‘Intimidating’ Ofsted inspection contributed to head’s death, coroner concludes

A coroner has concluded that a “rude and intimidating” Ofsted inspection contributed to the death headteacher of Ruth Perry.

Ms Perry, 53, took her own life months after Caversham Primary School in Reading was downgraded from “outstanding” to “inadequate” after safeguarding concerns were raised during an inspection by the school’s watchdog in November last year.

Ms Perry’s death sparked an outcry among headteachers across the country and led to widespread calls for Ofsted to revamp its one-word school ratings system.

Recording her death as a suicide, senior coroner Heidi Connor concluded that the Ofsted inspection had contributed to her death following a six-day inquest.

Commenting on the conduct of lead inspector Alan Derry, the coroner said: “I find that parts of the inspection were conducted in a manner which lacked fairness, respect and sensitivity, to quote from Ofsted’s code of conduct.

“It was at times rude and intimidating. This likely had an effect on Ruth’s ability to deal fully with the inspection process. Parts of this inspection were very much done to rather than with this school.”

Ms Connor said the evidence was “clear” that Ms Perry’s mental health deterioration and death was likely contributed to by the Ofsted inspection – citing a number of factors including the way it was conducted, Ofsted’s single-word judgement policy and the requirement for headteachers to keep draft judgements confidential until a report is published.

The coroner found Ms Perry “felt obliged to bear this burden on her own” due to Ofsted’s rules banning headteachers from sharing the draft outcome of an Ofsted inspection until it is published – sometimes months later.

This meant that, despite her distress, the headteacher was unwilling to discuss the inspection with mental health professionals.

Reading comments made by Ms Perry before she died, the coroner said: “Ruth stated that ‘This is the most untherapeutic and inhumane system, to have this on one person’s shoulders. I am amazed there are not more heads killing themselves… the shame, the pressure, loss of income, where do I go next, I am too young to retire. The Ofsted system has to change. It is totally wrong that one person is made to feel like this.’”

Ms Perry’s family members, including her husband Jonathan Perry and sister Professor Julia Waters had been in court throughout the inquest.

(Brighter Futures for Children)

In a Prevention of Future Deaths Notice to Ofsted and the Department for Education, the coroner will highlight concerns over the impact of their grading system on school leader’s welfare.

“The current system allows a school which is inadequate in all areas to receive the same overall label as a school which is good in all areas, but with some safeguarding issues which can be repaired by the time the report is published,” she said, adding that schools would face academisation and potential job losses as a result.

Ms Connor will also highlight concerns over lack of training to allow inspectors to identify signs of distress in school leaders and how to respond, including means to pause an inspection.

In a scathing comments on Ofsted’s response to the tragedy, the coroner said the school’s watchdog had failed carry out a learning review in the wake of Ms Perry’s death.

“There is a risk of future deaths if there is only lip service paid to learning from tragedies like this,” she added.

Ofsted’s work with schools is also subject to a parliamentary inquiry led by the Education Committee, launched in the wake of Ms Perry’s death.

The coroner will also issue a Prevention of Future Deaths Notice to Reading Borough Council over concerns they did not carry out an internal review and the need for a more robust approach around Ofsted inspections to reassure headteachers that their employer “has their back”.

The inquest heard how Ms Perry, a “doting” mother of two, had been preparing to move into her family’s dream home and loved her job leading Caversham Primary School, where she had been a pupil herself.

When Ofsted announced its first inspection in 13 years on 15 November last year, her husband said she was happy to finally have the opportunity to showcase the school’s strengths.

However Ms Perry was reduced to tears and left shaking and incoherent in a meeting with lead inspector Alan Derry on the first day of the inspection, after he identified problems with the school’s record keeping on safeguarding.

At home later she appeared “distraught and distressed”, her husband said, adding that she felt Mr Derry was a “bully” with an agenda.

“She repeated that she felt the lead inspector had an agenda, she felt he was a bully and that if she disagreed with his interpretation of something … he’d accused her of being ‘in denial’. She was destroyed and humiliated,” the court heard in a written statement from Mr Perry.

School business manager Nicola Leroy told the inquest that Ms Perry felt intimidated by Mr Derry. A different school colleague described him as “mocking and unpleasant”, claiming he “sniggered” in a meeting with school leaders during the two-day inspection.

In her final meeting with inspectors, she broke down in tears and appeared in “physical pain” after learning her school had been graded ‘good’ in all areas apart from leadership and management which was ‘inadequate’ due to the safeguarding concerns.

(PA)

The inspector told a governor that children were safe and the record keeping problems could be rectified within 30 days. However, thanks to Ofsted’s summary judgement policy, the error meant the school would be graded inadequate overall – which would likely lead to it being forced to become an academy.

The following weekend, Ms Perry confided to her colleagues that she was feeling suicidal and they urged her to contact her GP, while they notified the local authority and school governors. Less than two months later, she took her own life.

Ms Perry’s deputy headteachers, now acting co-heads at Caversham, and her GP of 30 years all told the hearing they believe the disastrous Ofsted inspection was directly linked to her death.

In her final weeks she “kept repeating that she had let everyone down” and feared she would lose her job as the family’s main breadwinner.

The coroner was told that while Ofsted guidance states that inspectors must take “all reasonable steps to prevent undue anxiety and manage stress”, there was no specific written guidance about what to do if a headteacher becomes distressed during an inspection.

Responding to the conclusion, a Brighter Futures for Children and Reading Borough Council spokesman paid tribute to Ms Perry as an “exceptional” headteacher, adding: “We fully acknowledge and accept the Coroner’s recommendations.

“We have taken a number of steps to better understand and respond to what impacts on headteachers’ wellbeing and to identify wellbeing concerns from the start of an Ofsted inspection.”