The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. The school is increasingly popular, and you and your leadership team have the overwhelming support of parents, who value the opportunities for pupils to study a broad curriculum including land-based courses. Parents speak positively about the support and guidance that their children receive. A typical comment from a parent responding to Ofsted’s online questionnaire was, ‘I find the school supportive, caring and nurturing, whilst giving my daughter a great education and opportunities.’ You and your leadership team have been effective in improving the school further since the last inspection. For example, the quality of teaching and learning in mathematics has improved. Learning is planned well to ensure that all pupils are able to become more secure in their mathematical skills and the most able are stretched through morechallenging work. Teaching in English and science is equally strong. Teachers’ insightful and targeted questioning of pupils helps to strengthen and deepen pupils’ knowledge and understanding. In subjects where pupils make stronger progress, tasks and activities are well matched to the pupils’ starting points. In addition, pupils are encouraged to take responsibility for their learning. They rise to the challenge and enjoy doing more-difficult work. Invariably, pupils are engaged and working with enthusiasm due to well-structured and carefully planned learning. Leaders recognise that in a minority of subjects there are variations in the quality of teaching, particularly in humanities and languages, but leaders’ actions are leading to improvements. However, teachers’ expectations of what pupils can achieve in humanities and languages are not as high as in English, mathematics and science. A unique feature of the school is the opportunity for pupils to study land-based courses, for example agriculture, equine studies, horticulture and fisheries. The qualifications gained by Year 11 in land-based subjects do not count currently in the performance tables. However, pupils with these qualifications are able to progress to higher qualifications at further education colleges. Governors are committed to ensuring that the school provides land-based courses to meet the needs of the local rural economy. The courses are highly valued by parents. One parent commented, ‘The land-based curriculum has been an essential element to increasing our children’s much wider outlook on life.’ A further action point from the previous inspection was to improve attendance. You and your team have been very effective in improving attendance overall and for those pupils who are persistently absent. Recent attendance is broadly in line with the national average for similar schools. Pupils are very enthusiastic about their school. Typically, they behave well both in lessons and around the school. The personal, social and health education curriculum prepares pupils well for life in modern Britain and they understand fundamental British values. Pupils state that the school encourages them to respect others. Inspectors found that pupils were polite and courteous and very willing to discuss their work. Pupils wear their uniform well and take pride in their work. The pupils commented that the school is a close community and one pupil said, ‘This school is great.’ Safeguarding is effective. All safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose. Leaders ensure that all staff and governors are suitably trained and aware of their responsibilities. Parents are highly positive about the school, as an overwhelming majority state that their children are happy, safe and very well supported. A substantial majority of pupils who responded to Ofsted’s online survey said that they feel safe in school. This was confirmed through pupils’ interviews, and discussions with pupils in lessons. Pupils are educated well to ensure that they are safe in their community, understanding the risks from gang culture, knife crime and drugs. They know how to keep themselves safe online and are aware of the risks of cyber bullying and radicalisation. Pupils reported that bullying is very infrequent, including homophobic and racist bullying, and that staff deal with it carefully when it occurs. Inspection findings During this inspection, the inspection team looked closely at specific aspects of the school’s provision, including: the effectiveness of safeguarding arrangements; how well the curriculum meets the needs of all learners; how well leaders ensure that the quality of teaching is of a consistently high standard, and the challenge that governors and leaders provide to the school.