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Original poster

Ruth Perry - OFSTED ‘contributed to death of Headteacher’

286 replies

JVJ24601 · 07/12/2023 19:38

The Coroner today recorded that OFSTED contributed to Ruth Perry’s death.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-67612233

An OFSTED inspector - ALAN DERRY - and his lack of professionalism, his lack of fairness, contributed to another human being’s death.

That is not an opinion that is a fact as recorded by the Coroner.

The Coroner also found that “parts of the ALAN DERRY’S inspection were conducted in a manner which lacked fairness”.

Regulators like ALAN DERRY exist to ensure fairness and proper procedures are followed by others. Why did ALAN DERRY allow his inspection to be unfair?

Our children, teachers, support staff and headteachers need immediate protection from an inspection process so appalling that is has contributed to a person’s death.

The Head of OFSTED has announced a day of training next week to fix this issue.

A day of training.

A day of training to help Inspectors not contribute to a person taking their own life. If an organisation needs training so that its employees don’t contribute to the deaths of others - then that organisation is not fit for purpose and its leadership, culture and moral compass are either absent or so woeful and professionally incompetent that they are simply negligent in the duties as a public body.

I believe a crowdfunding page is being established this week to possibly fund and pursue a case of Corporate Manslaughter against OFSTED now that their role in Ruth Perry’s death has been established.

How awful that a system of school inspection has become such a deranged quango. All power and no responsibility is such a toxic mix - and one here that has contributed to the death of another person.

What if another Head or Teacher takes their life in the coming weeks or months because of OFSTED - how awful would that be? How culpable would that make those who do not make seismic changes now.

Unprofessionalism of this level will not be cured by a day’s training and some tweaks.

Only complete and immediate overhaul - led by the SoS for Education and the Government can ensure this tragic event is not repeated in the coming months.

Graphic showing handwriting, a person writing in a notebook, and a headshot of head teacher Ruth Perry

I.N.A.D.E.Q.U.A.T.E - Ruth Perry’s despair in handwritten notes

In the days following an inspection at her school, the head teacher wrote down her innermost thoughts.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-67612233

OP posts:
Thread gallery
27
noblegiraffe · 08/12/2023 13:42

What happens after an inadequate grade is usually very difficult:

Taken over by an academy trust with no choice over which one so it could be one with a very different ethos to the school (think silent corridors very strict type)

Headteacher usually forced to quit

A lot of SLT and teachers will leave because working for an inadequate school is really hard work, and being taken over by an academy trust can be stressful

Parents will take their kids out. Fewer pupils means less funding

The school will struggle to recruit new staff because teachers don’t want to work for an inadequate school

House prices which can be artificially high in the catchment of an outstanding school can drop

The impact is dreadful, the stakes are so high. Basically the school as-was is gone.

Abhannmor · 08/12/2023 14:24

High time all these quangos were swept away. They seem to have a perverse incentive to find fault with everyone and everything.
Last year my niece left teaching. Fed up with the office politics and constant criticism. I was surprised and perhaps a little disappointed, knowing how enthusiastic and hardworking she is. Ashamed to say I didn't realise the extent of the problem.
RIP Ruth Perry.

Honolululu · 08/12/2023 14:24

Ironically, Ofsted's own framework makes me less likely to send my own children to an Outstanding school. What they look for in a primary school is certainly not what I want for my own children. I want them to be taught well across the curriculum and be happy. I don't want them wasting time being assessed constantly or never being allowed to chat to the teacher because of 'lost learning time' or having SEND classmates ignored (because if they start below and finish below, that's fine for your data) or encouraged to leave the school.

Honolululu · 08/12/2023 14:27

lizzy8230 · 08/12/2023 07:23

Ofsted needs to be got rid of. Not 'tweaked' with a bit of extra training and platitudes. It's systemic failings mean that total reform is needed. Of course schools need to be monitored, safeguarding checks need to be made and good quality standards upheld. No one is denying that. But Ofsted fails spectacularly in making any meaningful positive impact.

The single word judgement is a particularly appalling feature - it really tells parents, staff and the wider public nothing. A school like Ruth Perry's - where according to the report, teaching and learning were great, parents happy, the children felt safe, but there were some procedural failings with some staff being uncertain of the precise process to record safeguarding concerns - how in gods name does it help to slap an 'inadequate' label on the school and then disappear? Of course those failings need to be addressed- which they could have been, in a matter of weeks, while withholding any kind of overall headline judgement. The reality was that this was a very good school with a successful well liked head teacher and where there were some procedural errors which needed to be addressed. There was no evidence of children not being safe, it was a case of some processes not being known correctly by some staff.

It would have been far better for everyone - staff, children and parents- if these errors had been addressed in a supportive and rapid way, so that Ruth Perry could get on with running the school. How in gods name does it help anyone that in a situation like this, rather than supporting a school to improve, a summary judgement is slapped on the school which can then take literally years to change, even though the actual errors might be sorted within weeks? All within the context of the head teacher and other senior staff being silenced for literally weeks until a report is published?

Ofsted inspectors have to work within a framework so technically, yes, Alan Derry had no choice but to follow the rules and make this judgement. Which then leads to the question: what sort of people choose to work within such an appalling, not fit for purpose organisation? Knowing that they're handing down judgements that are flawed because they fail to show the reality of what goes in a school? I imagine many of us know the answer to that .... sadly many of these people have a bullying, confrontational approach. Or they're the 'tick box' teachers who were never inspirational in the classroom themselves, and couldn't wait to get out, but see it as some sort of achievement to go and work within the toxic Ofsted organisation.

So the response to this is one day of 'training' for Ofsted lead inspectors. Utter insult. Ofsted needs to be shut down and replaced with a robust but supportive process staffed by proper professionals, not by box ticking bullies who get off on humiliating people who've actually got the integrity to still be working in schools.

I know a man who was head of 3 small, rural schools for many years. The schools were successful, with low staff turnover and happy parents. He became an Ofsted inspector because it is the same pay for what he describes as a much easier job. The main thing that made headship hard? Ofsted.

lizzy8230 · 08/12/2023 14:56

@Honolululu that says it all doesn't it? Confused

I hope any decent Ofsted inspectors are now at the very least questioning whether they are comfortable continuing to work in an organisation that's not fit for purpose and which is now officially on record as contributing to the death of a well regarded head teacher.

No doubt the incompetent ones - the bullies, or the robotic tick-box ones - will cling on because it's easier to judge others than to be successful in the classroom yourself

Figment1982 · 08/12/2023 16:24

This case has absolutely filled me with horror and sadness. I am not in the profession so don't have any insight, although I can see from this thread that the entire inspection regime needs to be overhauled.

Clearly that won't happen in the short term. I was wondering... would at least an interim solution be to get rid of the one word 'grade' for the report? So the reports still get published, with all the detail, but there's not an actual grade at the end of it.

Appuskidu · 08/12/2023 16:28

Figment1982 · 08/12/2023 16:24

This case has absolutely filled me with horror and sadness. I am not in the profession so don't have any insight, although I can see from this thread that the entire inspection regime needs to be overhauled.

Clearly that won't happen in the short term. I was wondering... would at least an interim solution be to get rid of the one word 'grade' for the report? So the reports still get published, with all the detail, but there's not an actual grade at the end of it.

I have just listened to this morning’s Women’s Hour. Ruth Perry’s sister talks about her meetings with Gillian Keegan-Secretary of State for education-over the last year. Apparently she is refusing to budge on high stakes one-word judgements even though that would be a very quick change and would probably massively improve recruitment/retention. I believe Labour intend to get rid of them if they get in though.

ABCXYZ17 · 08/12/2023 16:38

Criminal record checks had not been carried out on staff working in the school. This is inadequate.

I want my child to go to a school where I know the professionals employed to work there actually carry out basic safeguarding checks.

The headteacher should not have been made to feel so alone in that. The governors and local authority also have responsibility there.

One word judgements are insisted on by the department for education. If these went there would be much less stress.

Appuskidu · 08/12/2023 16:43

One word judgements are insisted on by the department for education. If these went there would be much less stress.

I completely agree. I have taught for 25+ years and done many Ofsteds. The most recent one was the worst and I am just not prepared to do another. I am planning my escape, but actually I love many parts of my job and could easily carry on till retirement (still 20 years to go) but am not going to be around for that level of build up, pressure and stress. Not on top of the menopause!

HippoStraw · 08/12/2023 16:46

It affects recruitment and retention too. I personally won’t move jobs to a school which is RI, because ofsted come more frequently, not because of the school itself. Nor will I apply to a school due an inspection in the next year.

HarrowToCroydon · 08/12/2023 17:07

Would it help Labour get elected if they promised to "Scrap Ofsted"?

ApricotLime · 08/12/2023 17:08

I watched this on the news yesterday and it sounded horrible what she was put through by ofsted. They were so hostile to her and made her so stressed her mind went blank.

Appuskidu · 08/12/2023 17:27

HarrowToCroydon · 08/12/2023 17:07

Would it help Labour get elected if they promised to "Scrap Ofsted"?

I don’t think they would scrap inspections completely-people like to see public services being held ‘accountable’ after all….

There are so many simple changes that could be made for the better though.

If I was the incoming Ofsted chief, I would put out an online questionnaire, asking for views from parents, leaders, teachers and education specialists about what changes they would like to see, then I’d sit down and read them all very carefully! I think that would be a very good place to start.

HarrowToCroydon · 08/12/2023 17:40

Can teachers and the people being inspected record the sessions? Voice and Audio both?

Appuskidu · 08/12/2023 17:42

HarrowToCroydon · 08/12/2023 17:40

Can teachers and the people being inspected record the sessions? Voice and Audio both?

No, Ofsted do not allow their feedback to be recorded.

user628468523532453 · 08/12/2023 17:43

Isn't the new CEO of Ofsted currently the CEO of a MAT?

Call me cynical but I don't see the organisational attitude changing.

I still can't get over Spielman's so-called apology being for "distress" rather than for contributing to someone's death - still all about mitigating reputation and legal consequences rather than a genuine apology.

Morally bankrupt and contemptible.

Lougle · 08/12/2023 17:47

bombastix · 08/12/2023 00:14

I read the coroners report and it was horrific. Rarely are they so pointed at the conduct of one individual and an organization, utterly unusual in the matter of suicide, and I hope it prompts a lot of change in OFSTED who sound dysfunctional themselves.

Where can we read the report?

Lougle · 08/12/2023 17:53

I went through inspection 4 times at two different schools as a governor, under ever changing frameworks. It's a horrible process. So focused on catching minute details that could indicate poor performance, rather than celebrating the successes of schools.

bombastix · 08/12/2023 17:56

@Lougle / that should be coroners verdict, not report! Apologies for any confusion. The verdict is public and has been reported. It was usually forthright

Appuskidu · 08/12/2023 17:58

I would like to read the prevention of future deaths notice-if anyone is able to link to that, I would be grateful.

Mojolostforever · 08/12/2023 18:35

NerrSnerr · 08/12/2023 09:23

Of course it sounds like the inspection wasn't carried out as it should but from reading the Ofsted report it would have always been inadequate wouldn't it? It stated that not all staff had pre employment security checks (DBS one assumes). I'd hope that'd always be an automatic inadequate. It was only inadequate in leadership and all other areas were classed as good.

So, a school which is oversubscribed, where the teaching is excellent, children safe and happy, should automatically be labelled 'inadequate' because correct procedures weren't followed over DBS checks?
Totally ridiculous! And you sound very sanctimonious. It's that kind of attitude that leads to enormous stress for teachers.

lizzy8230 · 08/12/2023 18:45

The report actually states that not all staff had all the employment checks required. It doesn't mean they didn't have a DBS. Obviously this was something that needed to be addressed - which it could have been. Quickly. In a supportive way.
The report also stated that the children felt safe and there was no evidence of them not being safeguarded.
The entire thing is an ugly farce. I wonder if the 3 inspectors feel proud of their work.

Appuskidu · 08/12/2023 18:54

I wonder if the 3 inspectors feel proud of their work

This interests me? Do they feel any remorse over what happened? Will Alan Derry, the lead HMI be holding his head up high on Monday’s ‘how to recognise stress’ training? Is he ashamed of his treatment of SLT being described as intimidating?

Matildatoldsuchdreadfullies · 08/12/2023 18:55

Somebody has mentioned this above… it would really help if schools didn’t make a massive song and dance about being outstanding, or even good. These same schools then kick up a fuss if they fall foul of Ofsted. It’s particularly noticeable in ‘outstanding’ schools that have been down graded in the last year.