Ruth Perry: Inspection changed head teacher's life 'irrevocably'

Head teacher Ruth Perry took her own life after Ofsted rated her school inadequate. An inquest into her death has heard how she felt "powerless" and believed her career could be over after the inspection in November 2022. She took her own life in January while awaiting the watchdog's report. Her friends and family have told the BBC about the impact of her death.

Zeynep Stromfelt still has the text on her phone from her friend and former colleague Mrs Perry, sent in the days after Ofsted visited Caversham Primary School in November last year.

It read: "I am broken. I am not sleeping. For the first time in 17 years, I dread going into school. Isn't that sad?"

Mrs Perry had been the school's head teacher for 13 years when Ofsted arrived. Caversham Primary was over-subscribed, and the place everyone in Reading wanted their children to go to, according to Brian Grady, the town's director of education.

Anna Hayes, whose brother Jonathan had been married to Ruth for 21 years, grew up in the same part of Reading. They had been girl guides together and did similar Saturday jobs.

Caversham, on the north side of the River Thames, is a largely affluent community whose house prices are bolstered by the demand for homes in the school's catchment.

Having spent much of her life there, Mrs Hayes knew plenty of people but her friend Ruth, she says, would stop and talk to everyone. "She always knew people wherever we went because she'd raised their children, because she'd helped support them and their families with their children's growth."

But that position in the local community became a source of worry for Mrs Perry when the Ofsted inspection decided to downgrade Caversham Primary School from outstanding, the highest grade, to the lowest, inadequate.

Her family say she feared she would be blamed for the hit to property values that would follow the verdict. She did not feel she could show her face in public and worried her school-age daughters could face bullying.

Schools rated inadequate are also legally compelled to be turned into academies, rather than remain under the control of the local authority. Mrs Perry's family said she feared this would cause her to lose her job.

Mrs Hayes recalls giving her a hug and telling her the family loved her on the night before Mrs Perry took her own life. She said: "The day her life changed irrevocably was the inspection day."

Caversham Primary got the call from Ofsted to say they were coming in on the second Monday in November last year.

Mrs Perry sounded confident, telling the lead inspector they were ready for the visit and "keen to get started".

But within hours of Ofsted's arrival, the mood had changed dramatically. Inspectors found gaps in the school's records related to safeguarding and, although it was accepted these could be put right relatively easily, Mrs Perry was reduced to tears during a meeting with the lead inspector.

She later told her husband the lead inspector was a "bully" and had come to the school with an agenda.

As the two-day inspection continued, it also uncovered a gap in checks on two overseas teachers employed to support pupils whose first language was not English.

The lead inspector also said the behaviour of pupils, when they were kept inside over lunch because of the wet weather, raised further questions about whether the school was keeping children safe.

By this time, senior staff and the governors were worried about Mrs Perry's state of mind as the inspectors had indicated the school was about to be graded inadequate.

Her sister Julia Waters said the inspection process seemed to have been designed to "create maximum psychological damage", adding: "It's an inspection system that's based on shame and humiliation which are horrible, corrosive, powerful emotions."

Ms Stromfelt is more outspoken: "I said Ofsted killed her. They knew what the result was they were going to give, they knew the grade. They want to make more schools academies."

Two months after Mrs Perry's death, the Ofsted report was published and Prof Waters spoke to BBC South. It was the start of a campaign to get the inspection system changed.

"What we've been doing as a family has taken a huge toll and it's a lot to expect bereaved families to go through," she said.

Caversham Primary parent Edmund Barnett-Ward remembers his daughter asking if all her teachers were going to die now.

"The loss of the life of the head teacher did more harm than any potential harm identified by that inspection," he said.

"The actual harm is the kids that couldn't sleep in their own beds after they lost their head teacher and had to go snuggle with their parents."

A series of meetings with Education Secretary Gillian Keegan and her officials have produced a string of measures, but not the desired scrapping of the one-word judgements.

Ofsted has always maintained its verdict last year was the right one but when it returned to Caversham Primary for an interim visit in June, it upgraded the school to good after turning the visit into a full inspection. Staff said they noted a more caring attitude from the inspectors, who they said regularly checked on the wellbeing of teachers during their visit.

Lisa Telling, who attended the meetings at the Department for Education with Prof Waters and Mr Barnett Ward, is executive head at two Reading schools. She said there was a marked difference between the two inspections.

"There's lots of changes, it's just incredibly sad that it took Ruth's death to get to this place," she said.

Prof Waters wants the reforms formally recognised: "This isn't just a standard review of Ofsted's systems but these changes are being brought in because what happened to Ruth should never, ever be allowed to happen again."

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