A colleague of tragic headteacher Ruth Perry has criticised Ofsted’s refusal to pause school inspections and consider changes to the way it works.

Sophie Greenaway was commenting on demands from teachers and unions to reform the schools inspection regime following the death of Ruth Perry after an inspection at Caversham Primary School in Reading in Berkshire.

Ms Greenaway, headteacher at Thameside Primary School in Berkshire, told GB News: “I knew Ruth personally, and what I think this has done, this awful situation, is it's opened the floodgates to feelings that are out there in schools, in school leaders and how they've been feeling the fear that's been instilled by these Ofsted inspections for years.

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“Finally, there seems to be an opportunity to speak about what that's really like for us. And it's not a Trojan horse, it’s an opportunity, because Ruth’s death cannot be in vain, Ruth’s death has got to lead to change.

“It can't just be that Ofsted says, ‘oh we'll have a think about the single-word judgements’, or that might be a good idea. That's brilliant. Yes, we would love conversations about that, that needs to happen.

“But that can't be the only thing, and sympathy for the family is not the only thing - they want change, and so do we.”

In a discussion with Esther McVey and Phillip Davies, she said: “So, it's putting children at the centre of everything which is what Ofsted have said, which is why they won't pause their inspections. That doesn't make sense to me.

Bicester Advertiser: Ofsted has come under fire after the death of Ruth PerryOfsted has come under fire after the death of Ruth Perry

“The Government is putting a huge amount of money into mental health and well-being…yet they're not looking out for the mental health of school leaders.

“We're the ones that are teaching their children. There needs to be a pause. There needs to be a risk assessment. There needs to be a review of the framework and its current format and there needs to be some change.”

Ms Greenaway added: “Think it's because there is this fear instilled by the word Ofsted and I think it's something that parents think is the be all and end all of a school, there's single word judgement and that is what they use to pick a school.

“We want changes to the Ofsted framework. We absolutely believe that needs to be called quality assurance. There needs to be inspections. That's not what we're saying, that's not what school leaders are saying.

“It's that there needs to be a change in those processes and how they're done. For example, taking out safeguarding from the inspection, do it annually, do an audit annually.

“Work with us and help us to ensure that schools are growing and developing.”