The leadership team has continued to improve the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. Your work to ensure that the school’s vision of ‘everybody is somebody’ is evident in the support you provide for all pupils. Parents are overwhelmingly supportive of the school. This is evident in the many positive statements made on Parent View, Ofsted’s online questionnaire. Parents commented on the ‘excellent standard of education’ and the ‘very good pastoral support’. Many parents were particularly appreciative of the extra-curricular opportunities afforded to all pupils, saying ‘an exceptional aspect of this school is the ‘enrichment’’. Leaders, including governors, have worked hard to create an innovative curriculum that truly meets the needs of pupils. Your vision is clear and parents value the ways in which the school offers their children a broad and rich curriculum alongside strong pastoral support. One parent described the school as ‘a very friendly, small school where the staff know the students well’. Governance at Melbourn Village College is robust. The chair of governors leads the governing body well. Governors provide a critical balance of support and challenge. The governing body’s breadth of expertise has added momentum to the school’s improvement plans. For example, the decision to introduce Mandarin as a language option from Year 7 was facilitated by the governing board’s expert understanding of China and language teaching. Pupils told me that they felt privileged to study Mandarin. Pupils behave well, both within the classroom and around the school. They are respectful of the needs of other pupils. Pupils are eager to learn and demonstrate pride in the work they complete. They respond well to teachers’ high expectations and speak positively of the support that they receive. You have ensured that pupils are able to access a wide curriculum with opportunities to develop a range of skills, such as robotics and computing. Pupils focus regularly on spiritual, moral, social and cultural issues, both within subjects such as history and the daily tutor lesson. As a consequence, many pupils develop empathy and understanding of the needs of others. You have accurately identified mathematics and English as strengths of the school. Strong leadership has ensured that pupils make good progress, including disadvantaged pupils and pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. In 2016, pupils’ progress and attainment in mathematics were significantly above the national average. Additionally, pupils made significantly above-average progress in English in 2016. Leaders have evaluated the heightened demands of the new GCSE examinations and adapted both their curriculum and teaching and learning well. Pupils spoke to me about how teachers across the curriculum regularly ‘gave up their own time’ to ensure that pupils made the progress they were capable of. You have introduced an effective tracking system that allows all staff to monitor individual pupils’ progress frequently and to introduce timely intervention when necessary. You and your leaders take effective action where you consider improvements are required. For example, as a result of changes to the modern foreign languages curriculum and developments in teaching and learning, pupils in all year groups make significantly better progress. You recognise that there are still areas to improve. For example, you have implemented plans to improve the level of challenge in all subject areas so that the most able pupils, including the most able disadvantaged pupils, make accelerated progress and attainment. You also acknowledge that staff in all subject areas need to be consistent in the quality of feedback provided in order to promote more rapid progress. In addition, you continue to be vigilant regarding the importance of attendance. You have succeeded in reducing persistent absence, apart from those pupils who have medical issues that require external treatment. However, you have clear strategies which are revised regularly to improve the attendance of all pupils. Safeguarding is effective. You and your leadership team ensure that all safeguarding policies and procedures comply with statutory requirements. Pupils speak with confidence about the ways in which the school makes them feel safe. Pupils know where to go if they have a concern and are positive that staff will support them effectively. Pupils learn about ways in which to keep themselves safe, both within school and beyond, through regular discussions in form time and lessons that focus on how to deal with dangerous situations.