Ofsted changes after Ruth Perry's family campaign 'nowhere near' enough

Head teacher Ruth Perry took her own life in January

The changes announced to Ofsted inspections in England are a start, but far bigger changes are needed, according to the family of Ruth Perry and a head teachers' union.

The head teacher took her own life following an Ofsted inspection.

Schools which are given an inadequate rating over keeping children safe will be reinspected sooner to give them a chance to improve.

Ofsted defended its one-word ratings system, which is not being scrapped.

Its chief inspector, Amanda Spielman, told BBC Breakfast the "whole school accountability system" was built around the one-word judgements. She said it would be "down to government" to decide to change that.

'Important step'

She also told BBC Radio 4's Today programme scrapping one-word judgements "wouldn't really solve the underlying discomfort".

"We could write a sentence that captured all the things that typically are reflected in an inadequate judgement and use that - but the feedback when we talk to people is they know that if the consequences are the same, if the significance of it is the same, it would come to mean exactly the same very quickly," she said.

Education Secretary Gillian Keegan said the changes announced on Monday were "a really important step" and that Ofsted was right to continue to "evolve" to raise school standards.

The changes include:

• Schools will continue to be automatically graded as inadequate if inspectors raise concerns about how children are kept safe

• But Ofsted will revisit these schools within three months, giving them a chance to be regraded if they have addressed concerns

• From September, schools will also be given more detail of what exactly is expected in measures to keep children safe - such as good records and staff training

• When discussing areas of weakness, inspection reports will reference the school rather than individual staff members

• Schools will be given more information around the timing of their inspections

• Ofsted's complaints system will be overhauled so that complaints could be escalated to an independent adjudicator at an earlier stage where schools are unhappy with an inspection

At the moment, schools are not allowed to see how inspectors have reached their conclusions, making it hard to overturn judgements.

Ofsted said it was listening to concerns "without losing our clear focus on the needs of children and their parents".

Mrs Perry took her own life while waiting for an Ofsted report to be published, which would downgrade her Caversham Primary School in Reading from outstanding to inadequate due to ineffective safeguarding.

An inquest later this year will fully consider the circumstances, but her family says the inspection process caused her significant distress.

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Only 12 schools in the past 18 months have been judged inadequate purely as a result of ineffective safeguarding, Ofsted said.

Prof Julia Waters, Mrs Perry's sister, told the BBC the changes were a "step in the right direction" to ensure other head teachers were not put under the "intolerable pressure" her sister had faced.

She said changes to the complaints system were essential for Ofsted to regain the trust of teachers and parents.

Ms Spielman explained that one of those changes announced by Ofsted was "changing the language of reports so that we don't sound over-focused on the head and senior leaders".

She told BBC Breakfast: "We're doing some informational things to help heads really understand and not build up concerns.

"We are reinforcing that heads absolutely can talk to colleagues, governors, other people around them about inspection outcomes - it's not something they have to keep as a personal secret."

Parents 'just get ignored'

Prof Waters said one of the "most hurtful of many hurtful things" in her sister's case was knowing the inadequate grade given to Caversham Primary could stay with the school for some time, even if changes were made immediately.

She said her sister did not feel she was given a chance to address the issues raised by inspectors about staff training and record-keeping.

But Prof Waters said her most important concerns had still not been addressed, including failing schools over one element and summing that up in a one-word judgement.

"It was the thing that preyed on Ruth's mind for those 54 days, that one-word judgement summing up 32 years of dedication to the education profession," she said.

Schools and parents across the nation have been speaking out about Ofsted inspections, with a primary school in Cambridge getting the judgement withdrawn after a legal challenge.

In Sheffield, thousands of parents signed a petition after King Edward VII secondary school was told it had to become an academy when Ofsted inspectors rated it inadequate over keeping children safe.

Parent Emma Wilkinson said the process had changed her view of Ofsted.

"We had parents who were complaining to Ofsted when the report came out, who were told you don't even get to complain, because as a parent you don't matter in this process," she said.

"We've been crying out to be heard... and you just get ignored."

Emma Wilkinson is part of a parent campaign to stop King Edward VII from becoming an academy as a result of its Ofsted rating

Another one of the parent campaigners, Prof Mark Boylan, said that if a forthcoming reinspection allowed the academy plan to be reversed, the damage had still been done.

"Even if that happens, the school has had a year of stress and anxiety," he said.

He added that the one-word system feels like a judgement on everyone in the school community - not just the staff.

"In a way, they're saying you shouldn't have sent your child to the school... you made a bad choice as a parent."

Paul Whiteman, general secretary at school leaders' union NAHT, said Ofsted's changes were "somewhat helpful", but "go nowhere near far enough in addressing the profession's concerns".

"School leaders remain immensely frustrated at the lack of urgency and ambition being shown," he said.

The NAHT will continue to campaign for "more fundamental reform" of the inspection process, such as a change to the "simplistic single-word judgements" the Ofsted system uses.

But Ms Spielman said that the system protected children at risk of safeguarding issues.

She added: "We've got to stay focused on children and the things that are right for them."

• If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this story you can visit BBC Action Line.

Tested To The Limit

Watch the story of head teacher, Ruth Perry, who took her life after her school's rating was downgraded by Ofsted.