enquiry was to find out if teaching is helping disadvantaged pupils and pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities to catch up. This is because, over time, few disadvantaged pupils reached higher standards and few pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities met expected standards.