LETTER FROM LONDON
Almost a year ago, on January 8, 2023, Ruth Perry, 53, a popular headteacher at Caversham Primary School in Reading, a large university town west of London, took her own life after her institution was downgraded. from the “outstanding” category to “unsatisfactory” by a team from Ofsted, the ministerial body responsible for assessing English schools. This tragedy sparked a national debate about Ofsted's methods and the enormous pressure placed on school leaders responsible for running institutions that too often lack resources.
On Tuesday 2 January 2024, Ofsted's new chief inspector, Sir Martyn Oliver, admitted that the agency could have been “much more sensitive” in its assessments and that Ms Perry's death was “a terrible tragedy” for directors. This former director of the Outwood Grange Academies Trust (a group of notoriously difficult primary and secondary schools in the north of England) also announced the suspension of all Ofsted inspections until further notice in a timely manner so that his staff could be properly trained to take teachers' mental health into account and school principals.
Last December, Berkshire County Coroner Heidi Connor concluded that Oftsed's inspection of Caversham School in November 2022 “contributed” to Ruth Perry's suicide, confirming the words of those close to the headteacher. Ms Connor described the inspection as “brutal and intimidating” and said that during those two days of investigation “the mental health of…” was affected [Mme Perry] “Her condition deteriorated significantly” before she committed suicide a few weeks later.
Feelings of failure and guilt
It was John Major's government that introduced the principle of two to three day inspections in the early 1990s to check the care of pupils and the quality of teaching in schools. Starting in 2005, surprise inspections were introduced, with one or two days' notice given to operations managers. At the end, an evaluation is formulated, with four evaluation criteria to choose from: “excellent”, “good”, “satisfactory” or “unsatisfactory”.
These single adjective ratings are crucial: While parents can choose the private school of their choice for their children, applying to a public school requires them to have a nearby address. It is not uncommon for them to plan their real estate projects around their children's future schools. In any case, real estate agencies systematically indicate the presence of establishments considered “excellent” to promote their properties. And schools don't hesitate to proudly display their rankings in their tables. In relation to Caversham School, which has around 400 children aged between 4 and 11, the inspection team concluded that the school was not adequately supervised during break times and that pupil absences were not adequately controlled .
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