The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. You and your skilled deputy headteacher provide strong and purposeful leadership. Leaders at all levels, including governors, share high expectations of what pupils can achieve and carry out their duties effectively. Your determined promotion of the pupils’ academic as well as personal development fulfils the school’s stated ambition, ‘to let no child slip through the net’. Throughout my visit, pupils behaved extremely well and displayed very positive attitudes to their learning. Pupils responded enthusiastically to teachers’ questions and guidance in class and threw themselves wholeheartedly into the stimulating and challenging work provided for them. My discussions with pupils showed that they are very happy at school. The vast majority of parents who responded to the online questionnaire, Parent View, agree with the pupils’ views and all would recommend the school to others. Reflecting the views of others, one parent wrote, ‘St Hilary school encourages health, learning and fun all combined in one to make our children the best they can be. We are honoured for our children to be part of the St Hilary family.’ Since the previous inspection, you have successfully strengthened systems for assessing pupils’ progress. These include frequent meetings between teachers and teaching assistants, during which staff scrutinise pupils’ work in books, their responses in class and assessment information about their progress. Staff respond well to raised levels of accountability and provide work that is interesting and sufficiently challenging for pupils across the range of ability. Consequently, pupils are inspired to learn, work hard and make rapid progress. In recent years, you have also developed the way that best practice in teaching is used more consistently across the school to quicken pupils’ progress. You have accomplished this by providing more training for staff and increased opportunities for colleagues to work together and share their expertise. You enable leaders at all levels to play a successful role in promoting school improvement by working closely as a team. As one member of staff wrote, reflecting the views of others, ‘We work together effectively so we are all reading from the same page.’ This is evident in the accurate identification of priorities for improvement, which include the current focus on raising pupils’ mathematical reasoning skills. You recognise that a small number of pupils still lack confidence in tackling mathematical problems and you are continuing to take decisive action to accelerate their progress. Safeguarding is effective. All those who work in the school, including governors, ensure that a culture of safeguarding, safety and welfare is paramount. School leaders and administrative staff complete stringent checks to ensure that all safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose and that strong action is taken to safeguard pupils. These include checks on staff and visitors to the school, which are of the highest quality. Everyone is left in no doubt and is given clear guidance regarding the school’s expectations for keeping pupils safe. Staff are trained in how to keep pupils safe and they report and record any safeguarding concerns diligently. Staff work effectively with parents and other agencies to support any vulnerable pupils. Parents’ views are summed up by one parent, whose written comments include, ‘St Hilary School is a very caring community and provides a safe and happy learning environment for our child.’ Pupils said that they feel safe and well cared for. Pupils know how to stay safe and how to care for each other. For example, older pupils treat and support younger pupils with sensitivity and understanding when helping them with their reading. Inspection findings My first line of enquiry was to check what leaders and teachers have been doing to improve pupils’ progress in mathematics across key stage 2. This is because some pupils whose previous attainment was lower than expected have not made the rapid progress needed for them to fully deepen their mathematical understanding.