A headteacher’s support service has urged Kate Green to challenge the Department for Education’s decision to allow Ofsted to carry out graded inspections during the Covid pandemic amid concerns that they could be damaging school leaders’ health.

Headrest UK says it has seen a sharp increase in calls to its support line from school leaders needing support as a result of the pressure of Ofsted inspection during ongoing Covid disruption this term.

The group, which was set up by former headteachers to provide support to school leaders, warns that the situation risks driving people out of the profession.

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It previously wrote to both education secretary Nadhim Zahawi and Ofsted chief inspector Amanda Spielman calling for graded inspections to be halted.

Now it is calling on Labour to intervene after it says its direct call for action was ignored by the government.

The group’s letter to Labour’s shadow education team reads: “At the time we wrote that letter we could see the situation was becoming serious; it is now grave, and the consequences for children and schools will be severely damaging.”

It urges shadow education secretary Ms Green and her team to “challenge and scrutinise” the decision to return to routine inspections this term when schools are still coping with challenges caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Headrest has said it has taken calls from heads of schools where inspections have taken place despite “significant percentages of staff being off with Covid”.

It also says it has had examples of inspection affecting headteachers’ health and has taken calls from academy trust chief executives who are now thinking of leaving the profession as a result of inspection pressure and warnings of “headteachers being on their knees”.

The Headrest letter says: “On Monday alone this week, we heard from five headteachers who will be unable to lead schools again as a result of the impact Ofsted has had on their mental and physical health.”

Ros McMullen, one of the former heads behind Headrest, said that the group had already taken double the number of calls in November so far this year than they did in the whole of November last year.

She added: “This week by Wednesday we have taken 12 calls already - all about Ofsted either as a background stress or as a result of inspection. Most of them from heads who are now poorly.”

The Headrest letter adds: “On Tuesday this week we were both astounded and horrified, along with all system leaders (including the Chartered College, ASCL, NAHT and many other high-profile individuals and organisations) to hear that an extra £25 million is being given to Ofsted for them to scale up inspections. 

‘It is damaging schools’

“It is damaging schools. School leaders need to be helped and supported now more than ever and they need extra financial resource. 

“It is not inspection itself that is bad; it is the nature of graded inspections using a framework which is now inappropriate for the current context, and which has such high-stakes consequences for schools and communities. 

“At a time when schools need high-quality heads more than ever, we are bleeding leaders and the response from DfE and Ofsted is to scale up the damage.

“The consequence we fear most is that the system will begin to lose the quality, experience and commitment of leadership it has enjoyed in the past. The very people who make the system work increasingly doubt their ability to sustain their involvement.”

Labour and Ofsted have been approached for comment.