Headteachers struggling to sleep due to stress of Ofsted visits is ‘usual’, Ruth Perry inquest hears – as colleagues tell coroner how inspector ‘sneered’ at teachers and ‘didn’t listen to them’

• The 53-year-old took her own life before a negative Ofsted review was published
• Her colleagues said inspector Alan Derry was ‘unpleasant’ and ‘unprofessional’
• For help, call Samaritans for free on 116 123 or visit samaritans.org 

Worried headteachers struggling to sleep due to the stress of an Ofsted inspection is ‘usual’, an inquest into the death of Ruth Perry has heard.

Headteacher Ms Perry, 53, was found dead in January this year after being told her school – Caversham Primary School in Reading, Berkshire – was being downgraded from ‘outstanding’ to ‘inadequate’, the lowest possible rating.

Her family previously said they were in no doubt that she had taken her life as ‘a direct result’ of the pressure placed on her by the inspection, which took place in November 2022.

Today Ms Perry’s colleagues told Berkshire Coroner’s Court Ofsted inspectors had ‘sneered’ at teachers and ‘did not listen to them’ during meetings. While others claimed heads were left fearful and ‘panicky’ of visits by education monitors. 

One of Ms Perry’s friends said: ‘I believe that this extremely heightened level of stress that headteachers feel around Ofsted inspections has become normalised, to the point where it is considered usual if a headteacher is struggling to sleep.’ 

Ruth Perry, 53, was headteacher at Caversham Primary School in Reading, and took her own life before a negative Ofsted inspection on the school was published

The inquest heard that one of the meetings Ms Perry had attended before her death had been ‘unpleasant’.

Clare Jones-King, who was deputy head at Caversham at the time of the Ofsted inspection and is now acting co-headteacher, said: ‘You expect a level of challenge in this kind of meeting, but the manner at points in this meeting was unpleasant.

‘I was not being listened to. The voices of others were not being listened to. I was interrupted. There was a hand lifted up at one point to stop me speaking. There was a sneer.

READ MORE: Ruth Perry’s heartbroken husband tells her inquest that she felt ‘bullied’ by Ofsted inspector who left her feeling ‘humiliated’

‘The lead inspector, Mr Derry, said very loudly to one of my responses, ‘I beg to differ’, which stopped the conversation in its tracks.’

Ms Jones-King later described the Ofsted inspection as ‘lacking in empathy, kindness, and compassion.’ 

The court heard evidence of how colleagues had attempted to support Ms Perry after the inspection by Ofsted, which her husband said had left her ‘traumatised’ and fearing the ‘end of her career’.

Caversham’s chairman of governors Mr Walne described a meeting between himself, Ms Perry, and Alice Boon and Brian Grady from Reading Borough Council, which came after Ofsted had advised it would give Caversham an ‘inadequate’ grade.

‘Ruth was in a very distressed state at the beginning of the meeting. She was worried about her reputation,’ he said. 

‘She was asking about the possibilities of academisation, and about whether she was going to lose her job.

‘I assured her that was not going to happen, and Brian said he did not want to hear the word ‘academisation’ again – as this meeting was about her and how we were supporting her.’

Ms Boon, who works in education for Reading Borough Council, also spent time with Ms Perry in the wake of the inspection.

The John Rankin School in Newbury, where headteacher Mrs Perry worked

She told the court: ‘I felt that Ruth was panicky after the inspection. She found the whole process profoundly upsetting. I don’t think she was expecting it to feel the way it did.

‘She was an amazing headteacher and an amazing person. So, moving forwards, we wanted her to remember those things and know that she would be able to make the changes – that it was actually a very doable process.

READ MORE: Ofsted inspector ‘sniggered loudly’ and had ‘mocking tone’ during meeting with headteacher Ruth Perry after they had reviewed her school, inquest into her death hears 

‘There were days when she seemed like her old self and days when she didn’t, but when it got to the point where everyone was worried that Ruth was really not doing well – it was a flag for me that she needed immediate medical attention.

‘I begged her to see a GP, and said to her, if she was not going to do it for herself, she must do it for her friends who desperately want her to get help.’

Ms Boon also drew attention to the pressure headteachers feel when they are inspected by Ofsted.

She explained: ‘I believe that this extremely heightened level of stress that headteachers feel around Ofsted inspections has become normalised, to the point where it is considered usual if a headteacher is struggling to sleep.’

Earlier, colleagues of the 53-year-old headteacher told Berkshire Coroner Heidi Connor that lead inspector Alan Derry had been ‘unpleasant’ and ‘unprofessional’ during a meeting about safeguarding at the school.

The Coroner asked senior school leader Jo Grover: ‘Do you see a direct link between the Ofsted inspection and Ruth’s deteriorating mental health and death?’

Ms Grover replied: ‘Yes, absolutely I do.’

The teacher told how there was an ‘imbalance’ of power between the Ofsted inspectors and staff in charge of running the primary which left Ms Perry in tears.

Ms Grover said: ‘Ruth was physically upset and crying.

‘I was aware that there had been safeguarding incidents and I was expecting a level of challenge around that.

Teachers, friends and supporters of Mrs Perry gather outside the inquest centre in Reading

‘But it was not a professional conversation.

‘The manner at one point in this meeting was unpleasant.

‘There were hand gestures and tone of voice. I was interrupted. 

‘I was not able to complete my sentences. 

‘At one point there was a hand lifted up to stop me speaking and a snigger.

‘[Lead inspector] Mr Derry very loudly said: ‘I beg to differ.”

Ms Grover told the court that all of senior staff at the school felt ‘under extreme pressure’ during the two-day inspection.

She said: ‘We all felt under extreme pressure. 

‘I don’t think I’ve ever felt so stressed and under pressure for such a prolonged time.

‘All of us were feeling quite unwell by the end [of the inspection].’

Ms Grover told the court that headteacher Ruth Perry had become ‘overwhelmed’ and ‘very upset’ by the time of the final Ofsted meeting.

She said: ‘There were a lot of moments when she was very panicky and very overwhelmed and very upset.

‘The version of Ruth then was not her at her best.

‘Ruth was extremely distressed.’

Ms Perry’s family maintain she took her own life following the Ofsted report which downgraded her Caversham Primary School in Reading from its highest rating to its lowest.

The inquest continues.

For help, call Samaritans for free on 116 123 or visit samaritans.org 

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