Setting

Mrs Collette Denby Headteacher St Christopher's Catholic Primary School Tarbock Road Liverpool Merseyside L24 0SN

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Catholic Primary School

Following my visit to your school on Wednesday 30 April, I write on behalf of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills to confirm the outcome and inspection findings. Thank you for the help you gave during the inspection and for the time you made available to discuss the actions which have been taken since the school’s most recent section 5 inspection.

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Catholic Primary School

The inspection was the first monitoring inspection since the school was judged to have serious weaknesses in November 2013. It was carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005.

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Evidence

During this monitoring inspection, meetings were held with yourself; your two assistant headteachers; two members of the governing body, including the Chair; a representative of the local authority; and eight pupils. I looked at information relating to pupils’ progress and your leadership team’s records of teaching and learning quality over time. I also toured the school, visiting every class. The local authority’s statement of action and the school’s action plans were evaluated.

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Context

Since the November 2013 inspection there have been a small number of changes in staffing. A Nursery teacher began maternity leave in February 2014 and a temporary teacher has been appointed to cover another maternity leave, this time in Year 1. Additional teacher support has been provided for booster classes with Year 6 pupils. CfBT Inspection Services Suite 22 West Lancs Investment Centre Maple View Skelmersdale WN8 9TG T 0300 123 1231 Text Phone: 0161 6188524 enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk www.ofsted.gov.uk Direct T 01695 566863 Direct F 01695 729320 Direct email : jbennett@cfbt.com

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The quality of leadership and management at the school

The school community as a whole was disappointed with the outcome of the November 2013 inspection. Nevertheless, a line has been drawn in the sand and you, your senior leaders and governors have focused all efforts on the school becoming a good school. Parents are supportive of the school as seen by the numbers attending family support sessions.

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The quality of leadership and management at the school

Already there are signs of improvement. Attendance and punctuality are improving; no mean feat given the road works around school at present. Pupils spoken with reported more recently that they have had greater opportunities to write across the curriculum. I too saw evidence of this. In discussions with pupils and in my tour of the school, I also saw pupils linking learning across subjects. For example, Year 1 pupils were constructing bar charts and pictograms following their insect hunt the previous day. It was also good to hear of pupils’ enjoyment of reading. Adults in school provide a good example to pupils by having on their classroom and office doors information about the books they themselves are reading. Standards expected at the end of Key Stages 1 and 2 are predicted to rise from those attained in 2013, including at the higher levels.

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The quality of leadership and management at the school

The monitoring and evaluation of the school’s progress by yourself, your senior leaders and the governing body is developing well. Like you, governors have acted with urgency. A review of governance has taken place and the checking of the school’s progress is regular. Records show, for example, an improving picture in teaching and learning quality based on observations of lessons, the scrutiny of pupils’ work, and information from assessments. This is providing you all with a clear picture of where strengths and areas to develop lie. We agreed these records could be sharpened if, following feedback to teachers, any areas to develop were followed up more swiftly and outcomes recorded. We also agreed, while opportunities for pupils to write across the curriculum are being developed, more needs to be done to ensure that assessments truly reflect pupils’ abilities. This means, for example, a pupil who is working at Level 5 in writing writes routinely at least at that standard in

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The quality of leadership and management at the school

The support and challenge of the local authority has been sharply focused on the most important areas. The local authority review undertaken in February 2014, carried out at your request, has provided you with a most thorough picture which you, your senior leaders and governors are using well to help the school improve. The plans produced by the local authority and yourself point the way forward well. Timescales for the removal of serious weaknesses are challenging but realistic.

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The quality of leadership and management at the school

Following the monitoring inspection the following judgements were made:

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The quality of leadership and management at the school

The school’s action plans are fit for purpose The local authority’s statement of action is fit for purpose.

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The quality of leadership and management at the school

I am copying this letter to the Secretary of State, the Chair of the Governing Body, the Director of Children’s Services for Liverpool, and the Archdiocese of Liverpool. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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