Birkdale High scored Strong standard in four of six areas. Educ8 Southport needs urgent improvement. Every 2026 Ofsted grade for seven local schools.

If you last looked up a local school and found a single word, Outstanding or Good, that word has gone. Ofsted has retired the overall grade. In its place is a report card that grades each part of a school separately.

Seven schools in Southport, Formby and Ainsdale have now been inspected under the new system. The inspections ran from February to June 2026, and the last of the reports was published on 15 July. Every one of the seven met the safeguarding standards.

The results are not uniform. Birkdale High School, the area’s largest with 936 pupils, was graded Strong standard in four of its six areas. At the other end, Educ8 Southport, an independent school on Sussex Road with 12 pupils, needs urgent improvement in both achievement and curriculum and teaching, and failed four of the eight independent school standards categories.

Grid showing Ofsted report card grades for seven Southport and Formby schools inspected in 2026, across achievement, curriculum and teaching, attendance and behaviour, personal development, inclusion, leadership and governance, and early years or post-16 provision

How to read the new grades

The five-point scale is printed in every report:

  • Exceptional
  • Strong standard
  • Expected standard
  • Needs attention
  • Urgent improvement

Safeguarding sits outside that scale and is only met or not met.

The word to be careful with is “expected”. It is the benchmark a school is required to meet, not a near miss and not a warning. Two of the seven schools here were at that level in every single area, which means they are doing what is asked of them across the board.

Ofsted says it normally inspects schools every four years, or at any time if it has concerns. It also carries out monitoring inspections of schools with any area graded needs attention or urgent improvement (Ofsted). Three of the seven schools below fall into that group.

Birkdale High School: strong in four of six

Birkdale High, on Windy Harbour Road, has 936 pupils aged 11 to 16. Inspectors visited on 14 April and the report was published on 23 June (Ofsted report).

It was graded Strong standard in curriculum and teaching, personal development and wellbeing, inclusion, and leadership and governance. Achievement and attendance and behaviour were at the expected standard.

On achievement, the report says pupils do very well in the subjects that matter most at GCSE. “In particular, pupils achieve very well in English, mathematics and science in national examinations at key stage 4. In many cases, pupils now achieve above national averages.” It adds that support for disadvantaged pupils has recently been strengthened but has not yet shifted their attainment.

On inclusion, inspectors picked up the school’s own motto. “The vision of Birkdale High School as ‘A School Where We All Belong’ is lived out in the daily lives of pupils, staff and leaders.” They describe support for pupils with special educational needs as “fully personalised and responsive to their changing needs”.

The curriculum was called “robust and highly ambitious”, with more vocational courses recently added at key stage 4 to widen what pupils can take.

Peterhouse School, Churchtown: strong in five, plus post-16

Peterhouse, on Preston New Road, is an independent school for 70 pupils aged 5 to 19, and its work is built around autism. It was inspected on 21 April, with the report published on 18 June (Ofsted report).

It was graded Strong standard in five areas: attendance and behaviour, personal development and wellbeing, inclusion, leadership and governance, and post-16 provision. Achievement and curriculum and teaching were at the expected standard.

Inspectors said staff make “thoughtful changes to classrooms, routines and resources across the school” so pupils feel secure and develop independence. On achievement, they noted that progress is evident but that checks on learning “need to be used more consistently” so that progress shows clearly across the whole curriculum.

Ainsdale St John’s: strong leadership, achievement needs attention

Ainsdale St John’s Church of England Primary, on Sandbrook Road, has 190 pupils. It was inspected on 10 February, the earliest of the seven, and the report came out on 20 April (Ofsted report).

It was graded Strong standard in three areas: attendance and behaviour, inclusion, and leadership and governance. Curriculum and teaching, personal development and early years were at the expected standard. Achievement needs attention.

The leadership section is unusually direct about where the school has come from. “Leaders recognise that published outcomes have been poor. They have worked tirelessly to improve the offer for pupils, resulting in pupils across the school now achieving well.” Inspectors describe pupils who “go out of their way to support and look after others, without adult direction”.

Two schools at the expected standard in every area

Two local primaries were graded at the expected standard across the board, with nothing above it and nothing below:

  • Holy Trinity Church of England Primary School, Southport, Manchester Road, 207 pupils. Inspected 2 June, published 8 July (Ofsted report).
  • Woodlands Primary School, Woodlands Road, Formby, 349 pupils. Inspected 21 April, published 19 June (Ofsted report).

That is a clean set of results. Under the old system neither would have carried a single label at all.

St John’s, Crossens: reading and phonics flagged

St John’s Church of England Primary on Rufford Road in Crossens has 158 pupils. It was inspected on 9 June and its report, published on 15 July, is the most recent of the seven (Ofsted report).

Four areas need attention: achievement, curriculum and teaching, leadership and governance, and early years. Attendance and behaviour, personal development and wellbeing, and inclusion were at the expected standard.

The specific concern is early reading. “Achievement is uneven,” the report says. “Too many pupils do not secure early reading knowledge and skills. Gaps in pupils’ phonics knowledge limits later fluency and comprehension.” Writing was called inconsistent, with weaknesses in spelling and grammar. Inspectors also said staff checks on pupils’ learning “do not consistently address errors or help pupils to catch up”.

The same report records real progress elsewhere, and it is worth setting out plainly:

  • The proportion of pupils meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics combined has risen year on year.
  • In national maths tests and the multiplication tables check, attainment is close to the national average.
  • Disadvantaged pupils attain well compared with their peers nationally.
  • Persistent absence is lower than national levels, including for disadvantaged pupils and pupils with special educational needs.
  • Curriculum design was judged successful, with a positive impact in science and the wider curriculum.

Inspectors also singled out the school’s community work. Year 5 pupils visit a local care home to sing to residents. Visits from the police, fire service and lifeboat service reinforce water safety, which the report calls “an important consideration” in this part of the coast.

Educ8 Southport: urgent improvement and four standards not met

Educ8 Southport, at 197a Sussex Road, is an independent school registered for pupils aged 13 to 16. It had 12 pupils on roll. It was inspected on 10 March and the report was published on 15 May (Ofsted report).

Two areas were graded urgent improvement, the lowest grade on the scale: achievement, and curriculum and teaching. The other four areas need attention. Safeguarding standards were met.

“Pupils significantly underachieve,” the report says. “They do not reach the standards that they should, given their starting points. Many have significant gaps in basic English and mathematics. These gaps continue unchecked.” On teaching, inspectors found “critical and substantial shortcomings in how well staff deliver the curriculum”, with many staff lacking the subject knowledge they need.

Independent schools are also measured against the independent school standards, which are met or not met by category. Educ8 failed four of the eight:

Category Outcome
1. Quality of education provided Standards not met
2. Spiritual, moral, social and cultural development Standards not met
3. Welfare, health and safety of pupils Standards not met
4. Suitability of staff, supply staff and proprietors Standards met
5. Premises and accommodation Standards met
6. Provision of information Standards met
7. Manner in which complaints are handled Standards met
8. Quality of leadership and management Standards not met

The report does credit a change of direction. It says the proprietor and governors now have “effective systems in place to ensure that they understand the school’s strengths and failings” and have introduced a new leadership structure, but that “this progress is at an early and fragile stage”.

One 2026 document that is not an inspection

Merefield School on Westminster Drive shows a 2026 document on the Ofsted site, but it is not an inspection report. It is an academy conversion letter (Ofsted). The school converted to academy status, which legally closes the old school and opens a new one in its place. That means the new entity has not yet been inspected. Its predecessor school’s inspection history stays on the site in the meantime.

What it means for you

If you are choosing a school, or you have just had a place confirmed for September, the practical points are these.

  • There is no single grade to compare any more. You have to read the areas. A school can be strong on inclusion and only at the expected standard on achievement, and that is a meaningful distinction rather than a contradiction.
  • Expected standard is a pass, not a warning. Two of the seven schools here sit at the expected standard in every single area, with nothing below it.
  • Needs attention triggers a return visit. Ainsdale St John’s, St John’s in Crossens and Educ8 will get monitoring inspections because of the areas graded below the benchmark.
  • Check the inspection date, not just the publication date. Several of these reports describe a school as it was in February, April or June, and schools graded needs attention are usually already acting on it.
  • The full reports are free to read. Each link above goes to the school’s Ofsted page, where the report card is a short PDF, typically far more readable than the old inspection reports.

Every school named here met the safeguarding standards. Under the new system that means Ofsted judged that all legal requirements are met, and that there is an open and positive culture of safeguarding.

If you are weighing up an area as well as a school, our page on house prices across Southport and Sefton breaks the borough down by postcode district, and Southport roadworks and travel covers what is currently shut on the school run.

Frequently asked questions

Does Ofsted still give schools an overall grade?

No. The single overall judgement, Outstanding, Good, Requires improvement or Inadequate, has gone. Each part of a school is now graded separately on a five-point scale: Exceptional, Strong standard, Expected standard, Needs attention or Urgent improvement. Safeguarding is judged separately and is only met or not met.

Is “expected standard” a bad Ofsted grade?

No. Expected standard is the benchmark a school is required to meet. It is not a near miss and not a warning. Two of the seven schools graded locally in 2026, Holy Trinity in Southport and Woodlands in Formby, sit at the expected standard in every area.

Which Southport schools were graded Strong standard in 2026?

Birkdale High School was graded Strong standard in four of its six areas: curriculum and teaching, personal development and wellbeing, inclusion, and leadership and governance. Peterhouse School in Churchtown was Strong standard in five areas plus its post-16 provision. Ainsdale St John’s was Strong standard in three.

Which local schools will be inspected again sooner?

Ofsted says it carries out monitoring inspections of schools with any area graded needs attention or urgent improvement. That applies to Ainsdale St John’s, St John’s in Crossens and Educ8 Southport.

Did any Southport school fail on safeguarding?

No. All seven schools inspected in the area in 2026 met the safeguarding standards, including Educ8 Southport, which was graded urgent improvement in two other areas.

Where can I read the full Ofsted report for my child’s school?

Each school has its own page on the Ofsted reports website, linked in the sources below. The 2026 report card is a short PDF, and it prints the grade for every area alongside the inspector’s reasoning.

Sources

Pupil numbers and age ranges are as published on each school’s Ofsted page. Grades are quoted from the report cards themselves.