Proud parent to four kids, who all thrived at the brilliant Caversham Primary. I am the director of The Affable Design Company. All opinions are my own.
If you are interested in the thoughts of a Caversham Primary parent, I now have a blog which is an account of my experience of the school and the wonderful teacher who led it,
#RuthPerry
Ruth Perry Inquest Day One
The first day of witness evidence has produced some devastating testimony. I will do my best to give you a sense of the day. Apologies for the length of this thread. There is a lot to get through and honestly, too much for this platform…
Today is the one year anniversary of Ruth Perry’s death. Yellow and green ribbons have been used to represent suicide awareness and mental health awareness for years but they are also the colours of Caversham Primary School and why I use the ribbon for my profile picture...
Many people have expressed the hope that I will have done something nice over the weekend and I did. On Saturday I spent 3.5 hours in the grotto at Caversham Primary’s Christmas fair where I read to 140 children. I hope it was as magical for them as it was for me…
Caversham Primary have a new Ofsted rating. Yesterday it was ‘Inadequate’, today ‘Good’, 3.5 months ago it was ‘Outstanding’. Single word judgements are a farce. I am so proud of the school we have today but I cannot help mourning the loss of the school we had under Ruth Perry.
A clock now marks the spot in the playground where Ruth Perry once watched over her school. In just five years, none of the pupils will have known her, but any one of us who did will see it as we go by and remember the brilliant educator she was.
Sir Martyn is meeting with Julia, Lisa and I this week. So far he has displayed more humanity and taken more positive action than OFSTED managed in the whole of last year, but we'll not be satisfied until real reform occurs.
Julia, Ruth Perry's sister, would like me to make a really important point of clarification: Contrary to Amanda Spielman's public statement, "Ruth's family has NEVER received either condolences or an apology. NOTHING."
However...
Imagine a court found that a school's practices led to an actual death, would OFSTED accept the response of a head teacher who said; "Don't worry, we've had a ninety-minute training session and solved all the problems"?
Stop inspecting, rethink inspections.
#RuthPerry
Ruth Perry Inquest Day 2
Today has already been so much harder. Quote of the day from OI Gareth Evans; during inspections "we more often see people crying than not", so somebody upset is just par for the course, in an OFSTED inspection, apparently. More later...
It is nearly five months since my daughter’s headteacher took her own life because of an OFSTED inspection. That this could happen at all is shaming. That this could happen and OFSTED refuse to do anything is obscene. The very worst thing is that it has happened before….
Julia Waters, Lisa Telling and I met with Sir Martyn Oliver at OFSTED headquarters. We want to ensure that what happened to Ruth Perry never happens again. I can say that I sincerely feel we are closer to that goal today, than we were yesterday…
It’s not about individuals, it's about the OFSTED system…but…if one person who despite everything still doesn’t treat the situation with the gravity it deserves, they should go. My daughter’s head teacher, my friend’s sister are worth more than 90 minutes. Amanda Spielman, GO.
Listen to the powerful voice of someone who wants nothing but good for her school and is rewarded with nothing but anxiety. Tilly, I started this year screaming into the wind, grateful if friends liked a Facebook post, now 5k follow me here, and they all just heard you.
Dear
@Ofstednews
I don't really have any followers so don't suppose this will make a difference but- I have been a bloody good and dedicated teacher for 22 years working and making a difference in an area of true deprivation. I have been a head teacher for the last 3 years
Can I just say to friends, supporters, and followers, old and new, my reach has now exceeded my ability to answer every comment made. I'm so sorry, I try to make time to answer everyone but you'll appreciate this week is pretty full on.
Sir Keir Starmer pledged that "everybody will be treated with dignity and respect at work" in his first speech. If that isn't a mandate for Ofsted reform, I don't know what is.
Ruth Perry Inquest Day Three
The inquest took a little bit of a toll on me last night so I am afraid I still need a bit of time to produce a fulsome summary of the day’s events...
Ruth Perry Inquest Day 2
I am not going to summarise today’s events in quite the same way as yesterday. Partly because today covered a lot of the same ground but also because we are now entering a phase of the inquest where people I have a strong regard for are giving evidence...
All year long,
@branwenjeffreys
has been following Ruth Perry's sister, Julia Waters, in her fight to get reform in OFSTED. This amazing documentary is well worth your time...
I was at the pre-inquest into Ruth Perry’s death today. There is a lot to unpack. Ofsted took up almost the entire right-hand side of the court with a team of seven. The family, Ruth’s GP, Brighter Futures, the school/Reading Borough Council all had legal representation.
I’ve read the government’s response to the Select Committee’s Inquiry into Ofsted’s Work with Schools, and it is the most pathetic excuse for can-kicking inaction I have ever seen. It is an absence of a response, a vacuum of responsibility, a void of accountability…
Mega-thread 1 of 5
I have discovered a lot of things wrong with this country over the past year, five months, three weeks, and four days since my daughter's head teacher, Ruth Perry, took her own life. In order to do this, I am going to have to talk about some difficult things…
Julia, Lisa and I were in Parliament to meet with Gillian Keegan and senior Civil Servants of the Department for Education, on Tuesday, in order to be briefed on the DfE and OFSTED’s response to Coroner, Heidi Connor’s Regulation 28 Report issued after the Ruth Perry inquest...
Today the government, paraphrasing the coroner, chose “Transparency and ease of message” over “teacher welfare”.
If they had to use a single word, we wish they’d chosen ‘Compassion’.
Care of Julia Waters, the words of
#RuthPerry
, someone we knew, loved and respected:
I cannot think of anything that could possibly be more powerful than the amazing generosity that has enabled us, in two days, to reach the funding target to cover the legal expenses incurred by Ruth Perry’s family…
It is eighteen months to-the-day since education lost one wonderful headteacher in Reading. New SoS, Bridget Phillipson announced her recruitment drive for teachers today, I am very much looking forward to her strategy for retention which is doubtless connected to Ofsted reform…
Every single time Gillian Keegan uses Ofsted's single-word judgements with pride, it is a reminder that she cares more about statistical convenience than teacher wellbeing. An inquest, an inquiry and Ruth Perry’s family have proven the harm they do, and she simply doesn’t care.
‘Years of stagnation’ 🤔
🏫 90% of schools rated good or outstanding, up from 68% under Labour
📚 The 4th best primary school readers in the world
📈 Our secondary school children have risen from 27th to 11th in maths & 25th to 13th in reading
🧵 A thread 👇
1/4
I have had a talk with Julia Waters, Ruth Perry's sister, this afternoon. Julia isn’t on X so isn’t in a position to put out a comment, but her thoughts on Amanda Spielman’s Radio4 interview with Emma Barnett are important and I am grateful that she has allowed me to share them…
Ruth Perry Inquest Day Four
The 4th day of the inquest heard a mix of medical evidence and Local Authority evidence from Brian Grady of Brighter Futures for Children. Also relevant to this analysis are the Day 3 testimonies of Caversham co-heads Clare Jones-King and Jo Grover…
Ruth was given hope in the governors meeting. Her hope was then smashed. She finished the 2nd day of the inspection knowing that there was no problem that could not be resolved within 30 days, yet her school was to be given to an academy and she would lose her job. More tomorrow.
For the record, I genuinely believe that Gillian Keegan was f***ing good at her job because it was her job to block our demands for meaningful reform in Ofsted.
Goodbye Gillian, hello Bridget.
Now, about Ofsted.....
The question of how much warning a school gets came up and Heidi Connor got very cross with OFSTED repeatedly using the phrases “parents want”, “teachers want” and “schools want”. She emphasized that she did not want any more un-evidenced claims…
I have been privileged to be part of the ‘conversation’ around OFSTED reform. My seat at the table was given to me by Julia Waters. She confronted the system that caused her sister’s death and asked if I would like to accompany her, I welcomed the opportunity to play my part…
Ruth Perry Inquest Day 5 – Regulation 28 Witnesses Pt1
In an inquest such as the one being held for Ruth Perry, the coroner has a lot of options in terms of delivering the final findings of fact. An inquest is not like any other court proceedings, the aim is to find the facts…
The fact of Ruth Perry taking her own life wasn’t enough, the coroners’ findings weren’t enough, the Education Select Committee’s recommendations weren’t enough. When is enough, enough? When will they ditch single-word/phrase judgements?...
Up until March last year I had made a dozen posts and had twenty followers, half of them were my family. Then I made it my mission to get reform in OFSTED and this platform yielded so much more than I ever imagined. Thank you all who read my ramblings.
#MyXAnniversary
@hopkinsmmi
Thank you. I have taken the 2,500 new followers I've accrued this week as an indication that others find it a worthwhile exercise, and it's an honour to help in this way.
Ruth Perry Inquest Day 6 – My Conclusions
The only conclusions that matter in the inquest are the coroner’s, but the experience of sitting in court, every day, watching the wheels of the inquest grind on, have left their mark, and I have some thoughts…
Spielman did 'reassure' Julia, following Ruth's death, that safeguarding was being treated in EXACTLY the same way as before. Needless to say, she was not reassured.
Has anyone had firsthand experience of an OFSTED inspection being delayed because the inspectors realised how stressed you were? The coroner challenged Chris Russell to prove that OFSTED gave ANY guidance on staff wellbeing, if you are training it, it must be written down, no?…
She reminded those present that it is important, not just for justice to be done, but that justice should be seen to be done. She criticised the “surprisingly insensitive comments”, “made recently by a senior OFSTED representative”. Anyone hear Amanda Spielman on Woman’s Hour?...
Ruth Perry Inquest Day 6 - Coroner Conlusions Part 2
Heidi Connor, the coroner, stated; “The concept of pausing an inspection for mental health reasons is indeed something of a mythical creature, created and expanded on during the evidence at this inquest”...
OFSTED provide no written guidance to inspectors on how to deal with people exhibiting stress or even how to recognise people exhibiting stress. There is no guidance in the handbook, there is no written guidance in the training materials, though they claim it's in the training…
Sorry for the mega-thread. Julia Waters, Lisa Telling, and I were at Westminster to attend the final evidence hearing of the Commons Select Committee enquiry into the efficacy of OFSTED on 8th November. We found Amanda Spielman’s evidence gobsmackingly tone-deaf…
@_M_A_Z_Z_A
It did not, but only because we got OFSTED to change the rules and allow schools like Caversham to be reassessed after three months. Ruth's beloved school is now rated 'good', for all their useless judgements are worth.
Absolutely in tears.
@Emmabarnett
is literally the first interviewer I’ve heard truly take Amanda Spielman to task over her stewardship of OFSTED on
@BBCWomansHour
. Spielman’s implacable denial that there is anything wrong with her organisation looked all the more ridiculous…
I’ve just returned from an uncomfortable and embarrassing cystoscopy that showed that, nearly two years after my first diagnosis, I remain free of cancer. A reminder to everyone that you should NEVER ignore blood in your pee. Visit the GP, get it checked out…
My sister is a classical musician, I am a designer and sculptor, both of us turned our creative pursuits into a career. It is essential that state schools offer a broad curriculum so that young people can find the thing that works for them. Nobody benefits from less opportunity.
Backstage at a concert in 2015 at my children’s school -Trinity in Nottingham. Now plans to drastically cut music and creative arts from this wonderful state school. Protest strike on Wednesday and Thursday this week. Where will the future of music come from?
We are three days away from the beginning of the inquest into Ruth Perry’s tragic death, which followed an OFSTED inspection at her school, Caversham Primary…
To get an Ofsted that is fair, consistent, transparent and accountable with inspection consequences that are proportionate, there are some battles that can't be fought in the open, if a day or a week goes by and you hear nothing from me that doesn't mean I'm not still fighting.
Today (day 4 of the inquest) will be dominated by the medical evidence. I will not be attending or relating this phase of the inquest, there is no public interest served in dwelling on these details, they are for the coroner and the family. I will rejoin the session later.
Well, I wish there could have been more sector involvement in determining the reforms, but I cannot pretend, after the week just passed, that it isn't a blessed relief to hear Ofsted reform being championed.
Ofsted must be reformed.
Parents know it, school staff know it, Labour knows it.
A Labour government would end headline grades and introduce new report cards.
When will the Tories finally follow Labour’s lead in the interest of parents, pupils and staff?
I had the huge pleasure of sculpting the wonderful
@therealjomartin
‘s action figure for the Character Options range. Jo is a truly lovely human being and it is wonderful that the figure is finally here:
My dear friend Julia has travelled up to Manchester for today's launch of the Commons Select Committee report on Ofsted's work in Schools, she continues to brilliantly articulate our insistence on reform in Ofsted. Come on
@GillianKeegan
ditch single-word judgements!
MPs have called for an end to single-word Ofsted judgments after school inspections.
Professor Julia Waters, whose sister Ruth Perry took her own life after an inspection at her school, told
#BBCBreakfast
the Government should now act
Oh the irony! During Ruth Perry's inquest, OFSTED claimed that its software was constantly monitored and capable of being used to remotely assess and intervene if senior leader stress levels were too high. It can't even capture and retain data reliably.
And what is the mechanism for pausing or deferring an inspection. This is producing farcical levels of testimony. OFSTED have painted a picture of senior leadership teams acting remotely using an evidence gathering database as some kind of OFSTED VAR…
Ruth Perry Inquest Day 6 – Coroner Conclusions
There has now been quite a bit written about HM Senior Coroner for Berkshire Heidi Connor’s conclusions at the end of the Ruth Perry inquest, but these are the issues she raised that are of interest to me…
My son, who has been taught piano by my incredibly talented sister (via Zoom!) is working his way through Vince Guaraldi's score to 'A Charlie Brown Christmas'. Honestly, there is no better balm for the soul after a tough couple of weeks.
Published today on the Judiciary website. Berkshire's Senior Coroner, Heidi Connor's full Regulation 28 Prevention of Future Death report on the death of Ruth Perry:
If you are an educator, especially in senior leadership, and you have felt alone in the despair OFSTED generates. If you are fed up with being told that the system is fine, just read some of the comments from the 4.2k that so generously gave to the fund.
Nearly two months into his stewardship of OFSTED and we still do not have a timetable for reform from Sir Martyn Oliver, the DfE or the Secretary of State for Education. There isn’t even a start date for Oliver’s ‘Big Listen’…
Ofsted's 'Good' judgement on Caversham Primary, coming so closely after the ‘Inadequate’, generates the perfect mixture of pride and desolation in this parent. We’ve all been on the most hideous journey to end up exactly where we started, and the cost was way too high.
The coroner said that she would only accept evidenced claims with statistics behind them. She pointed out that OFSTED’s claim that schools get 24hours notice, is disingenuous this figure is not at all representative of the actual amount of time the school has to get ready…
Grief sneaks up on you when you're not aware, doesn't it? I sat down to write my cards tonight and pulled open our 'Christmas Book' that contains all the addresses. It was created by my wife so the first entry is "M&D" (Mum and Dad) followed by "S&P" (Sue and Peter my parents)...
It is nearly a year since Ruth’s death, to anyone who is in anguish; however desperate a situation seems, there is always a solution. Share your burden, talk to
@samaritans
, if you’re a head teacher try
@Headrest_UK
I am glad you are alive, please continue to remain that way.
OFSTED have no written guidance on slowing down or pausing an inspection, no written guidance in identifying signs of stress, no written guidance in what to do if educators suffer stress, no written code of conduct for inspectors, no written guidance about how to reduce stress...
An update on the appeal to cover legal expenses incurred by Ruth Perry's family, ahead of the inquest. If you have donated or if you have shared details of the GoFundMe (), I thank you with all my heart…
I also want to ask that we do not focus attention on individuals. I have named people as part of my recording of the inquest but we are all clear that the failure is systemic. Individuals were not acting in a vacuum, they were part of a system and reflected its failings.
In Caversham’s case the last planning phone call took place at 4.30pm the afternoon before the inspection which meant that Ruth actually had practically no preparation time.
I see quite a few people have adopted the image below in recognition of the one year anniversary of Ruth Perry's death. In addition Reading schools have posted images of candles and many heads have placed an LED candle on their desks. What a beautiful community teaching is.
“Ofsted must also be held to account. Its inspection system must be fully reformed, to prioritise the wellbeing of teachers and school leaders, as well as of children. Only then will Ofsted be able to regain the confidence of the teaching profession and of parents.”
It is not surprising that the first people to acknowledge the importance of Julia Waters' work are teachers. I really hope that, in the fullness of time, the professor will be recognized by wider society for her efforts to reform OFSTED for the betterment of all.
Conference was honoured to present Julia Waters with the Anne & Fred Jarvis award today at
#NEU2024
The award was made in recognition of her campaign to reform Ofsted following the death of her sister Ruth Perry.
'This award is not for me, it's for Ruth.'
OFSTED’s evidence is characterized by repeated use of the same organisationally popular phrases, idioms, and language. I would put money down on HMI Alan Derry having been heavily coached over night as there was a marked change in his responses to questions today…
A response produced on the day of the coroner's verdict was never going to be satisfactory. No thought went into this. No understanding is shown. There is no response. Let's remember...
“Inspections should drive school improvement, not be a form of ritual humiliation. As my sister's death tragically illustrates, the current inspection system is punitive, inconsistent, unreliable and fatally-flawed.”…
Julia, Lisa and I returned for our fourth set of talks at the DfE with SoS Gillian Keegan on Wednesday. It is an on-going process, with some progress but still a great deal to do. Ofsted continue to disappoint at every painful step of the way…1 of 8
I am saddened that heads in Reading are tonight feeling grateful to the LA for doing something it should already have been doing and tragically failed to do for Ruth Perry.
As I said yesterday, this week will be all about Ofsted (almost like I knew something was going to happen). The DfE/SoS are set to announce their “openness” to exploring new judgment methods beyond single words/phrases. But before we start on that, let’s step back a minute…
But the fact that an entire charitable infrastructure exists to support the mental wellbeing of educators is a NATIONAL DISGRACE. Death should not be an acceptable consequence of school accountability; a mental health crisis should not be an acceptable consequence either…
My dear friend Julia Waters once again had to take to a stage to encourage OFSTED and the government to do what they should be doing anyway; not "paying lip service" to reform but deep, meaningful systemic change for the benefit of all the stakeholders in education. More later...
Following her speech at
@NEUnion
conference Prof. Julia Waters receives a huge standing ovation.
She urged NEU to stop campaigning to abolish Ofsted and put their energy into the opportunity for real change
It has been an emotional rollercoaster trying to get reform in Ofsted. The highs and lows often occur on the same day. On Friday, three significant events unfolded: one reflecting on the past, one illuminating the present, and one offering hope for the future…
@FrankWNorris
If you'd experienced the way they've treated Julia and Ruth's family, close up, as I have all this year, let alone their behaviour for the entire duration of the inquest, this would not be a surprise. They clearly never remotely considered the possibility of the eventual outcome.
This is EXACTLY why the Secretary of State's refusal to engage with the Select Committee's call for Ofsted reform, is totally unacceptable. Educators need change NOW. I know of at least 18 cases of unacceptable Ofsted behaviour SINCE the 'empathy training' occurred in January.
Day 2 of the Ofsted inspection. My wife messaged me to say “nobody has slept, nobody has eaten properly, the year 6 teacher has just thrown up!”
@GillianKeegan
why does it have to be like this???
The coroner highlighted that in a meeting that Derry had described as being straightforward and calm one of the Deputy Heads had found it deeply uncomfortable because Mr Derry was “mocking and unpleasant”…
@imagineinquiry
I talked with Julia & Lisa about this. I debated writing a gargantuan thread, but to what end? Spielman's central point is the same tired straw-man argument about 'people not liking accountability'. She is an irrelevance scrabbling around trying to piece together a reputation.
“The outpouring of anger and anguish following Ruth's death is not 'a debate about accountability.' It is the alarm call of a profession in crisis. We have never argued that schools should not be held accountable, but inspections should be a constructive, supportive process.”…
My friend Julia Waters convened a meeting with Sir Martyn Oliver and a group of heads who suffered near catastrophic effects to their mental health after Ofsted inspections. In truth, we have no idea how many more heads there are who are silenced by NDAs.
So the experience of seeing these two outstanding educators deliver their evidence with such clarity, dignity, emotional intelligence and strength of purpose was profoundly moving to me. They did not allow themselves to be directed by legalistic chicanery...
Ruth said that he wouldn’t listen to her answers, wouldn’t allow her time to find the information and wasn’t interested in her explanations, but this wasn’t the only disparity between Derry and the SLT’s statements..
The family’s lawyer started by getting Russell to accept that OFSTED are “fully aware of the consequences” for a school and Senior Leadership Team (SLT) in a school rated ‘Inadequate’ which led to acceptance that school inspections will, in all likelihood cause stress…
And yet another article recognising that what happened in Caversham should really make us think about how we go about accountability and improvement in this country.
It is extremely physically demanding to lurch from feelings of deep sadness to burning anger for six hours, three days in a row. Last night I had to prioritise sleep...
“You must be so pleased”, people say, “When Bridget Phillipson gets in, you’ll get the Ofsted reform you want”. Actually, no, I am not happy. The dissolution of Parliament comes at the expense of some parliamentary business I very much wanted to see happen, which now never will…
Yesterday I accompanied Julia Waters & Lisa Telling to meet RTHon Gillian Keegan MP to discuss Ofsted, the inspection of Caversham Primary and subsequent tragic events. I could hardly of hoped for a better outcome. Change is coming, and all in Ruth Perry's name. More, when I can.
As to Spielman’s Woman’s Hour interview, Julia said; “To suggest that Ruth's death has 'been used as a pivot to discredit Ofsted' is not only grossly insensitive to my family's grief but shows a shocking lack of understanding of the concerns of the teaching profession.”…