John Hayes at Gospel Oak Primary School

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HEADTEACHERS, school governors and union leaders have called for a review of the way schools are inspected, after it was warned the current process is “ridiculously reductive” and places “intolerable pressure” on senior management and staff.

School inspections conducted by Ofsted, the government body responsible for assessing education standards in schools, have come under intense scrutiny following the death of headteacher Ruth Perry last month.

Ms Perry’s family have said they hold Ofsted partly responsible for her death, after a recent inspection saw her primary school in Reading downgraded from “out­standing” to “inadequate.”

Schools are visited by Ofsted roughly once every four years, with head­teachers given one day of advance warning to prepare for the inspection. The results can be a crucial factor in whether parents and guardians choose to enrol their children at a time when north London schools have experienced a pupil shortage.

Gospel Oak Primary School headteacher John Hayes criticised the way a “one-word judgement” is used to rate schools, even though his own school has been graded “outstanding” in the last two visits.

“I think all schools, on some days, what they do is outstanding, and on other days, they’re good, or they’re slightly less than good, because that’s life. I would want to see that Ofsted respond appropriately to the death of Ruth Perry. They need to take full account, there needs to be a thorough investigation,” he said, adding inspectors have a “duty of care” to staff.

Primrose Hill Primary School governor Matt Cooper, who is also a Labour councillor, said he would like to see “Ofsted have less focus on ratings as a final, absolute thing, and more focus on collaboration to improve schools”.

Last year, several schools in Camden saw their ratings downgraded in recent inspections – the first ones since the upheaval to Covid – and there are now no “outstanding” secondary schools in the borough.

This trend includes Camden School for Girls, which slipped to the “good” category of schools last year. Its headteacher Kateryna Law told the New Journal: “Regarding Ofsted, we do need a balanced discussion: one that recognises the importance of the work Ofsted do in upholding standards, but also recognising the great pressure that many teachers and leaders feel, because it isn’t an easy thing to go through.”

She added: “I do believe there is scope for a review, for Ofsted to work more closely with leaders and unions to develop a better approach that reduces some of those pressures, but still maintains accountability and still has a way of maintaining or driving up standards.” Ms Perry’s death has sparked calls for Ofsted reform across the country. NEU district secretary Andrew Dyer said the union is calling for the Department for Education to “replace Ofsted”.

He said: “I don’t think anybody thinks that schools shouldn’t be inspected, shouldn’t be accountable and evaluated. It’s the way in which it’s done which isn’t working. “Back in 2017 the National Audit Office did a review of Ofsted and they said Ofsted does not know whether its school inspections are having the intended impact, raise standards for education and improve the quality of children’s and young people’s lives.”

He added: “In many other countries, the inspection system is combined with a school improvement system – Ofsted will come in to assess you, but they won’t then come back in and help provide expertise. If we said to a pupil ‘you’ve done well, but you could do better’, and then didn’t provide them with the support to make those improvements, then we’d be failing in our jobs.”

Kateryna Law at Camden School for Girls

Jason Hogg, regional officer at headteachers’ union NAHT, said: “This tragedy has magnified the situation but NAHT has been campaigning for reform for quite some time. Our members say it’s turning into an impossible job.” He added inspections can “feel punitive and like they’re looking for errors as opposed to a genuine inspection to improve standards, which would be far more productive and beneficial to schools”.

A spokesperson for the Department for Education, said: “It is a legal require­ment for schools and nurseries to be inspected by Ofsted and they have a legal duty to carry out those inspections.

“Inspections are hugely important as they hold schools to account for their educational standards and parents greatly rely on the ratings to give them confidence in choosing the right school for their child.

“We offer our deep condolences to the family and friends of Ruth Perry following her tragic death and are continuing to provide support to Caver­sham Primary School at this difficult time.”

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