The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. Senior leaders and governors have responded resolutely to a period of staffing instability and weaker academic performance. The acting headteacher provided clear and purposeful leadership in the absence of the previous headteacher. She worked with senior colleagues, local authority partners and governors to strengthen leadership and introduce stronger systems to monitor progress and improve assessment. As a result, pupils achieved much better progress at the end of key stage 2 in 2017. These processes are being further developed with the arrival of the new headteacher in January 2018. The school has a strong capacity for improvement. Senior leaders have addressed a number of the areas for improvement identified in the last inspection report. Subject leaders have explored new contexts for writing. After a dip in standards in 2016, subject leaders have introduced new strategies to promote independence in pupils’ writing and this is contributing to improving rates of progress. New assessment practices and approaches are supporting current pupils in making better rates of progress. Teachers are exploring the use of challenge tasks to stretch pupils, although this work is not consistently embedded across all classes. There is evidence that outdoor areas have been enhanced in the early years, with more imaginative and purposeful use of learning areas. Senior leaders have taken considerable action to build leadership capacity. They have given subject and phase leaders increased responsibility for developing good practice and monitoring standards. Subject leaders have introduced new initiatives to develop expertise in the mathematics curriculum and to encourage new approaches to reading and writing. Governors have supported the purchase of dedicated resources in these areas. Senior leaders have given middle leaders much greater responsibility for checking the effect of their improvement plans on pupils’ progress and attainment. These actions contributed to much better outcomes for pupils in 2017, a pattern that is continuing for the current cohort of pupils. Senior leaders have also improved the strength of monitoring and evaluation practices across the school. A new assessment leader has been appointed to ensure that leaders and governors have regular insight into pupils’ progress. Pupil progress review meetings take place every half-term and teachers are held to account for the progress of the pupils in their classes. Governors attend progress meetings and receive timely insights into pupils’ progress. New assessment systems also provide renewed strategies to measure the quality of teaching, learning and assessment. As a result of better progress information, teachers are more able to modify teaching and interventions to support better rates of progress. Leaders and teachers have worked closely with neighbouring schools and local authority partners to improve the accuracy of assessment. Teachers have worked diligently to develop an accurate view of the standards of their pupils’ work in the context of the national curriculum. This was reflected the reliability of teachers’ assessments against external results in 2017 and in local authority moderation of pupils’ work. Leaders and teachers have developed a more robust approach to addressing the increased expectations of the new national curriculum. The weak outcomes of 2016 made all teachers aware that standards were not good enough, but resolute action has been taken to secure improvements. Leaders and governors have invited challenge and support from local authority and diocese improvement partners. This has improved the quality of teaching and strengthened leadership. Leaders have visited other schools to enhance expertise and this is contributing to improvements in mathematics teaching and to improving provision in the early years. Governors have appropriate expertise and have intensified their involvement in the school following a period of staffing instability and weaker outcomes. They have invited further challenge to their own practice through a successful local authority review of governance and they have future plans to work with a national lead for governance to enhance their practice. They are regular visitors to the school, visiting every half-term to measure the pace of improvement and assess the effect of improvement strategies. Senior leaders have done much to build capacity. There is a joint sense of purpose across the wider leadership team. Much stronger systems of monitoring and evaluation underpin the school improvement journey and they are ensuring that initiatives are regularly checked and reviewed. While there remains some variation in the consistency with which new standards and expectations are being applied, it is clear that the capacity for improvement is strong and that the momentum for heightened progress is continuing.