Setting

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

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Amanda Lamkin Headteacher St Andrews C of E Aided Primary School Townfield Lane Lower Bebington Wirral Merseyside CH63 7NL

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Ofsted remote visit to St Andrews C of E Aided Primary School

Following my remote visit with John Tomlinson, Her Majesty’s Inspector (HMI), to your school on 1 December 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 remote visit to St Andrews C of E Aided 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. Following changes to government guidance and the imposition of COVID-19 (coronavirus) lockdown restrictions, we made this visit remotely to reduce pressure on the school.

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Ofsted remote visit to St Andrews C of E Aided 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 remote visit to St Andrews C of E Aided Primary School

During the visit, we spoke to you and three other leaders, including the deputy headteacher. We did not speak to pupils.

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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 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:

 Approximately half of the pupils have had to learn from home for a period since the start of term.  Pupils are studying all the subjects from the primary national curriculum. You have amended the timetable for this term so that teachers can spend more time teaching mathematics and reading. You plan for pupils to study their usual curriculum in all subjects before summer 2021.  In reading, teachers have checked what pupils remember since March 2020 and have identified that some pupils need additional help with aspects of this subject. In Year 2, teachers are re-teaching some of the words that do not follow the usual spelling rules so that pupils can read these words easily.  Teachers’ assessments of pupils’ mathematics have helped them to identify which units of work need renewed attention this term. Since March 2020, some pupils in Year 3 have forgotten which pairs of numbers can be added together to make a given number. Teachers are giving pupils extra practice to

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From this visit, inspectors noted that:

remember these facts and use them to solve simple number problems.  Teachers are combining the teaching of some missed work in some subjects with that in other subjects. In Year 3, teachers plan for pupils to learn how to make graphs with a computer in their science lessons. This is because teachers did not teach this part of the computing curriculum in Year 2 during the period that the school was closed to some pupils due to COVID-19 restrictions.  If pupils need to learn from home, teachers provide work linked to the planned lessons at school. Where a class ‘bubble’ is studying from home, teaching includes the class meeting together online, for example to listen to shared story time.

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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 Diocese of Chester, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Wirral. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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