You have maintained the good quality of education and the strengths of the school identified at the previous inspection. In particular, pupils of all ages are keen to learn. They find lessons in the new curriculum interesting. Pupils enjoy the wide range of enrichment activities on offer such as clubs and visits. They also feel very safe and well cared for. Typically, parents’ comments during the inspection were, ‘we are lucky to have such a good school,’ and ‘staff bend over backwards to achieve the best for pupils.’ Relationships between pupils and staff and between pupils themselves are very positive, and pupils willingly support each other both inside and outside lessons. The strong Christian ethos is very evident in displays around the school and in the reflective work in pupils’ books. The school gives a high priority to pupils becoming creative, reflective and independent thinkers. As a result, many pupils are confident individuals who are rapidly developing as well-rounded young citizens by the time they leave school. Most parents greatly appreciate both the school’s academic successes and the care that their children receive. You have built on the successes identified at the previous inspection with determination. The strengths in personal development, behaviour and safety are still very evident, as is the strong provision for children in Reception. The youngest children are well prepared for their move into Year 1. Teaching remains strong throughout the school, and more consistently so, mainly due to the good opportunities staff have had to improve their professional expertise. Governance has also improved. Governors are active in school and they both support and challenge leaders constructively in order to move the school further on. As headteacher, you have taken a lot of responsibility upon yourself to lead this process. The school has a more effective assessment system than three years ago. You now check on the quality of teaching and learning regularly and rigorously. You have tackled the areas that were identified at the previous inspection as needing improvement. You have worked hard to improve attendance. However, you also recognise that some of the few disadvantaged pupils on roll, and pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, should attend school more regularly, and you are working hard with parents to achieve this. Subject leaders now lead and manage their areas of responsibility with improved rigour. Not least, you have further improved the already good progress that pupils make in their work. This is partly because staff are more confident in assessing pupils’ work and they give additional support to those in danger of underachieving. You recognise that there is still work to be done to eradicate some remaining inconsistencies in mathematics and writing in key stage 2, in order to achieve the same high standards evident in reading. Reading is a particular strength of the school. Safeguarding is effective. You and your governors ensure that policies and procedures to safeguard pupils’ well-being are robust, up to date and are understood by everybody. Pupils feel very safe in school. Parents confirm this. Pupils are confident that staff will quickly deal with any playground incidents. Robust arrangements ensure that all adults working in school have undergone all relevant checks. The school teaches pupils how to be safe in all situations, including when using technology. Inspection findings One of the key lines of enquiry that I followed on this inspection concerned the progress of pupils in key stage 2. Although achievement in reading has been high, there have been inconsistencies in the progress made by some individuals and groups of pupils in mathematics and writing. You have improved pupils’ progress by helping your staff develop their skills in teaching the new mathematics curriculum. Your efforts have largely succeeded, because the remaining inconsistencies in mathematics learning, for example in problem solving, are now fewer and less pronounced. Part of the key line of enquiry about progress was to do with the underachievement of a small number of higher attaining girls, particularly in mathematics, which was evident in the most recent national test results. A reorganisation of mathematics teaching and an improvement in staff subject knowledge and confidence have improved progress, although you recognise that progress in mathematics remains inconsistent at times. Progress and attainment in writing have improved. You have successfully improved the quality of handwriting and the pride that pupils take in their work. In English lessons, pupils of all abilities complete a wide range of writing activities in increasing depth as they move on through key stage 2. Progress in writing is less evident in work done outside literacy lessons, for example in history. The tasks that teachers set in some of these lessons are not challenging enough, particularly for the most able. The tasks do not always allow the same pupils who show a good level of achievement in their literacy books to attain as strongly in their other lessons. There are very few disadvantaged pupils in the school. However, these pupils and those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities make good progress in most subjects. Any gaps between their achievement and that of other pupils in key stage 2 have been narrowed. I made attendance a key line of enquiry for the school, because disadvantaged pupils and pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities had not been attending as regularly as other pupils. You have tackled this by bringing parents into school and working hard with them to get them to understand the importance of regular attendance. This has had a positive result: attendance has risen and is above average for the great majority of pupils. The final line of enquiry focused on the role of subject leaders in the school, an improvement area from the previous inspection. You have clearly resolved this issue effectively. These leaders now have a prominent role in developing their subjects in the new curriculum, supporting colleagues to deliver these subjects well and checking on the quality of learning. Next steps for the school Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that: teachers capitalise on writing improvements, extending pupils’ writing skills, especially those of the most able, with more challenging writing tasks in other subjects leaders build on improvements in mathematics to further reduce inconsistencies in performance, so that more pupils fulfil their potential and reach a high standard in mathematics. I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the director of education for the diocese of Salisbury, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Dorset. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website. Yours sincerely John Laver Ofsted Inspector Information about the inspection During the inspection, I held meetings with you, other staff, four members of the governing body, including the chair, and the school’s improvement partner. I talked to several pupils in Years 5 and 6. I talked to a few parents at the school gates. I considered Parent View and written comments received from parents. I visited all the classrooms with you for a short period to observe learning and behaviour. I also spent time with you looking at the work of older pupils to see what progress they were making. You showed me records relating to safeguarding and other documentation. We discussed assessment information about current pupils’ progress.