‘Schools should be able to work with Ofsted before the final report is made public’ says sister of Caversham Primary head teacher Ruth Perry
THE SISTER of a headteacher who took her own life after a devastating Ofsted inspection has renewed her call for submissions to the Department of Education before a consultation closes, in a bid to reform the system.
Professor Julia Waters was responding to a reinspection of Caversham Primary School, which now has a Good rating.
She said this backed up her assertion that schools should be able to work with Ofsted before the final report is made available to the public.
In November last year, inspectors judged the primary school in Hemdean Road to be inadequate. This verdict led to headteacher Ruth Perry’s death by suicide.
Prof Water said she wanted to commend the team at the school: “To have achieved a ‘good’ judgment in all areas is testament to their hard work and dedication, as well as to the actions that Ruth had already taken to address the issues identified during the November 2022 inspection,” she said, adding that all the members of the senior leadership team at Caversham were appointed or promoted, trained and led by Ms Perry during her 16 years as deputy and head teacher.
“They have never been anything other than excellent, caring and professional,” Prof Water said.
“That Caversham Primary School could be judged ‘good’ in all areas just months after the previous ‘inadequate’ judgment amply proves what all those who knew Ruth and the school have known all along. Ruth’s leadership was not inadequate and Caversham Primary was never a failing school.”
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And the reversal of the previous judgment a few months after the previous inspection was something that Prof Waters felt “illustrates why schools should be given the opportunity to correct any technical weaknesses before the final report is published.
“An inspection should be about helping schools with independent scrutiny, not catching them out and publicly shaming them.
“Ofsted’s use of safeguarding as a ‘limiting judgment’, overriding all other strengths and complexities of a school, puts headteachers in that position of constant jeopardy.”
She continued: “That Ruth was left feeling suicidal as a result of Ofsted’s previous judgment demonstrates, in the most tragic way possible, the intolerably high stakes created by the current inspection system.
“Ruth was not the first headteacher or teacher to take her own life following an Ofsted inspection. I am determined that she should be the last.
“Parents, pupils and teachers deserve an inspection regime that they can trust and which supports schools to do the best for every child. I urge everyone who wants to see a reformed schools inspection system to respond to the Education Committee’s call for evidence to its forthcoming parliamentary inquiry.”
Submissions must be made by Thursday, July 20, and can be done so by logging on to: https://committees.parliament.uk/work/7761/ofsteds-work-with-schools/
