The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. Under your leadership, the school continues to flourish. You have carefully combined the school’s longstanding caring ethos, which is built on its Christian foundation, with a greater focus on improving outcomes for pupils. Your approach to leadership is characterised by careful reflection. You have been successful in improving the school because you have been very honest and direct with yourself and with others in identifying areas of weakness. As a result, you have been able to address these weaknesses and improve them. This approach has united senior leaders and staff in common cause behind you. Governors are effective in holding leaders to account. They have the same transparent and self-critical approach that pervades the rest of the school. The last inspection report asked you to further improve the quality of teaching. You have responded very well. You and your leadership team ensure that improving the quality of teaching, learning and assessment is at the very heart of the work of the school. You have created a clear vision of teaching and learning that is based on two pillars: firstly, that teachers must ensure the tasks they set accurately meet the needs of their pupils. Secondly, that pupils understand what they need to do to improve their work. As a result of these approaches, pupils’ progress is improving. Teachers are focusing on reviewing pupils’ previous work and adapting their teaching appropriately. Teachers and pupils both articulate the importance of pupils reflecting on their work and on the next steps in their learning. This emphasis is having a significant effect on how pupils think about themselves as learners, and hence the progress that they make. Senior leaders have made sure that the school’s training programme for teachers is tied in closely to the school’s teaching and learning priorities and that it is monitored and adapted over time to meet needs as teachers progress. As a result of this work, classroom conversations between teachers and pupils about taking the next steps in learning are now commonplace. As a result of your work on teaching and learning, standards overall in the main school are good. Standards in the sixth form are in line with the national average and improving. The work pupils are doing is challenging them and they are rising to that challenge. Over the years, lower prior attaining pupils and disadvantaged pupils have not made the above-average progress that higher prior attaining pupils have. You are aware of this and are keen to ensure that these pupils benefit from improvements in the quality of teaching. You have used the pupil premium grant effectively to improve the attendance and progress of disadvantaged pupils, but you know that there is more to do to ensure they fully reach their potential. You recognise that improvements in the quality of teaching and the subsequent raising of standards have not been consistently strong across all subjects in the school. Pupils make better progress in English, mathematics and science than their peers in other schools. They also are very successful in history and geography. However, in other subjects improvements have been slower to take hold and progress is broadly in line with the national picture. You and your senior leaders have developed a strong culture of holding middle leaders to account. You appropriately focus your efforts in those subjects where middle leaders require additional challenge and support. Middle leaders are making significant progress in addressing the remaining issues. Safeguarding is effective. You and your leadership team have ensured that there is a strong culture of keeping pupils safe across the school. You have ensured that all safeguarding arrangements are in place and that effective and appropriate checks are made on staff and visitors. There is a comprehensive programme in place to remind pupils about how to keep themselves safe online. Relationships between teachers and pupils are strong and pupils are confident that there is someone in school they can go to if they have a concern. Bullying is rare and is dealt with well when it does happen. Pupils and parents value the support pupils receive when they need it, and parents are also appreciative of the staff’s efforts to involve them and keep them informed. Staff work well to protect vulnerable pupils and where necessary liaise with external agencies and parents appropriately.