You and your leadership team have maintained the good quality of education since the last inspection. You ensure that pupils are warmly welcomed into a bright and attractive environment in which they feel safe and secure. The school’s motto, ‘Where children come first’, underpins all aspects of the school’s work. You work in close cooperation with your staff and governors to provide rich experiences that prepare the pupils well for the next stage of their education. Parents value what you provide, and this is reflected in one of the many comments praising the school: ‘This is a superb village school where my daughter is happy and thriving.’ Through regular visits to classrooms, you know the school well. You take decisive action to improve the quality of teaching because you know the pupils only get one chance. As a result, teaching is consistently effective across the school. Teaching is typically lively and engaging. Teachers use imaginative methods to capture pupils’ interest. For example, in a Year 2 lesson the teacher presented pupils with a range of exotic fruits and vegetables to examine as part of their science lesson. Pupils were thoroughly absorbed as they explored the samples using their senses and making comparisons with more familiar produce. Pupils love their school. They enjoy making friends and they like learning. They say that adults are kind to them and help them. They enjoy the wide range of subjects they learn and they enjoy working and playing with each other. Pupils are very friendly and polite and they take care of each other in the playground. In classrooms, they demonstrate positive attitudes to learning and take an active part in classroom discussions. Since the previous inspection, there have been several changes to the teaching team. Despite this, you have maintained the standard of teaching to secure outcomes that are broadly in line with those found nationally. You recognise that, historically, girls have not done as well as boys in writing and in mathematics and that there was not always enough challenge for the most able pupils at key stage 1. Together with your leadership team and governors, you are taking action to improve outcomes for these pupils. While this is showing early signs of success, you know that more needs to be done to increase the proportion of pupils who reach the higher standards of which they are capable. Safeguarding is effective. Governors, staff and parents agree that pupils are safe in this school. The school has a strong culture for safeguarding. There are effective systems that staff understand so that they can take rapid action should they believe a child to be at risk from harm. The lead safeguarding officer is tenacious in following up concerns to ensure that pupils and their families receive the appropriate support in a timely way. She works in close cooperation with other agencies so that concerns can be shared and the right action taken. All adults who work with pupils or who visit school are carefully checked. There are appropriate systems in place to ensure that pupils are safe when using technology. All records and systems are fit for purpose. Pupils say they feel safe in school. They say there is no bullying and that other pupils are kind and friendly. They are very positive about the help and support that adults provide for them. Pupils say that they all get along well together regardless of background and that no one is ever left out. Inspection findings In addition to evaluating the effectiveness of the school’s arrangements for keeping pupils safe, we also focused on the following aspects of the school’s work: – what leaders are doing to ensure that the most able pupils reach the standards of work of which they are capable, particularly in writing and mathematics – effectiveness of actions taken by school leaders to ensure that girls achieve as well as boys, particularly in writing and mathematics – the extent to which the curriculum adds to pupils’ learning and enjoyment of school. Current school performance information shows that a higher proportion of pupils are on course to reach a greater depth in writing and mathematics. Work in pupils’ books shows that pupils in Year 2 work hard and make good progress in writing. Pupils write clearly, using well-chosen vocabulary to express their thoughts and ideas. They show a stamina for writing demonstrating a clear sense of audience and purpose. However, pupils in Year 1 do not always spell and punctuate their work as well as they should. Their handwriting is often untidy and letters are not correctly formed. Pupils do not always present their work neatly. School leaders have reviewed the way in which mathematics is taught and have introduced a new scheme to help the most able pupils to reach the higher standards. This has led to a change in approach that calls for pupils to explain their answers, to reason and to develop a deep understanding of mathematics, particularly regarding their understanding of number. While this has led to an improvement in the proportion of pupils working at a higher standard, the presentation of work in their books is not as neat as it should be. This occasionally leads to inaccuracies in pupils’ answers. For the past two years, published assessment information shows that girls have lagged behind boys in writing and in mathematics. School leaders reviewed the curriculum and introduced topics to engage and motivate girls, while maintaining the interest of boys. For example, they selected key women from history including Florence Nightingale and Mary Seacole as role models to inspire girls. Leaders invited local successful women, including a female airline pilot, to talk to pupils about their work. The most recent assessment information recorded by the school shows that girls are on course to attain similar standards to boys in the national assessments that take place later this year. In most classrooms, girls are equally as keen as boys to take part by responding enthusiastically to teachers’ questions. In Year 2, teachers use well-chosen books, including ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ to inspire both boys and girls. In one class, pupils designed their own chocolates as part of their topic and wrote about how they were to be made. The teacher provided plenty of helpful guidance and so all pupils, including girls, successfully completed the task. In the playground, pupils told me that girls could achieve equally as well as boys across all walks of life, including sports, music and more formal learning. Work in pupils’ books showed very little difference between the work that boys produce and the work that girls produce in both writing and mathematics. School leaders are proud of the rich and stimulating curriculum. Pupils are provided with imaginative experiences that add to their enjoyment of school. Pupils thoroughly enjoy the wide range of subjects they learn. Some subjects, especially art, are taught very well so that pupils develop a range of skills and techniques to create delightful artwork, usually linked to their topic. Displays around the school show how pupils study the work of well-known artists as well as art from other countries to inspire them. There is a strong cultural dimension to the curriculum so pupils learn about the faiths and beliefs of people around the world. This helps to promote their social, moral, spiritual and cultural development very effectively. Teachers link subjects together to allow pupils to gain a wider view of what they are learning. Topics are often supported with visits to local places of interest and this helps pupils to learn about the world around them. However, some subjects, including history and geography, are not always taught in enough depth. As a result, pupils, particularly those in Year 1, do not all develop their skills and knowledge as well as they should. There are long-term plans in place to show what topics pupils will learn as they move through the school. However, these plans, other than for English and mathematics, are at an early stage of development. This means that in some subjects, pupils do not always build systematically on what they have previously learned. Next steps for the school Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that: pupils develop writing skills, including accurate spelling, punctation and handwriting, so that by the time they enter Year 2 they write confidently and precisely pupils across the school present their work neatly and carefully the curriculum is developed to show how pupils are to build their skills and knowledge systematically as they move through the school. I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Buckinghamshire. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website. Yours sincerely Joy Considine Ofsted Inspector Information about the inspection During this short inspection, I visited five classrooms with you to see how well pupils were learning. I looked at work in pupils’ writing, mathematics and topic books. I spoke informally to pupils in the playground and I observed them as they moved around the school. I met with four governors, including the chair of the governing body and I held meetings with you and two of your leaders. I held a telephone discussion with an adviser from the local authority. I scrutinised a range of documentation, including information about how the school keeps pupils safe.