READING East MP Matt Rodda met with the education secretary last week to discuss concerns about Ofsted’s single-word judgments.
He was joined by Julia Waters, the sister of Caversham Primary School headteacher Ruth Perry, who died by suicide in the wake of the ‘inadequate’ report given to the school.
Also attending were Lisa Telling, the chair of Reading Primary Heads, and Edmund Barnett-Ward, a parent whose child attends Caversham Primary.
The meeting followed an announcement in June that certain parts of Ofsted inspections would be reviewed. It included a fast-track scheme that would see inspectors return within three months to schools graded inadequate.
At the time, chief inspector Amanda Spielman said: “When we inspect schools our priority must always be children’s education and wellbeing – but at the same time we want to make sure inspection is as positive an experience for school staff as it can be.
“Since the sad death of Ruth Perry, there has been considerable debate around Ofsted’s work and I want to reassure people that we are listening to their concerns, and thinking carefully about how we can revise aspects of our work without losing our clear focus on the needs of children and their parents.
“We have listened to many voices in this debate. I’m particularly grateful to union leaders, other sector representatives and the Secretary of State for the constructive discussions we’ve had over the last couple of months, which have helped us with this package of measures.”
Following his meeting with education secretary Gillian Keegan, he said: “We had a productive meeting, however the Government has still not agreed to removing the single word judgment from Ofsted reports, despite concerns about this approach.
“I would like to see reports describing a range of strengths of a school when it is inspected and for inspectors to offer more support to heads and teachers, changing the culture of Ofsted.”
“The meeting did make some progress and I want to thank the Education Secretary for engaging with us. For example, we discussed how headteachers whose schools have been inspected could be given more support, through being allowed to discuss their school’s draft report with a slightly wider group of colleagues.”
He added: “I am continuing to work with Julia Waters, Lisa Telling, who is chair of Reading Primary Heads and a parent representative to call for more significant reform of Ofsted.”
Last week, it was announced that Sir Martyn Oliver would succeed Amanda Spielman as Ofsted’s chief inspector.
Reading Today made a decision not to report on school and nursery Ofsted inspections until the system has been reformed.
