Ofsted inspectors have been 'refused entry' to a primary school after a bad inspection led to the headteacher's tragic death, it's been reported. Ruth Perry, who was headteacher at Caversham Primary School in Reading, sadly took her own life in January after she became a 'shadow of her former self' while waiting for a negative Ofsted report.
The 53-year-old experienced the 'worst day of her life' after inspectors informed her in November last year that the school was being massively downgraded from 'Outstanding' to 'Inadequate'. Flora Cooper, Executive Headteacher at the John Rankin Schools, Newbury, now says she has told inspectors not to turn up for a scheduled inspection, Wales Online reports.
In a tweet, Ms Cooper said: "I've just had the call. I've refused entry. This is an interesting phone call. Doing this for everyone for our school staff everywhere!" On March 18, Mrs Cooper shared a statement from Ms Perry's sister which saw another online user all for Ofsted to be abolished.
In response to this, Mrs Cooper replied: "But what could they do if we refused them? I'm taking a stand. I don't do things for Ofsted (as you know), but I will take a stand to change the system.
"It must change now. We cannot allow it to continue, it should not have taken this. Who's in? I am." In a series of tweets, Ms Cooper called for other people to join her at the school on Tuesday (March 21) morning at 8am.
Her post has received thousands of likes, retweets and replies with most people being in full support of her decision. A petition which is calling for an inquiry into the Ofsted inspection has also been launched in light of Ruth's suicide which has been signed by almost 40,000 people.
Ms Perry's sister, Julia Walters previously told BBC South that inspectors had seen a pupil performing a flossing dance move from the video game Fortnite and concluded it was evidence of the sexualisation of children at the school. Ms Waters said: “Ruth took her own life on January 8, all during that process every time I spoke to her, she would talk about the countdown.
"I remember her clearly one day saying ‘52 days and counting’, every day she had this weight on her shoulders hanging over her and she wasn’t officially allowed to talk to her family. I remember the very first day I saw her, rather than just speaking to her on the phone, a couple of days after the end of the Ofsted inspection, she came, she was an absolute shadow of her former self."
The dreaded report which was published last week found that the school was 'Good' in every category apart from leadership and management where it was ruled as 'Inadequate' which is the lowest possible rating. Inspectors claim the school leaders did not possess the 'required knowledge to keep pupils safe from harm', did not take 'prompt and proper actions' and had not ensured safeguarding was 'effective'.
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