Head teacher Ruth Perry took her own life in January
By Maria Zaccaro & Branwen Jeffreys
BBC News
The school run by a head teacher who took her own life after a critical Ofsted report has been rated as good after a new inspection.
Ruth Perry died in January after being told Caversham Primary School in Berkshire was being downgraded from outstanding to inadequate.
The school was re-inspected after Ms Perry’s death, which prompted an outpouring of anger about the system.
Ofsted has defended its one-word grades, which are not being scrapped.
In their latest report, seen by the BBC, the watchdog said: “The school’s work to address previous weaknesses has been swift, thorough and effective.”
The primary school was initially inspected in November 2022 and subsequently rated inadequate after concerns were raised over leadership and management.
Analysis
By Branwen Jeffreys, BBC education editor
For Caversham Primary School this is a bittersweet moment for staff and parents.
It’s just six months since Ruth Perry’s suicide left a gaping hole in the school community.
For her colleagues this is recognition of everything they have done.
For her family it raises again the question of whether the stakes of Ofsted inspection have been far too high for headteachers.
MPs are to hold an inquiry in the autumn looking at how the inspection system is working. It won’t consider the circumstances around Ruth Perry’s death, which will be examined by a coroner
Ofsted inspected the school again in June and the report said useful advice was sought from beyond the school straight after the last inspection.
“In particular, this helped leaders to understand fully the extent of the weaknesses in safeguarding arrangements and prioritise what needed to be done,” the report said.
In a statement, the head teacher’s sister Prof Julia Waters said staff at the school who had worked with or been trained by Ms Perry had never been anything other than “excellent, caring and professional”.
She added: “The reversal of the previous judgement in a matter of a few months illustrates why schools should be given the opportunity to correct any technical weaknesses before the final report is published.
“An inspection should be about helping schools with independent scrutiny, not catching them out and publicly shaming them.”
Image source, BBC/Branwen Jeffreys
Prof Julia Waters said her sister Ruth Perry suffered a “terrible injustice”
She said her sister had spent 16 years at the school and that the latest judgement “proves what all those who knew Ruth and the school have known all along”.
“That Ruth was left feeling suicidal as a result of Ofsted’s previous judgement demonstrates, in the most tragic way possible, the intolerably high stakes created by the current inspection system,” she added.
An inquest later this year will fully investigate Ms Perry’s death, which also prompted a wider debate about whether one-word grades for schools make sense.
Last month, Ofsted announced changes to its inspection system.
These included allowing schools that were given an inadequate rating over safeguarding to be re-inspected within three months, giving them a chance to be re-graded if they have addressed concerns.
Ofsted previously said it always strived to make inspections “as positive an experience for school staff as they can be”.
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