Ofsted boss sees ‘no reason to doubt’ inspection after head teacher’s death

The head of Ofsted has said she sees ‘no reason to doubt’ the accuracy of a school inspection that took place before the head teacher took her own life.

Ruth Perry was the head at Caversham Primary School in Reading when inspectors decided to downgrade it to the lowest possible rating.

She died in January while waiting for the report to be published, her family said.

Ms Perry’s death has led to intense scrutiny of Ofsted and calls for the school inspection system to be overhauled.

Amanda Spielman, the watchdog’s chief inspector, defended the way rankings are awarded in an appearance on the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg on Sunday.

She said: ‘I think the findings were secure and I think the inspection team worked with the professionalism and sensitivity that I would expect from our inspectors.

‘From what I’ve seen, I don’t have any reason to doubt the inspection.

‘Inspection is a sensitive process. We are there looking for children, looking for whether education is right for children, looking at whether protecting children’s welfare is happening the way it should.

‘Sometimes that can mean we have very difficult, very sensitive conversations in an inspection. Our inspectors are trained, prepared, they’ve all worked in schools themselves, they really understand what it feels like at the receiving end.’

Amanda Spielman said inspections sometimes involve ‘very difficult, very sensitive conversations’ (Picture: PA)

Ms Spielman also said a ‘vast majority’ of schools have a ‘positive and affirming experience’ with inspections, though she acknowledged a culture of fear exists around them.

The inspection report for Caversham Primary, published on Ofsted’s website in March, found it to be ‘good’ in every category apart from leadership and management, where it was judged to be ‘inadequate’.

Ms Perry’s sister, Professor Julia Waters, previously described the grading as ‘sensationalist’ and ‘deeply harmful’.

The one-word assessments offered by Ofsted inspectors have become a focal point for criticism, with some arguing they are overly simplistic.

But Ms Spielman defended them, saying they were easier for parents to understand.

Ruth Perry had been principal at Caversham Primary School in Reading since 2010 (Picture: Brighter Futures for Children)

She said: ‘We look at behaviour, we look at personal development, we look at leadership and management, but there are times when failures in safeguarding can be sufficiently serious, and that alone can bring an overall judgment.

‘We actually make a number of judgments in an inspection – we make four key judgments plus a judgment of the effectiveness of safeguarding, yes, they are synthesised into an overall judgment, that’s partly to help parents.’

She added: ‘t’s not for us to say we’re going to fundamentally change the grading system, that would have to be a bigger government decision.’

Also appearing on Laura Kuenssberg’s show, National Education Union joint general secretary Mary Bousted said the current way of carrying out inspections was ‘not working at all’.

She said: ‘The problem is that Ofsted doesn’t inspect schools fairly and that Ofsted doesn’t know whether it raises qualities in schools at all.

‘It has no research to back up the claims it makes about getting schools to be better at teaching and learning.’

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Amanda Spielman said inspections were ‘positive and affirming’ for the ‘vast majority’ of schools.