Latest news with #CavershamPrimary
BBC News
28-04-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Ruth Perry's sister calls for delays to 'rushed' Ofsted reforms
The sister of a head teacher who took her own life after her school was downgraded in an Ofsted inspection, has warned the proposed new system for assessing schools has the "same risks" as before. Ruth Perry's sister, Julia Waters, joined education professionals in an open letter to Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson in asking for delays to the plans which she said are "rushed" and "fail to learn" from Ms Perry's has proposed a new system which involves report cards and is due to come in this autumn, rather than the old one or two-word Department for Education (DfE) said reforms played a "central" role in work to raise school standards. Ms Perry took her own life after her school, Caversham Primary in Berkshire, was downgraded from "outstanding" to "inadequate".An inquest into her death heard how she felt "powerless" and believed her career could be over after the inspection in November proposed new system of Ofsted inspections will no longer give a single overall grade to an on Today on BBC Radio 4, Prof Waters said there was "no evidence the new system will work"."The proposal that's coming out, in this new report card, just fundamentally fails to address the key concern which is the very real and present risk of more terrible and preventable deaths like my sister's."My very real fear is the introduction of this report card will introduce more areas of inspection, more judgements and really poorly defined criteria," she open letter signed by school leaders, national organisations and former inspectors warned against "excessive pressure, ill-health and stress for the profession"."In particular, we believe the proposed new report cards and the new grading system fail to address the recommendations of the coroner following the tragic, preventable death of Ruth Perry. Ed Barnett-Ward, a parent at Caversham Primary who campaigned for changes to Ofsted inspections following Ms Perry's death, said the proposed changes "don't go far enough".He said: "Our argument was never simply about the removal of single word judgements which we have managed to achieve. "We need to have a system that gets rid of excessive pressure, inconsistency and we need to get a fair independent complaint process," he Education Union general secretary Daniel Kebede said Ofsted needed to "come up with a system of accountability that reduced pressure on schools"."But the reality is it's turned into a big ignore and we are facing a big disaster," he DfE said it wanted to make inspections "more powerful" and "more transparent". "The system this Government inherited was high stakes for teachers but low information for parents, which is why we're removing single-word judgments and introducing school report cards".It said answers to Ofsted's and the department's consultations would be carefully considered before an approach is finalised. If you have been affected by any of the issues in this story you can find information and support on the BBC Actionline website here. You can follow BBC Berkshire on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
Sky News
28-04-2025
- Politics
- Sky News
Ruth Perry's sister joins education leaders in call to stop Ofsted reforms
Ruth Perry's sister has joined forces with education leaders to demand a delay to proposed changes to Ofsted's inspections. The 53-year-old headteacher took her own life in January 2023 after her school - Caversham Primary in Reading, Berkshire - was downgraded from outstanding to inadequate by the education watchdog for England. A coroner concluded the Ofsted inspection in November 2022 "contributed" to her death. And the tragedy led to nationwide calls for reform to the country's school inspection system. In an open letter released on the final day of Ofsted's public consultation, a coalition of senior educators, trade union heads, former inspectors and mental health advocates urged Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson to pause what they describe as a "rushed" rollout of new inspection measures. Ms Perry 's sister, Professor Julia Waters, is among the signatories, alongside general secretaries of the UK's major teaching unions, former His Majesty's Inspectors (HMIs), and leading academics. The letter criticises the proposed reforms as failing to reflect the painful lessons from Ms Perry's death that shone a spotlight on the pressures that school leaders face under the current Ofsted system. "We believe the proposed new system will continue to have a detrimental impact on the wellbeing of education staff," the letter states, warning of a continued risk of "preventable deaths" if deeper systemic issues are not addressed. The current system was previously criticised for reducing school performance into a single-word judgement. It was described by ministers as creating "low information for parents and high stakes for schools". The one-word judgement is set to be removed. But critics say the proposed replacement offers little real change. 2:40 Report cards and a new grading structure have been suggested. But many argue these measures are only cosmetic and they fail to fix and alleviate the intense pressure schools are under. Among the coalition's demands is the creation of a robust, independent complaints and appeals process. Currently, any complaints procedure is largely absent, leaving schools with little recourse to challenge potentially damaging inspection outcomes. "Trust in the system needs to be restored," the letter reads. "The rushed and closed nature of the consultation has only made that worse." The Department for Education has not yet responded to Sky News' request for comment. The letter follows growing scrutiny from MPs, following the Education Select Committee's inquiry into Ofsted, which was launched in the wake of Ms Perry's death and broader concerns about staff wellbeing in schools. Many in the education sector have pointed to the need for a more compassionate, collaborative, and effective approach to school accountability. The message to the government is clear from these concerned parties: pause, listen, and engage with the evidence before imposing reforms that could risk adding pressure to a system that is already at breaking point.
Telegraph
31-01-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
One teacher's suicide should not lead to a loss of standards in education
Julia Waters, the sister of His main offence? Pointing out that 'there was no suggestion' that the inspectors who assessed and downgraded Perry's school ( To Waters, this demonstrates merely that Ofsted is not 'making all the changes that are needed to prevent future deaths'. To her, the fact of her sister's suicide is proof that Ofsted needs to change. The Government agrees; it has acted on demands by At first glance, this might seem reasonable. Modern society tends always, in response to any tragic event, to demand steps to ensure that it never happens again. But when you actually interrogate the underlying logic, it is absurd. Samaritans strongly advise against blaming particular causes for a suicide. But the weaponisation of Perry's case by campaigners has totally ignored that principle, and any interrogation of it must do likewise. Perry's response was deeply tragic. But it was not a rational one. It was certainly not predictable by Ofsted, nor is it the inspectorate's job to try and predict it. To blame Ofsted for a suicide is to grade it on an explicitly irrational curve. Maybe this seems a callous line of argument, so let's boil it down to the fundamental question: should we downplay or even cover up for a poorly-performing school, in case one or more school leaders cannot cope with the shame of having their homework marked in public? If your answer is yes, just abolish Ofsted – and along with it league tables, our participation in PISA, and any other visible yardstick by which schools can be measured against an independent standard. This is the clear preference of the But it would have dire consequences for school performance, as the How many children being placed on a worse life path is it worth to mitigate against one possible suicide? If that calculation makes you squeamish, tough; that's the trade-off at the heart of this policy question. The reflex to make sure any bad thing, however unique, never happens again creates a lot of bad policy. A sensible system is drawn up with an holistic understanding of trade-offs, takes reasonable precautions, and has a tolerance for black swans. Yet if your policy is to respond to every tragic event with reform, the system's actual tolerance is zero, and it ends up lurching piecemeal towards measures which are wildly cost-inefficient at best and actively counter-productive to the system's core purpose at worse. Sir Martyn is right. Beyond the personal tragedy of the Perry case, the critical questions about Ofsted are whether it did its job properly. If the inspectors conducted themselves professionally, and their assessment of Caversham Primary was accurate, then Ofsted did nothing wrong.
Yahoo
31-01-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
One teacher's suicide should not lead to a loss of standards in education
Julia Waters, the sister of Ruth Perry, the headmistress who took her own life allegedly in response to a negative Ofsted review of her school, has accused its head Sir Martyn Oliver of showing inadequate commitment to reform after a 'defensive and complacent' performance in front of a parliamentary select committee. His main offence? Pointing out that 'there was no suggestion' that the inspectors who assessed and downgraded Perry's school (Caversham Primary in Berkshire) 'did a bad job or did anything wrong'. To Waters, this demonstrates merely that Ofsted is not 'making all the changes that are needed to prevent future deaths'. To her, the fact of her sister's suicide is proof that Ofsted needs to change. The Government agrees; it has acted on demands by trade unions to scrap single-word reviews for schools. At first glance, this might seem reasonable. Modern society tends always, in response to any tragic event, to demand steps to ensure that it never happens again. But when you actually interrogate the underlying logic, it is absurd. Ofsted's purpose is to accurately assess a school and then communicate that assessment clearly to parents, policymakers, and the public. So long as it does this, and its inspectors conduct themselves in a professional manner, it has done a laudable job, end of story. Samaritans strongly advise against blaming particular causes for a suicide. But the weaponisation of Perry's case by campaigners has totally ignored that principle, and any interrogation of it must do likewise. Perry's response was deeply tragic. But it was not a rational one. It was certainly not predictable by Ofsted, nor is it the inspectorate's job to try and predict it. To blame Ofsted for a suicide is to grade it on an explicitly irrational curve. Maybe this seems a callous line of argument, so let's boil it down to the fundamental question: should we downplay or even cover up for a poorly-performing school, in case one or more school leaders cannot cope with the shame of having their homework marked in public? If your answer is yes, just abolish Ofsted – and along with it league tables, our participation in PISA, and any other visible yardstick by which schools can be measured against an independent standard. This is the clear preference of the unions, and the policy pursued for decades in Labour-dominated Wales; it would undoubtedly be most effective if the priority is allowing school leaders of even the lowest calibres to sleep easily at night. But it would have dire consequences for school performance, as the collapse of standards in Wales demonstrates. It would disempower parents and subject hundreds of thousands of children to an inferior education, with all the attendant implications for their future prospects. How many children being placed on a worse life path is it worth to mitigate against one possible suicide? If that calculation makes you squeamish, tough; that's the trade-off at the heart of this policy question. The reflex to make sure any bad thing, however unique, never happens again creates a lot of bad policy. A sensible system is drawn up with an holistic understanding of trade-offs, takes reasonable precautions, and has a tolerance for black swans. Yet if your policy is to respond to every tragic event with reform, the system's actual tolerance is zero, and it ends up lurching piecemeal towards measures which are wildly cost-inefficient at best and actively counter-productive to the system's core purpose at worse. Sir Martyn is right. Beyond the personal tragedy of the Perry case, the critical questions about Ofsted are whether it did its job properly. If the inspectors conducted themselves professionally, and their assessment of Caversham Primary was accurate, then Ofsted did nothing wrong. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
