The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. You know the school, the federation and your community well. You aspire for St Martin’s Junior School to be outstanding. You are clear about what needs to improve to make it so, because you have a very secure understanding of the school’s strengths and weaknesses. You demonstrate ambition for all your pupils, stating, ‘There is no ceiling.’ You have a clear vision for the school. Your collaborative approach to leadership ensures that all staff share this vision. Staff feel valued and work effectively together to ensure that teaching is of consistently good quality across the school. You set high expectations for your staff and pupils, with one governor commenting, ‘Our headteacher does not do average.’ Pupils enjoy coming to school and say lessons are fun. They display a strong work ethic. They collaborate well on tasks and support each other to improve their work. Pupils were keen to explain how mistakes can help them learn. They behave very well in class. The broad and balanced curriculum is enriched by many trips, visitors and extra-curricular activities. Many parents commented on how happy their children are at St Martin’s Junior School, with one writing, ‘I would recommend the school in a heartbeat.’ The previous inspection report highlighted several strengths, including pupils’ achievement, the quality of support from teaching assistants, improvements to teaching and well-motivated pupils. You have maintained these strengths. At the last inspection, leaders were asked to improve the scientific skills and knowledge of pupils, and to ensure that the most able were challenged, especially in mathematics. Leaders’ work to address this has been effective. There is clear evidence in pupils’ books that challenge is appropriately high in both mathematics and English. Science standards are high. However, you were rightly not satisfied with the end-of-key-stage-2 reading results in 2017. They declined compared with the previous year’s results and were lower than assessments conducted by teachers. Leaders have identified that there is still work to be done to improve the use of assessment information, so that all pupils make the progress of which they are capable. We agreed that, with the improved assessment system that has recently been introduced, there would be increased opportunities for governors to be more knowledgeable about the progress of different groups of pupils, such as disadvantaged pupils. This should further support governors in holding leaders to account for pupils’ results. Safeguarding is effective. School leaders and governors fulfil their statutory safeguarding duties well. Policies and procedures are fit for purpose and day-to-day routines are secure. The site is secure and well maintained. Governors regularly check that the school’s safeguarding processes are working well. Pre-employment checks to ensure the suitability of staff and volunteers are fully in place. These are recorded appropriately on the single central record. Safeguarding training is regular and the induction of new staff and volunteers is well planned. Staff and governors understand their roles and responsibilities for keeping pupils safe very well. As a result, pupils are safe. Staff have created a very nurturing environment. As one parent commented, ‘I think St Martin’s is a great school in terms of the atmosphere, care of the children and its general ethos about values and looking after one another.’ Most pupils attend the school regularly. However, attendance figures for disadvantaged pupils have been below the national average for all pupils in primary schools in recent years. Leaders acknowledged that there is still work to do to ensure that all pupils attend school regularly. Relationships between staff and pupils are strong. The pupils who spoke to me said they always feel safe in school and that they love their friendly school. They said that bullying is rare but when it does happen ‘Teachers sort it out.’ Pupils know how to keep themselves safe online. Inspection findings During the inspection, we agreed to look at how effectively leaders have addressed the areas identified at the previous inspection. These included challenge for the most able pupils and the improvement of pupils’ science skills and knowledge. The inspection also focused on the impact of leaders’ actions to improve pupils’ writing and how leaders ensure strong progress in reading. I also evaluated the school’s arrangements for keeping pupils safe.