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Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T 0300 123 1231 www.gov.uk/ofsted

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Pat Speed Headteacher Great Crosby Catholic Primary School The Northern Road Crosby Sefton L23 2RQ

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Ofsted visit to Great Crosby Catholic Primary School

Following my visit with Garry White, Her Majesty’s Inspector (HMI), to your school on 6 October 2020, I write on behalf of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills to confirm the visit’s findings. Thank you for the time you made available to discuss your actions since September 2020, when the government expected all schools to open fully to all pupils.

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Ofsted visit to Great Crosby Catholic Primary School

This visit was conducted under section 8 of the Education Act 2005 (as amended) and in accordance with Ofsted’s published procedures for visiting schools while routine inspections are temporarily suspended.

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Ofsted visit to Great Crosby Catholic Primary School

Ofsted’s visits to schools during the autumn term are not inspections. We are not giving graded judgements. We did not undertake the usual range of inspection activities and were unable to check other sources of evidence, such as visits to lessons or looking at pupils’ work. The content of this letter gives an overview of our discussions about what has happened in your school this term.

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Ofsted visit to Great Crosby Catholic Primary School

During the visit, we spoke to you, two assistant headteachers and three phase leaders. We did not speak to pupils because of the protective measures in place.

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Context

Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills is leading Ofsted’s work into how England’s education system is managing the return to full education for pupils following an extended break in formal schooling due to the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic.

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Context

In undertaking this focused work, HMI are visiting a broad range of schools. HMI will visit a sample of:

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Context

 approximately 1,200 schools across all Ofsted grades (outstanding, good, requires improvement and inadequate)  maintained schools, academies and free schools, special schools and centres of alternative provision, including those in cities, and coastal, town or rural communities.

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Context

The information from this visit will feed into Ofsted’s national reporting so that the insights can be shared with the government and the education sector. We did not find any significant concerns during the visit. In such a case, an inspection report would be published on our website and available to parents and carers.

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Context

We did not consider your response to COVID-19 during the spring and summer terms 2020, when the school was not open to all pupils.

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From this visit, inspectors noted that:

 The school reopened for all pupils on 3 September 2020.  Attendance is similar to the usual attendance for this time of year. Children and staff from the Reception Year ‘bubble’ are working at home.  Pupils are not studying the content of their usual curriculum. As part of the temporary curriculum, you have amended the order in which some subject content is taught. You plan to return to the usual curriculum by the start of the summer term 2021.  Checks on pupils’ knowledge in reading have led teachers to alter what they usually teach, to help pupils close any new gaps in pupils’ learning. In phonics, teachers are focusing on helping pupils blend letter sounds together. In Years 3 to 6, there are more opportunities for pupils to practise their comprehension skills.  In mathematics, assessment of what pupils know showed you that some pupils have forgotten learning from before and during the period when schools were

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From this visit, inspectors noted that:

only open to some pupils due to COVID-19 restrictions. You have changed the timetable, so teachers can spend more time teaching the areas of mathematics that pupils have not fully remembered.  Pupils study the full range of subjects. You plan to check what pupils have remembered in these subjects by the end of December 2020.  Teachers use a variety of resources to deliver education to pupils working at home. Teachers are trained in the safe use of online platforms to deliver the remote learning. You plan to improve how teachers assess and feedback about the work that pupils complete at home.

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From this visit, inspectors noted that:

Thank you again for contributing to this important national work. The views and experiences you have shared will help to inform future policy.

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From this visit, inspectors noted that:

I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the director of education for the Archdiocese of Liverpool, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Sefton. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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