The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection.

• Your school has continued to improve. Standards in English and mathematics at the end of key stage 2 have risen. In 2018, the proportion of pupils attaining the expected standard for their age in reading, writing and mathematics was above average. Similarly, the most able pupils attain well by the time they leave the school. The proportion of younger pupils securing the expected standard in the phonics screening check has improved too. These are commendable achievements. Your clear thinking and diligence have meant that you have maintained the school’s strengths since the last inspection and further improved on some of them.

• You have been thorough and methodical in addressing the areas for improvement identified during the previous inspection. Reading is now promoted well and entices pupils to devour their reading books and develop a love of reading. Younger pupils appreciate feedback from new technology, which tells them how well they are reading. Older pupils form strong opinions and preferences and learn to justify these by retrieving and deducing information. They sharpen their skills of inference well in history. Pupils can be justifiably proud of the work they achieved when commemorating the First World War. Pupils appreciate the work you have led to refine your feedback systems. The learning council representatives value being part of this work so that pupils understand what they must achieve in writing, and are excited about transferring this practice to mathematics.

• All leaders – including governors – have an unswerving mission to enable pupils to thrive as learners. Your collective values help pupils to become confident individuals who want to take on responsibilities across their school life. Your design of the curriculum helps them to develop empathy for others’ hardship or disabilities and regular charity work cements a strong moral purpose in pupils. Parents and carers particularly appreciate this aspect of the school’s work to create a strong sense of family. One parent commented, ‘Arundel Church of England School is just that: ACE! It puts the individual child at the heart of all it does.’ Others strongly echoed this view.