A “rude and intimidating” Ofsted inspection carried out inflexibly by poorly trained staff contributed to the death by suicide of the headteacher Ruth Perry, a coroner has concluded.
Heidi Connor, the senior coroner for Berkshire, said Perry’s suicide was “contributed to by an Ofsted inspection carried out in November 2022” of the school she led. Connor formally concluded that “during and after this inspection Ruth’s mental health deteriorated significantly” before she took her own life on 8 January 2023.
“Each of the witnesses who knew Ruth said that the inspection did contribute, more than minimally, to her death,” the coroner said. “The evidence is clear in this respect, and I find very easily that Ruth’s mental health deterioration and death was likely contributed to by the Ofsted inspection.”
Speaking on behalf of the family, Perry’s sister Julia Waters said the inquest had revealed the “brutal inhumanity” of Ofsted inspections. “We have no confidence that Ofsted, under its current leadership and management, is either willing or able to make the widespread, root-and-branch reforms to its system and culture that are so urgently needed,” Waters said.
She added: “If I need to, I will continue to hold Ofsted to account. I will continue meeting with the secretary of state for education and the next chief inspector [of Ofsted, Martyn Oliver] to ensure that radical changes will be applied.”
Perry had been headteacher of Caversham primary school in Reading for 13 years at the time of the inspection, and was popular with local families. Colleagues and family members told the inquest that meetings with Ofsted inspectors left her so distressed that at times she was unable to speak.
The inspectors deemed the school’s safeguarding to be ineffective, giving it an overall grade also of inadequate.
The coroner said she found that “parts of the Ofsted inspection were conducted in a manner which lacked fairness, respect and sensitivity” as required by Ofsted’s code of conduct.
