The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. Kingstone is a welcoming school. Pupils enjoy their education and staff are proud of the school. Parents commented positively about their children’s education and about the school. One parent said that their children ‘have been supported and encouraged to achieve their full potential both personally and academically’. The school is a calm and happy place. You have created an inclusive and purposeful environment. You and other leaders have high expectations about pupils’ achievement, and you communicate these clearly to everyone. The previous inspection report identified leaders’ relentless determination to drive up standards, reported that teaching was good and that pupils’ attitudes to learning were overwhelmingly positive. The report also recognised that leaders effectively used information about pupils’ progress to hold teachers to account and to identify pupils at risk of falling behind. These features are still evident in the school. However, the previous report highlighted the need for the school to raise achievement further by improving the quality of teaching and by ensuring that the work set in lessons is appropriately challenging for all pupils to make outstanding progress. Since the last inspection, leaders have addressed these areas, but there is still further progress that needs to be made. While some groups of pupils make strong progress, boys and the most able pupils have performed less well in some subjects. You and your leaders know that the progress of those pupils needs to improve further, especially in science, humanities and modern foreign languages. While you have action plans in place to tackle this issue, it is too early to see any real impact on outcomes. The school’s leaders are clear that there is still some way to go to ensure that all pupil groups make the progress of which they are capable. Pupils are courteous, respectful and willing to talk with visitors. Pupils spoke positively about being part of the school community and about the support they receive from their teachers. Safeguarding is effective. There is a strong culture of high-quality care and support for pupils in your school and, within this, safeguarding is given particular importance. Senior leaders and governors have ensured that all safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose and records are detailed and clear. Staff know their pupils and their families well. They use this information to provide effective early intervention or appropriate support where needed to ensure that pupils are safe and secure. Training for all staff is regular, up to date and effective. Identification and reporting systems are robust and referrals made to external agencies are appropriate. The pupils we spoke to said that they feel safe and they understand whom to speak to if they have any concerns. The school works well together as a community. Bullying of any kind is rare and dealt with swiftly and effectively. Through the curriculum and form assemblies, pupils are aware of the different risks that may face them in today’s society. They are helped to keep themselves safe from harm. Inspection findings Senior leaders have worked with middle leaders to make sure that changes have been made to the curriculum in all subjects and across all years. As a result, there is now more challenge and more rigour in schemes of learning. Higher-level work is being done in key stage 3 and a mastery curriculum is now in place. As a result of focused training for staff, the quality of learning and teaching is improving, especially in French, geography and mathematics. The majority of pupils benefit from appropriate and effective teaching which enables them to do well. Leaders are aware, however, that, in some lessons, the most able pupils are not being challenged to achieve their best. Where teachers plan to a high level, they meet the needs of most groups of pupils, and teaching and learning are effective. For example, lessons are effectively planned in English and French. Pupils’ books in these subjects mostly show evidence of good progress over time. The progress made by the most able pupils, however, is inconsistent. The school’s internal information indicates that most-able pupils are not improving at the same rate as others. This is an area that the school is continuing to work on. Strategies that have been introduced are starting to have an effect, but the full impact on pupils’ progress has not yet been realised.