You and your leadership team have maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. You have shown an unwavering commitment and determination for your pupils to ‘be the best they can be’. You have created a culture in which pupils can thrive, teachers know they are well supported, and leaders are able to drive further improvements. You have ensured that the school’s collective, ambitious vision is shared by all. You know what will make your school even better and all leaders, including governors, are focused on making the necessary improvements. Leaders use effective systems to support and improve areas of the school where pupils are performing less well. You and your senior leadership team check increasingly carefully to make sure systems have the impact on pupils’ progress that you expect. Governors know the school’s strengths and weaknesses well. They challenge all leaders on what is working well and what still needs to improve. Staff appreciate the training they receive to improve their classroom practice. One teacher reported that her skills and knowledge have been ‘furthered and encouraged by the culture of staff learning’. Relationships between staff and pupils are excellent and staff are committed to driving further improvement for their pupils. Pupils appreciate the strong sense of community in your school. Staff know the pupils well as individuals and talk passionately about how they enjoy teaching them. The positive atmosphere in lessons shows how closely teachers and pupils work together. Pupils report that behaviour is good and never disrupts their learning. Outside of classrooms, pupils are courteous and unfailingly polite. The school’s culture enables them to grow as confident, eloquent and articulate young people, well supported by the staff, who provide extensive enrichment beyond formal lessons. The school’s commitment to working as closely as possible with parents helps to create the ethos of care and support for all. Exchanges between staff and pupils throughout the day are a real hallmark, and illustrate the strength of relationships on which the school is built. Pupils speak highly of these excellent relationships, describing them as a key strength which contributes to their enjoyment of school. Pupils know that the staff strive continuously to improve learning. As a consequence, they respond well to the initiatives you have put in place to help them. For example, the clear expectation that pupils will review and improve their work, the careful monitoring of their use of mobile phones and the well-regarded mentor system. Pupils are rightly proud of their school. You have responded well to the areas for improvement identified in the last inspection report. Notably, the system whereby pupils review their own work. This is integrated well into lessons. It is having a positive impact on pupils’ progress, especially where it complements teachers’ guidance to pupils on how to make their work better. For example, in a Year 11 geography lesson the quality of feedback to pupils was personalised exceptionally well and pupils with specific learning needs made particularly good progress. You have adapted the curriculum and styles of learning, particularly in the sixth form, to help pupils and students develop their reading, writing and communication skills and consequently make more rapid progress. There is a strong emphasis on teaching and learning, with a positive approach to staff training and support which are now focused on what is most needed to improve pupils’ outcomes further. You are rightly focused on improving outcomes for the most able, for the disadvantaged and for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. You understand that more consistent analysis of the impact of existing strategies is needed to support rapid improvement to such pupils’ rates of progress and have established clear monitoring systems to do this. You have also introduced reliable systems that enable leaders to share and implement effective practices more widely across all departments. The autonomy you have given to the extended leadership team to do this is widening the range of interventions. You understand that closer analysis of the impact of these actions across all subjects of the curriculum is necessary. You recognise that improving pupils’ attendance must continue to be a focus for school leaders. Your team’s relentless work has already led to some success, particularly for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. You and your leadership team also know that there is still further work to be done. Governors are keen to take a strategic approach to the challenge of raising levels of attendance, and, with you, they have rightly identified that further work with families and the community is needed to improve vulnerable pupils’ attendance further.