The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. St Helen’s Primary School is a nurturing school that enables its pupils to achieve well regardless of their backgrounds. At the heart of this academy is a strongly shared commitment to inclusion and equality of opportunity. You, as headteacher, work hard to ensure that your staff welcome and value all pupils. You have a clear and accurate understanding of current school performance and are fully aware of the many areas of strength as well as those aspects that require further work. As a result, you, your senior team and other leaders are working on the right aspects to improve the school further. The school’s action plan is precise, and leaders, including the governing body and multi-academy trust, monitor each action carefully to ensure that it is bringing about the necessary changes. You have adeptly maintained the ethos of the school as a caring and inclusive community. Parents and carers especially appreciate the extra support and care given to those pupils who may struggle or have English as an additional language. One parent stated, ‘Both my sons thrive at the school and the staff are extremely dedicated and caring.’ Another parent spoke for many when saying, ‘Overall, I think that St Helen’s is an excellent school and I am very happy that my daughter is being taught there.’ Since your appointment in January 2017, you have improved the school in a number of key aspects. You and your staff have improved the way that you monitor and track pupils’ progress. As a result, teachers have a greater understanding of what assessment reveals about pupils’ attainment and progress. They have become instrumental in organising intervention programmes alongside senior members of staff. These programmes are having a positive impact on pupils’ progress. After several staff changes, you now have a more stable staffing team. This is enabling you to appoint leaders for specific subjects other than English and mathematics. As a result, several subject leaders are new in post and we agreed that their work in monitoring their areas of responsibilities is not yet fully embedded. You agreed that pupils are not spending enough time developing their key skills in some subjects and this area requires further work. Teachers use their subject knowledge confidently to prepare interesting and stimulating work. As a result, current pupils, regardless of ability and background, make good progress as they move through the school. The progress pupils make in their writing is particularly strong. However, teachers do not have a consistently high expectation of what pupils are capable of achieving where teaching is not as strong. Where this is the case, progress of pupils is not as positive in some areas of the school curriculum. Governors have a good understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the school. You value the support and challenge that they provide, which has been instrumental in ensuring that the school continues to be good. You and your leadership team, very well supported by the multi-academy trust, are focused on continual improvement. Staff work hard to make sure that all groups of pupils, particularly those who are disadvantaged and those who have English as an additional language, receive a good quality of education. Pupils behave extremely well throughout the school day, both in lessons and around the school. They are polite and courteous to each other, as well as to staff and visitors. Pupils stated that behaviour is good in their school and that the staff make sure that learning always takes place. Safeguarding is effective. A strong culture of safeguarding is evident in the school. Leaders take their responsibilities extremely seriously, ensuring that policies, practice and procedures meet all statutory requirements. This includes the safe recruitment of staff and volunteers. Staff know and understand what they should do if they have concerns about pupils. Your staff carefully record any concerns and follow them up rigorously to ensure that no pupil comes to harm. Where necessary, leaders work very well with external agencies to safeguard pupils’ welfare and ensure that vulnerable pupils and their families receive the support they need. Pupils feel safe in school. They say that their teachers are kind, very supportive and look after them well. The overwhelming majority of parents agree with their children. Pupils enjoy coming to school and their attendance is improving. However, you recognise you have more to do to ensure that this improves further.