Ruth Perry 'couldn’t show her face again' when inspectors said school was inadequate, inquest hears

A head teacher who took her own life said she “couldn’t show her face again” after she was told her school was likely to be graded inadequate by Ofsted, an inquest heard.

Ruth Perry, 53, head of Caversham Primary School in Reading, broke down in tears during the final meeting with inspectors after a two-day inspection.

Alan Derry, the lead Ofsted inspector during the inspection, said that Mrs Perry “became very upset” and “very tearful”.

He said: “She looked like she was in pain. At that point she was saying things like she felt she couldn’t show her face again.”

The inquest into Mrs Perry’s death heard that during a phone call with Mr Derry when she was given 24 hours notice of an inspection, she had sounded strong and confident.

“She said, ‘We are ready and we have been for a really long time and we’re keen to get started’,” Mr Derry told the inquest.

Caversham had been rated “outstanding” by Ofsted since it was last inspected 13 years previously.

Mr Derry said that when he arrived at the school to start the inspection in November 2022, Mrs Perry appeared apprehensive.

He had a meeting with her later that morning where they discussed problems with record keeping around vulnerable pupils.

During the meeting he said that she became tearful and repeatedly said: “It’s not looking good is it?”

He said that he gave her the choice to pause the meeting when she became upset.

Heidi Connor, senior coroner for Berkshire, read an extract from the witness statement from Nicky Leroy, the school business manager, who said that when Mrs Perry came out of the meeting she was “very distressed”.

Mrs Perry was said to have been “flushed, shaky, and unable to speak coherently”.

Ms Leroy said that Mrs Perry said she needed to leave the school “right now”.

However, her colleagues persuaded her to stay and attempt to address some of the record-keeping concerns.

Mr Derry said he discussed record keeping and pupil behaviour concerns with the chair of governors at the school on the second day of the inspection.

He said he believed that pupils at the school felt safe. However, he said he had not been clear enough about his views of the school’s safeguarding culture.

“My mistake was to give a stronger impression to the chair of governors than actually the evidence had been showing and had shown,” he said.

During the final feedback meeting Mr Derry said that Mrs Perry broke down.

He accepted that under Ofsted rules, an inadequate rating meant the school was likely to join an academy which meant that Mrs Perry’s job was not guaranteed.

Mrs Perry later received a draft inspection report which she was told to keep confidential until it was made public. During this time, she took her own life on Jan 8.

A final Ofsted report published in March found the school to be “good” in every category except leadership and management, where it accused the school of poor record keeping and failings in employment checks which could have put children at risk.

Mr Derry told the inquest that he would approach inspections differently now. “I’d hope so, knowing what I now know happened.

“I can’t even imagine what the family must be and have been through, I think that I thought I was self-aware … but I’ve heard and I’ve read the points of view of others that were in meetings with me … I would want to make sure that that wasn’t the perception of me as an inspector,” he said.

Inspector described as ‘unpleasant’ during meeting

Mr Derry was described as “mocking and unpleasant” during one meeting at the inspection by a school staff member.

He said: “I’m very disappointed that that was somebody’s view of me as an inspector [and] as a person. I don’t recognise that is how the meeting was.”

The inquest heard that Ofsted does not have any statutory duties around teachers’ welfare during inspections.

Christopher Russell, national director for education at Ofsted, said the “actual responsibility for the welfare of the head teacher sits with others”. 

For a local authority-run school, the responsibility for teacher welfare would lie with the local authority and governing body, the inquest heard.

Mr Russell said that Ofsted has no written policy advising inspectors what to do if a headteacher is displaying signs of stress. However, he said that inspectors are told how to respond to stressed teachers during training.

The inquest is scheduled to last for seven days.