Head teacher kills herself over OFSTED

Surely, if things were going badly and she was in charge, the simple solution would have been to resign from her post. The OFSTED inspection system has been in place in various forms for decades, she knew it was part of the job and all these judgments on the OFSTED system were simply showing she was not suited to the job she had.

If you had children in the school while she was in charge, who did badly in their exams because of failings in the school, or were badly bullied, you might think differently.

While having every sympathy for those involved, the question that really needs asking is why this lady was appointed to a job for which she was clearly unsuited and why more was not done to quietly ease her out before this sad denouement. She was in post for 13 years.

If you take on an important job like this you agree to take on the responsibility it involves. And there is a well known phrase that even Presdients have been known to have on their desk. It says The buck stops here.

I believe there was a Labour Education minister who resigned because she said she could not cope with the job she had been appointed to.

That this lady became so depressed and unable to cope that she chose death as a way out, is a tragedy, but those around her and those trying to support her should have encouraged her to resign.

Sadly, not the first and probably not the last. Ofsted is simply not fit for purpose. It doesn’t benefit children in any way. I too know someone who was an Ofsted inspector - he actually gave it up as he found it to be so demoralising and not about supporting schools/colleges at all. It was a very poor workplace culture.

30 years ago, our social work training department set up a scheme where 5 sessions of confidential counselling was available to anyone working in relevant agencies and involved in safeguarding. Teachers, health visitors etc. There was a focus on multi agency training so shared written procedures were in place, alongside efforts to build good working relationships. The counsellors were carefully recruited and properly qualified

Glorianny is right to say confidential support for school staff should be available. I expect the scheme we had was ditched as austerity bit. One of our local high schools had been outstanding for 30 years. It’s been down graded to needing improvement despite good academic, sporting, drama, music etc. its safeguarding policies have been found to need improvement. Inspectors reported hearing racist language from some pupils and a child was addressed by the wrong pronoun.

I work for the local authority currently and there is a support service for all staff with issues relating to mental health, I dont know how effective it is or what kind of support it offers though.

All the educational establishments I’ve worked in have had support for staff, whether that be in-house or via the local authority. However, that’s just like a sticking plaster, it doesn’t address the real issues. And Ofsted is a huge issue. We need to be working for children and young people, not for Ofsted.

Galaxy

I work for the local authority currently and there is a support service for all staff with issues relating to mental health, I dont know how effective it is or what kind of support it offers though.

My former LA also offered counselling, but staff were reluctant to access it, because they thought there was a stigma attached to seeking help for mental health issues.

I know I've not worked in a school for almost 2 years now, but I can say hand on heart, that out of all of the schools I worked in (secondary education - 9 in total) only one was supportive of anyone with mental health issues. 1 school dismissed (as in sacked) a colleague with a serious mental health condition and she was too ill to fight it. Another knew a colleague was struggling but didn't support her and instead put her on a capability plan (these are really ways to 'prove' a teacher isn't capable of doing their job and are a precursor to being forced out) which ended with her being forced to resign.

Schools aren't designed to support teachers. They cause huge amounts of stress and frequently lead teachers to nervous breakdowns (I'm in an online teachers support group, with thousands of members, all struggling and wanting to leave, many of whom are being badly bullied).

Ironically, I don't believe Ofsted is designed to improve education either. It's a tick box exercise paying lip service.

Being the reason a person took their own life is the worst lesson any child could have.

Well done OFSTED.

Ironically, I don't believe Ofsted is designed to improve education either. It's a tick box exercise paying lip service

I read that the school scored as 'Good' but then the inspector marked it down because they noticed what they perceived as two safeguarding issues.
Children having a fight in the playground and another child dancing to something from an unsuitable online game.

Teachers have a struggle as it is but also have to contend with what children are allowed to do or see when outside school too.

It does sound as if there is a tick-box attitude to the job.

This is beyond sad. I’m so sorry for her family. OFSTED inspections are highly stressful and very unpleasant. I should know, I’ve gone through a few.

Joseanne

It's so very very sad, and as said, we don't exactly know why the Head did this. OFSTED can't be blamed for everything. If they found shortcomings, or if other staff members lodged concerns, OFSTED has to report it and act. The safeguarding checks were not correct in this instance, and that reflects very poorly on the senior management. Yes, the buck stops there, and it has to be referred.
I know a school's inspector, (very well infact), and every time he enters an inspection it is with a kind and supportive attitude. Occasionally a Head might break down in tears due to all kinds of reasons.

But he's not an OFSTED inspector, if he's the one you've mentioned before.

The private and state school inspection processes are different. I've experienced both.

Marydoll

Galaxy

I work for the local authority currently and there is a support service for all staff with issues relating to mental health, I dont know how effective it is or what kind of support it offers though.

My former LA also offered counselling, but staff were reluctant to access it, because they thought there was a stigma attached to seeking help for mental health issues.

I've experienced LA counselling services as a client. It was absolutely useless. My conclusion was that it was there so that LAs could tick the box to claim they were doing something.

children having a fight in the playground
Was it peer on peer abuse? Then that is a safeguarding issue, but what was the context? Was it just a playground fracas? We don't know.
another child dancing unsuitably
The dancing, well that's bonkers and not hurting anyone. Joe Wickes does a bit of it.

The Ofsted inspectors I have worked with have generally been of a really high standard. I am as uncomfortable with the demonising of inspectors as I am with the demonising of social workers, etc.

I haven't read much about the case, apart from what I'm seeing on this thread. But I'm a bit puzzled as to how the safeguarding issue put the school straight into Special Measures. Why wasn't it Requires Improvement? Are Ofsted Inspectors required to go straight to SM if they find a safeguarding problem? IIRC, they do have a 'tariff', but this seems very extreme.

(And I'm slightly as to how you stop children ever fighting in the playground.)

growstuff you're right
I purposely didn't say HE was an OFSTED inspector. If I mentioned independent schools then the usual brigade would be out to say I shouldn't contribute to this thread.
However, ISI do follow OFSTED guidelines particularly in Safeguarding. In addition, we can can discuss either system's processes as a whole, and I'm sure that same inspector would not become the 😈 in disguise if he visited a state school!
So, if the thread moves into that area, in your experience, do you think that as a Head, my inspections in the past were less stressful than those for Heads of state schools?

Galaxy

The Ofsted inspectors I have worked with have generally been of a really high standard. I am as uncomfortable with the demonising of inspectors as I am with the demonising of social workers, etc.

This

The school should have a staff welfare governor (I am one) but the emphasis tends to be in the main body of staff rather than the head - note to self ... check how our head is faring!

The whole OfSted system is crazily stressful - we all know how a school can be downgraded on some small thing in one aspect, when as a whole the school is brilliant. It is soul-destroying. I have been through two of these as governor and am acutely conscious that if I have not covered one small item in the reams and reams of things we are supposed to do the school could be downgraded and all the dedicated hard work of the staff will be "rewarded" with a downgrade. And we are just volunteers.

The inspectors see a snapshot for one day. They talk of child on child abuse at this school - fights in the playground happen, it is a fact of life, but what matters is how the school deal with it. As to the criticism of "sexualised behaviour" by a pupil who was "flossing" - what can one say?

There will be pupils who exhibit true sexualised behaviour under the influence of home/media - again the school need to deal with it, but they cannot be held responsible for it happening in the first place.

Schools inspectors used to be about offering advice and practical help to overcome any shortcomings they might find - about developing a supportive relationship with the school for everyone's benefit. It may be that governance and management were lacking at this school, but proper support to improve is the way to go; not a blanket judgement that damns the school in the eyes of the public. Having said that, I would be very rich now if I had £1 for every time a parent had said to me that they take no notice of the OfSted reports and look at the school themselves and make their own judgements.

Our school would have been judged as Outstanding, but only resulted in Good as the attendance did not hit targets - we had had a great deal of sickness locally, and some of our children are part home-schooled - parental choice and right to do that if they wish. We cannot stop it. Most schools deny admission to pupils whose parents want to do this - we take the view that if the parents are planning to home school anyway, we would like to offer some of the advantages oif school to the pupils to enhance their education. The inspectors just look at the headline percentage.

The OfSted system is simply awful - it has no positive elements, and judgements are made on a quick snapshot.

How very sad for this poor head, her staff and pupils and the whole community.

Poor lady and her poor family
Perhaps this could be the catalyst for change, I really don't think grades are helpful.
For wrap around care I believe it is a case of 'met' or 'not met'

Thank you Kate 1949.My daughter is a positive person too luckily but we can see things taking their toll.Fingers crossed for both our daughters🤞🏻

MaizieD

I haven't read much about the case, apart from what I'm seeing on this thread. But I'm a bit puzzled as to how the safeguarding issue put the school straight into Special Measures. Why wasn't it Requires Improvement? Are Ofsted Inspectors required to go straight to SM if they find a safeguarding problem? IIRC, they do have a 'tariff', but this seems very extreme.

(And I'm slightly as to how you stop children ever fighting in the playground.)

The report, which was published this week, found the school to be Good in every category, apart from leadership and management, where it was judged to be Inadequate, the lowest rating.

Inspectors said school leaders did not have the “required knowledge to keep pupils safe from harm”, did not take “prompt and proper actions” and had not ensured safeguarding was “effective”.

Caversham Primary School said in a letter in response to the report: “The school, led by Ruth, responded immediately after the inspection visit, to take action to resolve the issues raised

“Following the heart-breaking loss of Ruth, we have continued her work to ensure that the school is an effective, safe and happy place for children to learn and achieve.”

I find it hard to believe that a school dropped from 'outstanding' in its previous report under the same head teacher.
And how can a school still be found to be 'good' if the leadership is inadequate?

Mrs Perry's sister told BBC South that inspectors said a boy doing a flossing dance move, from the video game Fortnite, was evidence of the sexualisation of children at the school.
He had obviously not learnt that in school.

(I have no idea what that dance is btw).

The Flossing Dance
It is on YouTube, not something on the dark web!

Isn't that the dance that Jacob Rees-Mogg's children did in a clip?
I'm sure I've seen my DGD do it.

And - this is not the first tragic suicide of a teacher after a schools inspection.

Something is very wrong indeed with the system.

My GCs certainly do the Flossing dance. They tried teaching me! If that is "evidence of sexualised behaviour" it's ridiculous. I thought we got past those sort of ideas when people did things like the Twist. Oh dear!Just remembered mine were trying to twerk the other day!!

This brought tears to my eyes. Working in childcare you out your heart and soul into the job. She sounds like a very dedicated teacher. My heart goes out to her family. Try going through an ofstead it’s nerve wracking and one false move and your downgraded.