The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. Following the recent resignation of the executive headteacher, the local authority and governors have acted quickly to put in place secure leadership arrangements. Everyone in school understands their role and responsibilities and those new to post have appropriate support in place. Having only very recently become the acting headteacher of the school, you have quickly and accurately evaluated the school’s strengths and weaknesses and produced well-considered plans to move the school forward. You know that there are areas that need to improve and have used the start of the school year to focus your staff on these priorities. Furthermore, you have arranged appropriate training and professional development opportunities to support them. Parents are very positive and praise the warm, caring and nurturing atmosphere that typifies the school. All parents who responded to Ofsted’s online questionnaire (Parent View) would recommend the school. I found pupils to be polite, welcoming and courteous to one another across the day. You and your staff hold high expectations and are committed to ensuring that pupils are safe and enjoy their learning. Teachers prepare lessons that are well planned and engaging and staff are skilled at involving pupils in lively activities that require them to think deeply. The review of the curriculum you led last term is ensuring that topics now embrace the new national curriculum fully. Gaps in pupils’ knowledge and understanding are being covered more thoroughly and wider skills in subjects such as music, science and history are being integrated more thoughtfully into topics. Since the last inspection, pupils have made strong academic progress and attained standards above those seen nationally by the time they leave the school. This has prepared them well for the next stage of their education. Outcomes have been particularly strong in reading and writing. Pupils build effectively on the good start they make in the Reception class and at key stage 1. However, their progress in mathematics in key stage 2 has lagged behind that seen in English. Provisional results for mathematics in 2017 were unexpectedly disappointing. A thorough review has identified why this was the case and prompt actions are being taken to address this. The mathematics coordinator is working closely with the local authority to make the necessary changes to the way mathematics is taught and the early signs in pupils’ books are promising. Nevertheless, there remains much to do to ensure that teachers consistently develop pupils’ skills in reasoning and problemsolving so that pupils make as much progress as that seen in English. The governors are experienced and keep well informed through the regular visits that they make. They have stepped up their work recently in order to ensure that the new leadership arrangements are smoothly embedded. Additional meetings calendared for the start of this term are ensuring that governors are checking the new development plan and the separate mathematics action plan. While these plans are detailed, they do not include sufficiently clear milestones across the year for governors to evaluate the impact that these plans have on pupils’ learning and progress. Safeguarding is effective. You ensure that all members of staff are trained to an appropriate level and understand the duty upon them to act if they have any concerns about a child’s safety or welfare. Teachers new to the school are full of praise for the induction and training they receive. Rigorous checks are made when new staff are recruited and the same level of care is given to checking the suitability of other adults who visit or work in the school. You work effectively with other agencies when there is a need to do so. This has ensured that recent child protection cases have been resolved quickly and in the best interests of the child. You also respond proactively and thoughtfully when issues arise. For example, when a pupil made a racist comment last year, following a terrorist attack in the country, the school worked with a charity to run workshops about the Muslim faith and gave pupils the chance to meet members of the Muslim community. Pupils and parents responded positively to this approach. Pupils feel safe and know whom to go to if they have any concerns. They say that bullying is rare and that teachers are good at sorting it out if it does happen. However, pupils told me they would prefer teachers to tackle arguments and squabbles between pupils more authoritatively, in order to ‘nip them in the bud’.