Ofsted’s role in the events leading up to the death of the Berkshire headteacher Ruth Perry will be examined during an inquest later this year, a coroner has ruled.
Heidi Connor, the senior coroner for Berkshire, named the schools inspectorate for England as “interested persons” as part of her inquiry into the death of the primary school leader, whose family say killed herself after a “devastating” Ofsted inspection.
The decision means Ofsted officials will appear at the inquest in person, to be questioned by the coroner and barristers for Perry’s family.
At a pre-inquest review at Berkshire coroner’s court, Connor said she was also considering whether to conduct an article 2 enhanced inquest into the wider circumstances surrounding Perry’s death in January. An article 2 inquest can be invoked when government agencies “failed to protect the deceased against a human threat or other risk”, according to the Crown Prosecution Service.
The inquest is investigating Perry’s death, which occurred shortly after an Ofsted inspection downgraded her school, Caversham primary, in Reading, from “outstanding” to “inadequate” over errors in safeguarding training and procedures.
Perry’s family have said she was “devastated” by the decision affecting the school that she had attended as a child. As a maintained school, an inadequate grade would have meant its management was taken over by an academy trust.
A subsequent Ofsted inspection carried out last month upgraded the school to “good”.
