The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. You provide strong and confident leadership, together with a clear sense of direction. You are supported effectively by the head of school and senior leaders. This has enabled you to recently take up the temporary position of executive principal for Ivanhoe College and Ibstock College. Your vision statement describes the school on a ‘journey to excellence’ and pupils and staff agree the school continues to improve. They are proud to work at the school. You and your team are ambitious, promoting high expectations for the school community. When issues arise, you are swift to tackle them. Leaders have recently revised the school’s behaviour policy and procedures and introduced the ‘Ivanhoe Way’, which reinforces these expectations. Pupils told inspectors that this has helped improve pupils’ behaviour as teachers are more consistent in the way they deal with any poor behaviour. Inspectors found pupils to be courteous and polite. The vast majority of pupils move sensibly around the school site and behave well in lessons. Pupils’ attitudes to learning are good. Classrooms are well ordered, and pupils are keen to take part in activities. On the whole, parents and carers are very positive about the school, particularly the support provided by staff. As one parent who replied to Ofsted’s online questionnaire said, ‘The care shown for pupils is brilliant. This is a school which is setting my child up well academically, socially and emotionally.’ Leaders are working hard on improving communication with parents, including the use of parent groups, technology and social media. The majority of parents confirm that the school communicates well with them. However, through the online questionnaire, a minority of parents raised concerns about communication. Governance is a strength of the school. Governors are skilled and well informed of their duties. They are committed to the school, have a sound understanding of issues facing the school, and challenge and support leaders effectively. The previous inspection’s recommendations challenged you to build on the strengths of teaching, specifically the use of questioning and helping pupils to know how to improve their work. Leaders are effective in supporting teachers to improve the quality of teaching and learning through focused professional development. Talented middle leaders are helping to develop consistency in practice and much has improved. Pupils use the feedback their teachers give them to improve their work and they respond well to the support they receive. You were also tasked with using the pupil premium funding to improve the rates of progress for disadvantaged pupils, who have typically made less progress than others with similar starting points. You have appropriately identified this as an ongoing priority and are tackling some of the barriers to achievement. However, for too many disadvantaged pupils, their low attendance, along with a high number of exclusions, is limiting their progress. Leaders do not evaluate this aspect of their work carefully enough and therefore do not know which strategies are having the most impact. Safeguarding is effective. The leadership team has ensured that all safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose and that there is an effective culture of safeguarding. Appropriate checks are made on the suitability of adults to work with pupils. Leaders meet regularly to make sure that pupils who are vulnerable are well supported. The designated safeguarding lead is meticulous in ensuring that all staff, including governors and those new to the school, are fully trained in their responsibilities to keep pupils safe. A recent example of this is training on ‘county lines’ provided by the police. As a result, staff are aware of what they should do if they have a safeguarding concern of any kind. Leaders are aware of issues within the local community and work closely with external agencies. All pupils we spoke to say that they feel safe in school. They know which staff to approach if they have an issue or a concern and they are confident that they will be helped to resolve it. Pupils say that if they have any concerns about bullying, matters are resolved quickly and successfully. Staff agree that the school is safe and that any instances of bullying are dealt with promptly and effectively.