Ruth Perry’s sister: Ofsted needs ‘big change’ or consultation is waste of time

Ofsted needs to make a “big change” or its consultation exercise will be a “big waste of time”, the sister of Ruth Perry has said.

Ahead of Sir Martyn Oliver’s first major speech since becoming Ofsted chief inspector, Professor Julia Waters said school inspections were continuing under “high-stakes fault finding and reductionist single-word judgments”.

The sister of Mrs Perry added this may “still be putting the welfare of teachers at risk” and that the education watchdog’s relations with schools and teachers had “reached rock bottom”.

Ofsted has come under greater scrutiny in the past year following the suicide of headteacher Mrs Perry, who took her own life after an Ofsted report downgraded her Caversham Primary School in Reading from its highest rating to its lowest over safeguarding concerns.

Sir Martyn will need to move from a Big Listen to a big change pretty quickly, or this exercise will be a big waste of time

Professor Julia Waters

In December, a coroner concluded the Ofsted inspection on November 15-16 in 2022 “likely contributed” to Mrs Perry’s death.