The Ofsted inspector who led the review into Ruth Perry’s primary school was accused of ‘leaving it up to the headteacher to take care of her own well-being’ at an inquest into her death today.
Ms Perry took her own life after learning the watchdog would be downgrading Caversham Primary School in Reading from ‘outstanding’ to ‘inadequate’ over safeguarding concerns.
Ofsted lead inspector Alan Derry noted she appeared ‘tearful’, ‘crestfallen’ and ‘non-verbal’ over the course of ‘eight or nine’ meetings during the inspection on November 15 and 16 last year.
But the hearing was told Mr Derry – described by a colleague of Ms Perry’s as having a ‘mocking tone’ and ‘sniggering loudly’ during one of them – never passed the information on to either school governors or a representative from the local authority, Alice Boon, after the visit.
Jonathan Auburn, representing Reading Borough Council, said: ‘During some of those meetings, Ruth was quite emotional. Ms Alice Boon was the only local authority representative you spoke to – and you told her nothing about Ruth’s mental well-being during the meetings you had with her?
‘There was no other way for the local authority to get this information – this could have only come from you.’
Mr Derry replied: ‘There would have been opportunity to discuss this if a local authority representative had wanted to.’
Mr Auburn added: ‘It is very clear that you didn’t feel the need to raise with Ms Alice Boon the fact that Ruth was tearful or emotional during those meetings.
‘What that means is that you are leaving it up to Ruth to take care of her own well-being.’
Mr Derry replied: ‘No, that’s not correct. I was very mindful of it.’
His answer drew loud scoffing from the public gallery where friends and colleagues of Ms Perry were watching proceedings.
Mr Derry also confirmed that he did not communicate anything else about Ruth or her well-being ‘to anyone at all’ after the inspection finished.
The inquest has heard Ms Perry came across as ‘confident’ and ‘professional’ when the two spoke on the phone the day before the visit.
But within hours of it starting she already appeared ‘extremely upset, very flushed and shaky’ to colleagues and was ‘unable to speak coherently’, the hearing was told.
Mr Derry was asked if he should have adjourned the meeting or paused the inspection, given Ms Perry’s mental state.
‘No, not at all,’ he said.
‘There was a major safeguarding concern around the safeguarding of children, and this needed to be immediately addressed and safely addressed.’
Mr Auburn pressed him saying: ‘If that level of mental anguish such as what is described here, does not lead an inspector to actively consider to stop an inspection, then what level of mental anguish would reach that threshold?’
Mr Derry told the court that he could have paused the inspection by ‘proactively’ ringing a senior colleague, or that senior colleague could have asked him to pause the inspection after reading his notes.
‘That is what I believe to be the system,’ he said. ‘I have never had to do it.’
He was asked why he did not speak to the school leaders about the headteacher.
‘Ms Perry suggested to me that that was what she was doing,’ he said. ‘That she had the support of her senior leadership team and that she was doing that.’
Mr Auburn asked Mr Derry if school leaders could have raised concerns about Ms Perry’s welfare with him, given the description of his tone in one of the meetings as ‘mocking’.
In a witness statement, deputy headteacher Clare Jones-King, described him in a meeting ‘as having sniggered loudly and having a mocking and unpleasant tone’.
Mr Derry, who denied that he behaved in that way, said: ‘Yes, I think they could have.’
The court also heard evidence from Claire Wilkins, one of the other Ofsted inspectors who attended Caversham Primary School.
She said that she became so concerned about Ms Perry’s welfare after the final team meeting on November 16 that she asked school leaders if there was someone at home who could look after the headteacher.
‘I could see how hard Ruth was taking this,’ she said.
An inspection report published on Ofsted’s website in March found Ms Perry’s school to be ‘good’ in every category apart from leadership and management, where it was judged to be ‘inadequate’.
Inspectors said school leaders did not have the ‘required knowledge to keep pupils safe from harm’, did not take ‘prompt and proper actions’ and had not ensured safeguarding was ‘effective’.
Ms Perry’s sister, Professor Julia Waters, previously said she had experienced the ‘worst day of her life’ after inspectors reviewed the school.
The inquest continues.
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