Children in the early years and pupils in key stages 1 and 2 are happy. They enjoy their lessons and wide choice of after-school activities such as performing arts and science club. They gain much new learning from their educational trips. Pupils with whom we spoke told us of the beauty and atmosphere that they experienced in their recent visit to the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Hall and then the Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral. Pupils are enthusiastic learners. They achieve strongly because of the high expectations of leaders and staff. A typical pupil comment was: ‘We learn something new at school every day.’ Pupils correctly described the school as peaceful. In classrooms, pupils behave sensibly. Pupils said that they feel safe at the school. They told us that staff deal promptly and successfully with the rare issues of bullying and misbehaviour by pupils. Pupils’ relationships with their friends and staff are positive. They are polite and keen to meet with visitors, such as inspectors. Pupils respect other people. They are proud of their school. They agreed when one pupil said of the school: ‘We’re a family. We respect everyone for who they are and what they do.’ What does the school do well and what does it need to do better? Leaders and staff teach pupils about equality; for example, they celebrate disability awareness. Leaders and staff treat pupils equally, for instance making sure that pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are included fully in school activities. Staff give reasonable support to these pupils and to those who are disadvantaged to ensure that they learn well at the school. Pupils learn about the importance of supporting elderly people and raising charitable funding for those in need. Teachers discuss topical world issues with pupils. Pupils develop high aspirations for their future careers. Because of the help of their parents, carers, staff and school volunteers, pupils achieve well in their reading by the end of key stage 2. They enjoy reading the work of authors such as Cottrell-Boyce and Horrowitz. They learn the meaning of fascinating new words such as cacophonous and synchronisation from other books. Older pupils told me how pleased they are with leaders’ recent investment in providing a good range of information books and fiction books in the school library. Pupils said that the library is calm. Even so, staff’s provision of books for children in the Nursery and the teaching of reading in the early years and key stage 1 should be better planned. Some books used for pupils to practise their reading do not match their knowledge of phonics. Some staff’s knowledge of the teaching of reading is underdeveloped.