Sister reveals headteacher killed herself after Ofsted inspectors downgraded primary school

A headteacher who killed herself aged 53 over an Ofsted report called it ‘the worst day of my life’ and claimed she was downgraded after a child had been seen flossing and an inspector insisted the common dance move was ‘sexual’, it emerged today.

Ruth Perry, who was married with children and had been principal at Caversham Primary School in Reading since 2010, took her own life in January this year believing the result was a ‘complete injustice’.

It’s also alleged inspectors told teachers that they had seen child-on-child abuse – but Ms Perry insisted it was a playground scuffle. Ms Perry had been told the school was being downgraded from Outstanding to Inadequate – and killed herself while waiting for the publication of the report, her family have said. 

Her sister Julia claimed the inspection, which took place on November 15 and 16 last year, devastated Ms Perry, who told her it was ‘the worst day of my life’ and the experience was ‘dreadful’. 

Her beloved sister became ‘an absolute shadow of her former self’, she said, adding: ‘This one word judgement is just destroying 32 years of her vocation, education was her vocation. 32 years summed up in one word, Inadequate. It just preyed on her mind until she couldn’t take it anymore. She was a huge loss, she was my little sister and she was only 53, she had so much more still to give, so much more that she could do.’

The headteacher had an extraordinary bond with the school, having been a pupil there. She returned in 2006 as deputy headteacher and being promoted to principal in 2010.

Ms Perry’s sister said there is a sense of ‘complete injustice’ about the process behind the inspection and the report. The inspection was the primary’s first in 13 years, after rules exempting Outstanding schools from being looked at in-depth by Ofsted were scrapped.

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