Listen to this story Members can listen to an AI-generated audio version of this article. 1.0x Audio narration uses an AI-generated voice. 0:00 0:00 Become a member to listen to this article Subscribe An experienced headteacher reduced to tears during a “harrowing” Ofsted inspection has sounded alarm over the watchdog’s wellbeing protocols and new inspection framework. Two separate calls were made to Ofsted’s wellbeing hotline over concerns for headteacher John Hayes during an inspection at Gospel Oak Primary School, north London. But Hayes said he received no follow-up checks or direct communication about his wellbeing from the watchdog. He spoke to Schools Week of his concerns about wellbeing measures put in place by Ofsted following the death of Ruth Perry. A coroner ruled in 2023 that an inspection the previous year contributed to her suicide. Gospel Oak Primary School was inspected on January 13, shortly after Ofsted’s was rolled out. The previously ‘outstanding’ Camden school was eventually graded ‘expected standard’ for attendance and behaviour and ‘strong standard’ for all other areas. But despite the positive outcome, Hayes, a headteacher of 19 years and former head of school improvement in Islington, described the inspection as “the worst experience of my professional career”. “It was truly harrowing,” he told Schools Week. “Even though the outcomes for our school were very good and we’re very pleased with the majority of judgments, the process was horrific.” Attendance and behaviour concerns Ofsted’s new inspection framework grades behaviour and attendance together. This has drawn strong criticism, because schools with strong behaviour policies can be downgraded for their attendance rates, over which they have less control. Hayes said behaviour was strong at Gospel Oak, and that on the first day of inspection, the lead HMI commented on how “great behaviour was, and asked how we’d achieved it”. But persistent absence – the percentage of pupils missing the equivalent of a day a fortnight or more – was around 21 per cent last year, above a national average for the first two terms of the year of around 13 per cent. Hayes said this was partly due to issues with one year group. The school’s acknowledged attendance “is improving steadily to meet national expectations”, and noted leaders’ work. Hayes said at the end of day one, an inspector told him the persistent absence rate meant the school did not meet the strong standard grade for ‘attendance and behaviour’, under Ofsted’s ‘secure fit’ model. Next morning, inspectors indicated it could even fall into ‘needs attention’, which would also have affected the school’s leadership and governance grade. Seeing another senior leader begin to cry, Hayes also broke down. “In front of the team of inspectors… I burst into tears when it was indicated to me that under a number of judgment areas, my school might effectively fail.” He said the inspectors “didn’t say anything”. Two calls to Ofsted helpline Hayes’s deputy head immediately called Ofsted’s emergency wellbeing helpline. The service allows inspectors or staff to speak directly to senior HMI at Ofsted headquarters if they have concerns about leader or staff wellbeing. The helpline was among a raft of measures aimed at reducing the emotional burden of inspection introduced following the 2023 coroner ruling. Ruth Perry Ofsted also introduced a new policy allowing school leaders to request an inspection be paused. The senior HMI asked if leaders wanted to pause the inspection, but Hayes told his deputy he did not, feeling he and his staff “couldn’t possibly do it all over again”. That afternoon, Hayes’s governors also phoned Ofsted’s emergency contact number due to concerns for his wellbeing. ‘They endlessly asked how I’m feeling’ Following the coroner’s ruling, all Ofsted inspectors were also given fresh mental health first aid training. But Hayes said he felt inspectors were not equipped to respond properly when faced with a leader who was struggling emotionally. Inspectors “repeatedly, through the inspection, asked if I was ok” and “endlessly asked me how I’m feeling”. Hayes said he eventually responded “no, I’m not okay. In fact, I’m terrified.” But he said inspectors “simply moved on to the next question”. “No inspector in the room seemed to know how to react to a headteacher saying they were terrified. It’s like they missed the second part of the training.” ‘No comeback from Ofsted’ Hayes said he had assumed Ofsted would “at some point… make some kind of welfare call” so chose not to submit a formal complaint. But he was surprised when no call came. When sent a post-inspection survey, he “wrote at length about how awful the process had been and how shocked I had been that nobody had contacted me. And still, nobody contacted me.” A senior Camden council official later arranged for Hayes to meet with some senior HMI from London, where he said they “apologised” and noted his concerns. Ofsted told Schools Week that both times the helpline was contacted, the callers were asked if a follow-up call with the school would be helpful, but this was declined. Hayes was not aware this had been asked, but said he believes Ofsted should have made efforts to speak to him directly, regardless. “You would have thought that somebody would have got back to me to check I was ok, to check my school was ok.” High-stakes Ofsted inspections Hayes said despite the steps taken by Ofsted following Perry’s death, he doesn’t believe the watchdog “understand[s] the impact their inspection has, that this framework has.” “There is a misunderstanding, I think, about… the pressure that we are under on a day-to-day basis, with falling rolls, insufficient resources, very high levels of complex special educational needs.” He believes wellbeing protocols would be less necessary if inspections were less high-stakes. He would like to see them carried out more frequently, for the colour-coded grades to be scrapped and for reports to highlight more positives. He acknowledged it is “vitally important” schools are held to account, but said the way this is being done currently is “inappropriate” and “deeply stressful”. “I fear for the health and wellbeing of colleagues who still have this to come.” Hayes said he feared particularly for less experienced heads, and that Ofsted inspections could “put people off going into headship”. Ofsted framework ‘unfair’ As well as the joining of attendance and behaviour in one judgment, Hayes also raised concerns over inspectors’ rigid application of the “secure fit” approach in the new framework. The approach replaced the old “best fit” model, and means each standard within each grade must be met before it can be awarded. Inspectors could previously award grades by determining a “best fit” across a range of standards. Ofsted recently announced it had no plans to ungroup attendance and behaviour, despite chief inspector Martyn Oliver recently admitting it “bothered” him. Martyn Oliver Hayes said he felt it was “not just unfair, but not representative of a school”. “We missed one sentence in the attendance part [of the ‘strong’ framework] so you have to drop down entirely to ‘expected’. “They don’t relate to each other at all. You can have amazing behaviour and terrible attendance. You can have terrible behaviour and amazing attendance.” Hayes added that attendance is “largely, particularly in a primary, a judgment on the parents”. Ofsted has stressed the judgement area is broken down into two separate paragraphs, for attendance and behaviour. From September, they will have separate subheadings. But Hayes said the wording used in these summaries remained constrained by the wording of the grade descriptor, even if one area is particularly strong. Responding to Hayes’s experience, an Ofsted spokesperson said: “Many school leaders have told us that inspection under the renewed framework feels much more collaborative and constructive. “But we can never remove all of the stress from inspection, which is why we introduced changes like our pause policy and helpline. “Our inspectors also complete mental health training to help them recognise and respond to signs of distress. At the same time, we will continue to listen to feedback about how we can better support leaders’ wellbeing.”
Brenda Good 29 May 2026 Disgraceful that concerns were raised about head teachers wellbeing and no responsevorvfollowcup edpeciallybafter suicidecof female headteacher.
Mike Walker 30 May 2026 Ofsted – what a waste of time! Nothing but stress. Combine attendance & behaviour? Absolute bullshit!
Zannabugification 30 May 2026 We too went through Ofsted in January. It culminated in me having a mental breakdown on day 2. It was a brutal process and unfortunately was enough for me to recognise that I can no longer do the job that I love. So after 17 years, I am leaving education. Having got two schools to good and seeing so many children achieve incredible things despite so many barriers, it is heartbreaking that my career is ending this way.
Miri Purse 30 May 2026 Absolutely disgusted to read this article. Just get rid of Ofsted altogether and devise a new gentle approach to analysing school performances. These teachers and Heads are doing their best and yet get humiliated and down trodden by over opinionated arrogant inhuman egotistical people. Having taught for over 40 years and experienced 3 Ofsted Inspections my heart goes out to John Hayes and his staff. What a horrendous experience for him and his staff to go through. Imagine being brought to tears. It’s absolutely outrageous that John didn’t receive more support after he phoned the helpline …especially after what happened to the wonderful committed Headteacher Ruth Perry. When will Sir Martyn Oliver realise how damaging Ofsted is? When is the system going to change? The stress caused by Ofsted Inspections was cited in coroners’ reports on the death of 10 teachers over the past 25 years (Observer investigation) A message to John and his staff – don’t be disheartened by your Ofsted report…it’s just a view taken on those particular days and I am sure you are all doing an amazing and incredible job teaching and preparing the children for the future. So take no notice and continue your hard work.
Amanda Cook 30 May 2026 I gave up being a Headteacher when I got to the point where I thought ‘I’d rather drive into that tree than go to work.’ A lot of this was due to nasty parents, safeguarding but also the constant pressure of Ofsted lurking. Never a day went by when you were not thinking about it and what it would mean personally if you ‘failed’. I know too many professionals who are skilled, talented individuals who have fallen by the wayside because of Ofsted. It is time to scrap this system and have a complete rethink. The last rethink was just rehashed same stuff different tags. Have some ideas but I’m not a friend of a friend in a government office doing a job for the boys so nobody will ever know. Frustrated ex headteacher.
Abeer Niehad 1 June 2026 I had a very similar experience in march 2026 where inspectors repeatedly asked me how do I feel, till I just told them what will you do if I say I am not Okay? they just laughed and carried on. it has been a horrible experience and very unfair process, with very inconsistent implementation of the inspection process. subjective experience according to each inspectors modes and interpretation. it is a very distressing experience with no real regard to the well-being of the headteachers and school leaders. Frustrated headteacher.
Justine 2 June 2026 I would only want to congratulate John, for his bravery, moral standing and hope he never stops trusting his own judgment. The situation perfectly shows how system cares mostly for schools to be a surveillance tool.
Karl 2 June 2026 It is truly astonishing that no lessons have been learned from the loss of Ruth. Rearranging deckchairs and lip-service is about as good as it got. The sad thing is that I believe Martyn Oliver’s intentions at the start of his tenure were good. There was much hope for change. However, it seems to have suffered from the inevitable dilution of committee-syndrome and political meddling. There is no evidence that Ofsted has ever improved anything – but a lot of evidence that it has caused significant harm. It is clearly continuing to do so by John’s experience here. Like in any other form of abuse, there are a lot of headteachers that have now just become desensitised and used to it. “Oh, it wasn’t that bad.” Well it is that bad. There is not a school in the land or leader of a school that believes they should not be accountable for children’s education. That has never been the issue. The issue is the abominable fear-based treatment that good people are subject to.
Helen 2 June 2026 The new Ofsted framework is no better than previous frameworks, creating additional, unnecessary workload for teachers and school leaders. A missed opportunity to design a progressive framework which genuinely makes a difference which is both robust and supportive, which celebrates success. No wonder there is a recruitment crisis.
David Alan Cooper 2 June 2026 Ofsted remains a complete national disgrace. The comments from other professionals above/below; proves this system is overwhelmingly ‘heavy handed’, and should be swiftly removed.
Jo 2 June 2026 I was reduced to tears in my recent inspection too. I am in my 33rd year in education and have been in leadership for over 20 of those. This is my second inspection as a Head and I’ve experienced many over my career. This was the most brutal and unkind experience I have had. The new framework does not recognise context or value truly inclusive schools. And an Ofsted team who ignored my uncontrollable tears prove that the promised new wellbeing focused framework has not materialised. There is no care for the impact inspection has on staff.
Eve Goddard 2 June 2026 I’m an ex teacher (28 years secondary) but gave up due to trickle down stress caused by looming Ofsted inspections. We’d have mini Ofsted practice run by SLT and an ex Ofsted inspector was brought in to ‘support’ us by observing and critiquing. I’m now a childminder and have just had an Ofsted inspection in the new system. It was awful and made me cry during debrief. The inspector invited me to get a glass of water. That was the sum total of support I received. I didn’t complain about the inspection as she told me she would be coming back in a year. Besides that I was totally exhausted, mentally and emotionally. I worry about the next inspection every day. I want to work. I’m good at what I do. I provide a much needed community service. Ofsted makes me ill. Is it worth it?
Karl 4 June 2026 Yes indeed. I’m a headteacher of 11 years. Our school joined a MAT 5 years ago. I have always shielded the staff from Ofsted and kept it in proportion. They come, they go. But the trickle-down stress of which you speak all but broke me on the run up to our last inspection in 2024. All fear-based, driven by more senior people in the MAT. The endless peck peck peck of monitoring and weighing the pig. And the enormity of unnecessary ‘just in case’ workload it generated was costly. The school was fine. It was always going to be fine. But the damage to me has endured. None of the people were bad, but the fear-based obsession with inspection was driving everything. All of it generated by Ofsted. I had high hopes that it would change following the loss of Ruth.
Elisabeth Feibusch 3 June 2026 Who selects and who trains Ex teachers to become Ofsted Inspectors? During one of several Osted Inspections in my teaching career, I was given an A4 sheet of paper headed ’50 Ways to Praise each Pupil each Day!’ Yet us hardworking, underpaid vocationally-minded teachers got no praise during any Inspections and furthermore, no constructive criticism, and no support for what they thought needed improvement! They were not good examples of how to encourage their workforce! It made me think that they were failed teachers who got out of the classroom and earned more as well! In my personal experience they were responsible for destroying the lives/careers of 3 head teachers and many wonderful teacher colleagues leaving the profession. In my friend’s school of 500 pupils, the entire teaching force walked out and never went back into that school. I knew of one qualified teacher even who became a TA on lower pay to take the stress out of her daily life. When I first started teaching in the 70’s we had short unannounced visits from HMI’s (Her Majesty’s Inspectors) who slipped quietly into the classroom with kindly smiles, and clipboard under their arms. They wandered unobtrusively around looking at the pupils’ work etc. and slipped out as quietly as they had come in. Some days later at a Staff Meeting we heard the report, always pointing out the good teaching etc. I heard that one or two teachers were asked to pop in to see the headmaster who then discreetly discussed any helpful comments made about some individuals who appreciated them. Nowadays, what other professions are treated so cruelly during Ofsted inspections? I rest my case.