Last week, Yorkshire Bylines published an account of an Ofsted inspection. The article was written by a head teacher who must remain anonymous, due to the issues raised in the article about Ofsted’s handling of confidential pupil information.
Obviously, anonymous accounts will only enlighten so far; the details within them cannot be objectively checked. So I decided to take a different approach and search for recent Ofsted reports that told a similar story to Caversham’s. These are public documents. On a cursory search, the following emerged; four other schools which seem to have had a remarkably similar experience.
Five failing schools?
Some of these reports have been publicly challenged by head teachers and governors. When such accounts emerged from a Google search, I have included reference to them below the Ofsted report summary.
Caversham Primary School: Reading, Berkshire
Inspected November 2022
Overall result: Inadequate
The quality of education: Good
Behaviour and attitudes: Good
Personal development: Good
Leadership and management: Inadequate
Early years provision: Good
Previous inspection grade: Outstanding
The inspectors reported:
“Pupils enjoy coming to this welcoming and vibrant school… [They] can discuss what a healthy and unhealthy relationship looks like and how to be a good friend. They know how to stay safe including online… Pupils are kind to each other, listen and respond appropriately to each other. Pupils know who to turn to if they have a worry or a problem, feeling confident that they will get the help they need… Incidents of bullying are rare.
“The arrangements for safeguarding are not effective. Leaders have a weak understanding of safeguarding requirements and procedures… However, staff know how to identify concerns about pupils and to report these to the appropriate leader. The pastoral support provided for pupils is a strength and they appreciate this level of care.”
Sadly, what happened next at Caversham is nationally known, as the head teacher took her own life. There has understandably been no formal response as yet. Here, John Cosgrove, a colleague who knew Ruth Perry personally, gives an account of how the situation unfolded.
The verdict will have come as a particular surprise to Ruth, given that the school underwent a ‘practice’ inspection in 2019, personally observed by Chief Inspector Amanda Spielman, and was given ‘glowing’ feedback.
Queen Emma Primary School: Cambridge
Inspected October 2022
Overall result: Inadequate
The quality of education: Good
Behaviour and attitudes: Good
Personal development: Requires Improvement
Leadership and management: Inadequate
Early years provision: Good
Previous inspection grade: Good
The inspectors reported:
“Pupils enjoy their learning at Queen Emma Primary School. Behaviour expectations are high and pupils have positive attitudes towards their education… Bullying is rare and pupils say it is quickly sorted out if it happens… Pupils are supported with care… [they] trust adults in school, say that they feel safe and know what to do if they have a problem.
“The arrangements for safeguarding are ineffective. Safeguarding systems, policies and procedures are in place. However, safeguarding records vary in quality… Leaders and governors are not tenacious enough in following up, monitoring, and recording incidents of concern… Pupils are taught how to help keep themselves safe… [including] the importance of healthy relationships and how to keep safe when online.”
The chair of governors at Queen Emma told the BBC that the inspection felt “like an all-out assault”, claiming that “inspectors behaved in an ‘entirely inappropriate’ manner”, adding that “the lead inspector refused to listen, stormed out… when questioned and threw evidence across the room”. He also claims that inspectors “went off with a substantial” amount of confidential data relating to children and their families, and had not yet returned all of this.
Stoke Prior Primary School: Herefordshire
Inspected October 2022
Overall result: Inadequate
The quality of education: Requires improvement
Behaviour and attitudes: Good
Personal development: Requires improvement
Leadership and management: Inadequate
Early years provision: Good
Previous inspection grade: Outstanding
The inspectors reported:
“In this small school, staff and leaders know the pupils and their families well. Pupils like coming to school and say that they feel safe. However, leaders have not done enough to make sure that all pupils are kept as safe as possible. Not all concerns are recorded in full or followed up by staff or leaders… In lessons pupils behave well. They are friendly and play well together during break and lunchtimes. Pupils understand what bullying is. It rarely happens but if it does, teachers resolve it.
“The arrangements for safeguarding are not effective. Systems to record safeguarding concerns are weak… When concerns are recorded, they sometimes lack important detail. They are not always followed up… Staff receive safeguarding training, including how to report concerns. However, leaders do not check that all staff have fully understood this training.”
The head teacher at Stoke Prior said: “The commitment and dedication of our professional staff and the happy children that we see each and every day are noted by a range of visitors to the school” including other headteachers, local authority officers and governors.
Sacred Heart Primary School: Whetstone, North London
Inspected: December 2022
Overall result: Inadequate
The quality of education: Good
Behaviour and attitudes: Good
Personal development: Good
Leadership and management: Inadequate
Early years provision: Good
Previous inspection grade: Good
The inspectors reported:
“Staff in school care for pupils well on a day to day basis… Pupils feel safe in school. They know who to talk to if they have concerns and they trust adults to manage this effectively… Pupils behave very well. This is because there are clear consistent routines and expectations from staff. Bullying is not tolerated. Any incidents that arise are dealt with swiftly.
“The arrangements for safeguarding are not effective. Leaders, including those responsible for governance, do not have a sufficiently accurate understanding of their responsibilities in keeping pupils safe. Consequently, they have not fulfilled all their statutory safeguarding duties… Staff have received appropriate training and understand their responsibility to report any concerns they may have… Record-keeping is minimal and information regarding the safety of pupils is not easily accessible…. Pupils are helped to understand how to keep themselves safe [including] online.”
Rusper Primary School: Sussex
Inspected: December 2022
Overall result: Inadequate
The quality of education: Requires improvement
Behaviour and attitudes: Good
Personal development: Good
Leadership and management: Inadequate
Early years provision: Good
Previous inspection grade: Good
The inspectors reported:
“Pupils enjoy attending this happy village school… There is very little bullying and leaders take suitable action to follow up any incidents. Pupils like their teachers and feel safe and cared for well by them… They also enjoy the extra responsibility that comes with being a house captain or a school councillor.
“The arrangements for safeguarding are not effective. Weaknesses in the school’s safeguarding arrangements potentially put pupils at risk of harm. Leaders do not have a secure understanding of statutory safeguarding requirements… They have not consistently recorded the actions they have taken in response to concerns [or]… followed the correct protocols and guidance for the sharing of confidential safeguarding information.”
Nick Avey, Headteacher of Rusper Primary, said: “As a school community, we are disappointed with the outcomes of our inspection but do accept aspects of the report’s findings and know the areas we need to improve. I am proud of… the safety and positive achievements of our wonderful pupils, and ultimately the effectiveness and positive feel of our beloved village school.”
Why did this happen?
In September 2021, OFSTED announced that “Schools will be judged ‘ineffective’ where they do not have adequate processes to deal with harmful sexual behaviour including sexual harassment and violence… Schools must also keep comprehensive records of all allegations… [and] should assume that sexual harassment, online sexual abuse and sexual violence are happening in and around the school, even when there are no specific reports, and put in place a whole-school approach to address them”.
Paragraph 353-357 of the School Inspection Handbook goes into more detail. But it does not indicate a specific system that DFE/ OFSTED require schools to use, and whether these would differ between primary and secondary schools.
What happens after an Inadequate result?
Following national tragedies such as the Soham murders and the death of Daniel Pelka, any safeguarding breach found during Ofsted inspection is taken very seriously, usually resulting in an Inadequate grade overall, regardless of other exemplary practice. The Department for Education has commented:
“If we have serious concerns about a school, for example in relation to safeguarding, we will deem the ungraded inspection a graded inspection immediately… The Secretary of State for Education will issue an academy order to a maintained school judged inadequate and placed in a category of concern. The school will then become a sponsored academy.”
What is going on?
The outgoing joint general secretary of the teachers’ union, the NEU, has raised concerns about this process, voicing fears that it is part of “a trend which provides further evidence that that the inspectorate’s role is not to support schools, but to produce labels which the Government can use for its increasingly authoritarian interventions around academisation”.
At this stage there is not enough evidence yet to indicate that this is what has been going on during Ofsted inspections carried out in the autumn term of the school year 2022–2023. However, to this ex-schoolteacher there does appear to be a highly draconian approach being taken by inspectors, that is resulting in them throwing out the ‘generally good practice’ baby with the ‘safeguarding’ bathwater.
It’s fair to give the last word to Professor Julia Waters, sister to Ruth Perry: “In our opinion, the findings of Ofsted were disproportionate, unfair and, as has tragically been proven, deeply harmful in their (implied) focus on one individual.”
There are clearly urgent issues here, to discuss and resolve, in order to avoid similar tragedies in the future.
