Review published by council following Perry inquest

An Independent Learning Review (ILR) following the inquest of headteacher Ruth Perry has been published by Reading Borough Council.

A coroner ordered a learning review into the support and guidance offered by Reading Borough Council after ruling an Ofsted inspection contributed to the suicide of Perry, then head at Caversham Primary School.

The review was carried out by two senior education and children’s social care professionals who concluded “we would have […] responded in the same way” as Reading officers did.

However, it made wider policy recommendations, including for the role of councils in maintaining schools to be “clarified and funded”.

It added that “local authorities are effectively hamstrung in their ability to provide high-quality support for their school leaders by a combination of both policy and funding constraints”.

Reading Borough Council said they have already taken steps to better understand and respond to the pressures on headteachers and the impact on their wellbeing, and to develop a collective response to Ofsted’s consultation on improvements to its school inspection regime.

The review makes several recommendations for further improvement, including continuing to work with local headteachers to implement the recently introduced ‘real time’ feedback loop for schools being inspected, the development of a critical incident policy for schools, the annual revision and republishing of HR and Health and Safety guidance to schools, and a review of current mental health support for staff.

The consultation response included recommendations to abolish one-word judgements and replace them with a dashboard approach with an appropriate focus on inclusion.

Paul Whiteman, general secretary at school leaders' union NAHT, said: “Reading Borough Council’s independent learning review into the circumstances around the tragic death of Ruth Perry provides further evidence of the harm that England’s outdated and punitive accountability system carries. 

"School leaders sit at the epicentre of an unreliable inspection system that continues to employ simplistic and reductive single word or phrase judgements which carry career defining consequences and are a proven risk to life.  Rather than unlocking support and collaboration, inspection remains a lever for school intervention, driving unnecessary workload and ill-health."