The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. Since the previous inspection, there have been significant changes in staffing. You have focused on developing the capacity and effectiveness of your teaching staff. Your hard work and that of the staff have ensured that the school continues to improve. You understand clearly the school’s many strengths, but also know that there are still areas to work on, such as progress in reading at key stage 2. Governors provide effective support and challenge you to drive the school forward. They visit the school regularly and check that funding is being used wisely and is targeting the priority areas. Staff know each of the pupils well, and parents and carers are appreciative of the individual care and support that their children receive. One parent said: ‘This is a good school doing its very best for the children, who have a variety of needs. The children are given far more than just a good academic education. They’re nurtured and encouraged to enjoy all aspects of school life.’ Pupils describe the school as ‘amazing, friendly and magnificent’. Their enjoyment of school means most pupils attend regularly. However, you recognise that the attendance of disadvantaged pupils is an area which requires further improvement, and you are working closely with families to address this. At the time of the last inspection, inspectors highlighted good teaching, ambitious leadership and strong spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. These aspects remain strong. Inspectors asked you to improve the systems for analysing and presenting data at a strategic level and to raise teachers’ expectations of the amount of work pupils can complete in key stage 1. Current assessment information and school documentation show these areas have improved. The vast majority of staff who completed the Ofsted questionnaire said they were proud to be part of the team working at the school. They said you supported them well and they were clear about what the school is trying to achieve. Safeguarding is effective. The school places the utmost importance on keeping pupils safe. The leadership team has ensured that all safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose and that records are detailed and of high quality. Your checks on the suitability of staff to work with children are thorough. You work closely with all staff to provide effective safeguarding training and regular updates. There are effective relationships with other agencies to ensure that pupils are safe and well looked after. As a result, all staff are clear about their responsibilities and take action with confidence. Safeguarding is at the heart of the school’s culture. Pupils are very knowledgeable about how to stay safe, including road safety and safety when using the internet. They say they feel safe as the teachers are ‘reassuring, kind and helpful’. The majority of parents who completed the online questionnaire agree that their children are well looked after and feel safe in school. Parents describe the school as a ‘nurturing community’ with ‘caring, cheerful and committed staff’. Inspection findings At the start of the inspection, we agreed to look at the effectiveness of safeguarding and attendance; the teaching of the most able pupils in key stage 1; progress of pupils in reading; the progress of disadvantaged pupils in writing; and how effectively you have improved the teaching of phonics. My first line of enquiry focused on the progress of most-able pupils at key stage 1. At the time of the last inspection, this was identified as an area for improvement and you have worked hard to ensure that now the most able pupils make good progress. Teachers share your high expectations that these pupils will achieve well. Work in books shows that the most able pupils are being set more challenging work in reading, writing and mathematics. They are confident learners, who know what they are aiming for. As a result of your concerted efforts to raise standards, the proportion of most-able pupils achieving the higher scores in reading, writing and mathematics in the 2017 key stage 1 assessments was above the national average. In 2017, the proportion of pupils that made expected progress in reading at key stage 2 was in line with the national average. Progress in writing and mathematics was much stronger. Consequently, the school is rightly focused on improving progress in reading. You have made well-considered changes to how reading is taught. For example, you have reorganised the reading curriculum so that there are higher expectations of pupils. You have developed positive attitudes to reading and teachers encourage pupils to try more challenging texts.