Headteachers and leaders of schools across one city in England have formed a new support network to help each other through Ofsted inspections.
Dubbed the “Caversham Covenant”, the public declaration being signed by school leaders today is named after the primary school in Reading where Ruth Perry had been headteacher before her tragic death.
Ms Perry took her own life after an Ofsted inspection that had downgraded her school to “inadequate”. A coroner found that the inspection had likely contributed to her death.
The education leaders in Southampton are joining together today to launch a new initiative aimed at providing support for schools and responsible bodies before, during and after an Ofsted inspection.
The covenant consists of a series of promises and pacts, including a supervision and support offer for all headteachers, with a buddy arrangement in place that offers school leaders someone to talk to when they are dealing with a visit from the watchdog.
It also includes a directory of staff with Ofsted experience that can be called upon when heads have concerns about the conduct of an ongoing inspection.
The parties involved in the scheme are: Aspire Community Trust, Bridge Education Trust, Reach Co-operative Trust, Southampton Co-operative Learning Trust, Southampton Council, the NAHT school leaders’ union, Southampton NEU, Southampton NASUWT, Primary Heads Conference, and SEF (the Southampton secondary heads group).
Group aims to relieve ‘damaging strain’ on leadership teams
The NAHT’s regional head for South Central, Elizabeth Salisbury, said the pact was an “admirable and inspiring move by local education leaders in Southampton” to “do what they can to ease some of the damaging strain” that Ofsted inspections can create for school leadership teams.
“While we have at the start of this year heard some encouraging words promising change from the new chief inspector nationally, there are still local schools in the Ofsted ‘window’ in Southampton who are in need of support now,” she added.
The death of Ms Perry has led to widespread calls for inspection reform. After the inquest hearing last year, the coroner warned that there was a risk of future deaths unless action was taken.
Ofsted responded to the coroner’s report by announcing a series of actions last week, including the appointment of an independent education expert to review its response to Ms Perry’s death.
The watchdog has also launched a new policy that will allow inspectors or the responsible bodies for a school to ask for an inspection to be paused in exceptional circumstances.
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