The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. Leaders and teachers are working systematically on the right aspects for improvement. Consequently, the school continues to improve. Parents are very positive about the education their children receive. Almost every parent who responded to the online survey, Parent View, said that they would recommend the school. Since the previous inspection, there have been a number of changes to the teaching and leadership team. You have managed these changes well. For example, the relatively new English leader is making a discernible difference across the school and, as a result, improvements in writing are widespread. Governors are highly strategic. Changes to the governing body have resulted in refinement to the way they work. As a result of their hands-on approach through regular visits and meetings, they are fully conversant with the many strengths of the school and the aspects that require further work. Governors hold you and your team to account with rigour. At the previous inspection, you were asked to develop teachers’ questioning to help pupils develop their thinking and enable them to develop independence in learning. Pupils have excellent attitudes to learning; they investigate with confidence and use teachers’ questions to deepen their understanding. The way that pupils respond to teachers’ feedback through reviewing and editing their work enables them to build on their learning successfully. Pupils spoken to on inspection said that this gives them real ownership of their work. As a result, workbooks exemplify that pupils’ progress is good overall. Rightly, you identify that challenging the middle-attaining and most able pupils even more to achieve the highest standards is a key priority. Safeguarding is effective. Leaders, including governors, have responded promptly to the local authority safeguarding audit. As a result, policies, procedures and training relating to safeguarding meet requirements and are up to date with current legislation. Timely intervention and active engagement with multi-agency support is documented and followed up precisely by designated safeguarding leaders. You have ensured that staff know how to use and apply their safeguarding training within their daily routines and work to minimise pupils’ risk of harm. Every parent who responded to the online questionnaire, Parent View, reported that their child is safe at school and well looked after. Pupils agree. They say they feel safe in school and if they have any concerns, they know who to go to. They say that adults help them sort things out quickly. They are conversant with how to keep safe online and are risk-aware about keeping safe on the school site. Inspection findings In order to ascertain that the school remained good, a key line of enquiry was to establish the effectiveness of the teaching of writing across key stages 1 and 2. This is because at key stage 2 in 2016, pupils’ outcomes and progress in writing were markedly lower than in reading and mathematics. In addition, too few middleattaining pupils at key stage 1 met the standards that are expected for their age. You have wasted no time in tackling the relative weaknesses in writing across the school. Changes to the strategic leadership of English have secured improvement quickly. Current leaders’ systematic approach to improve writing is effective. Initially, you led a school-wide focus on improving pupils’ presentation, handwriting and spelling. This has resulted in teachers and pupils having higher expectations. Consequently, pupils write neatly and with greater stamina and accuracy. The second phase of improvement, ably led by your new English leader, has been effective in firmly establishing and fine-tuning teachers’ understanding of the assessment of writing. Regular moderation within school and across a cluster of schools has strengthened teachers’ understanding of the skills pupils must apply to write at the highest standards. As a result, these aspects are taught with greater rigour. Because of this, pupils in key stage 2 are able to apply their understanding of sentence structure and punctuation with greater success and impact. Across key stage 1, teachers’ expectations of what pupils can achieve in their writing are routinely high. Pupils make consistently good and often rapid progress in their writing. As a result of good teaching in lower key stage 2, the middleattaining pupils that did not reach the standards expected for their age at key stage 1 are catching up quickly. The English leader has a clear understanding of strengths and aspects that still require further work. For example, she identifies that the third stage of improvement is to make challenge more immediate in a few classes so that middle-attaining pupils gain more practice at developing writing that meets the highest standards. Another aspect I looked at was how well the middle-attaining and most able pupils were challenged in mathematics at key stage 1. In 2016, a smaller than average proportion of middle-attaining girls reached the standards that are expected for their age. The teaching of mathematics is bringing about pupils’ progress that is good overall. In recent months, there has been a greater focus on teaching pupils to apply their understanding of mathematics and solve problems. However, you know that this is new and a few girls are not yet achieving as highly as boys in key stage 1. The areas for improvement in mathematics are not yet as firmly established as they are in English. As a result, although the most able pupils make sound progress in mathematics overall, their progress is not yet as rapid as that of the middle- and lower-attaining pupils. You know this is a key priority for the school. Over a number of years, pupils’ achievement in reading has been high and consistently above the national average. In 2016, high standards in reading were maintained at the end of key stage 2. However, at key stage 1, while outcomes remained in line with the national average, a few middle-attaining pupils did not meet expected standards. I looked at these pupils’ progress now they are in Year 3, along with the school’s strategy for teaching reading. Pupils use and apply their phonics skills well to tackle unknown words. Systems to support regular reading and interventions to help pupils who have fallen behind to catch up are making a positive difference. Leaders’ checks on pupils’ reading development enable pupils to get the specific support and help they need. As a result, these pupils read with greater fluency and accuracy. Activities led by the teacher to develop pupils’ comprehension skills are gradually enabling pupils to deepen their understanding of what they read. However, independent activities do not consistently allow pupils to apply their understanding of comprehension. As a result, some pupils gain ample practice at retrieving information from texts, but this does not develop their understanding of the themes and events in stories as proficiently as it could.