The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. Leaders and managers also maintain the environment to a high standard, making it safe, stimulating and attractive for pupils. A culture of ‘only the best will do’ prevails and a busy, happy buzz is perceptible throughout. Pupils relish responsibilities such as those of sports leader, house captain and school councillor, executing their roles confidently and diligently. They have strong, positive relationships with staff, describing teachers as ‘really nice’ and saying that ‘children are too’. Pupils are confident that school rules are fair and applied consistently. The vast majority feel confident that bullying ‘does not happen’ and they feel assured that adults will listen to them if they have any worries. Several pupils told the inspector that their friends and peers behave well indoors and outside: as one pupil put it, ‘I’m satisfied that behaviour’s okay’. There are smiles aplenty at breaktimes and during lessons. The previous inspection report required you to improve teaching. Leaders have done so, successfully. Along with your knowledgeable and decidedly enthusiastic subject leaders, you instil high expectations among the teaching staff. Together you make sure that all adults focus fully on the varying needs, capabilities and interests of pupils, as well as national curriculum requirements. Leaders at all levels monitor the quality of teaching and learning regularly. They challenge and support staff to develop and improve their practice across subjects, continuously. Consequently, a skilful adult body motivates pupils effectively. Pupils’ outcomes at the expected standard in 2016 in reading, writing and mathematics in both key stages 1 and 2 were above the national average. The work in pupils’ books and your assessment information show similarly positive outcomes for pupils in each key stage and subject in 2017. Teaching, learning and assessment are strengths across year groups. A significant proportion of children enter the school with skills that are below those expected for their age with regard to speech and language. Staff tackle these barriers head on, immersing children in a literacy-rich environment. Adults articulate the sounds that letters make correctly, model speech well and give children access to a wide range of stimulating reading and writing materials. As a result, the proportion of children in early years reaching a good level of development has risen steadily over time to match national averages. Leaders and governors agree, however, that the use of early years pupil premium funding and its effect, particularly on the most able disadvantaged children, needs further scrutiny and evaluation that is more thorough. Governors are mindful of the need to act swiftly to bring the school’s website fully into line with their statutory duty of reporting on the use and impact of pupil premium funding. You have also tackled the previous report’s challenge to improve the effectiveness of all leaders, in a considered manner. You have worked closely with governors and the local authority to meet the future needs of the school in terms of succession planning. Governors have approved the restructuring of the senior team and this has enhanced leadership capacity. Governors and leaders recognise, however, that they need to be more responsive to parents’ and carers’ requests and queries. A small proportion of parents raised some concerns during this inspection about the approachability and availability of leaders. While inspection evidence found that the majority of parents have positive views of the school’s work in this area, you have correctly identified cooperation and communication with parents for further development. Since the previous inspection, overall attendance has fallen to just below national averages. The attendance of disadvantaged pupils and those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities was in the lowest 10% of all schools in 2016. You and governors swiftly took action to address underlying issues. You appointed a family liaison officer, and reviewed and revised your attendance policy and procedures. You worked closely with external partners to offer information, support and challenge for parents, impressing upon all the importance of good attendance and the effect that absence may have on pupils’ welfare and achievement. Local authority partners fully backed your work in this area. Despite your collective efforts, however, attendance in 2017 remained below national averages for disadvantaged pupils. Leaders and governors have rightly prioritised this as a key area for improvement moving forward.