Sister of Ruth Perry urges teachers contemplating suicide to seek help

The sister of Ruth Perry, the headteacher who killed herself after an Ofsted inspection, has appealed to teachers or school leaders considering suicide to think again, describing it as “a terrible, wrong-headed option”.

- Sally Weale

In an emotional address to delegates at the annual conference of the National Education Union in Bournemouth yesterday, Prof Julia Waters appealed directly to teachers and headteachers who may be struggling, urging them to seek help.

She shared a touching video of her sister, recorded during lockdown, in which she addressed her pupils, offering them reassurance, urging them to be hopeful and kind to each other, and promising them a party when the pandemic was over.

It is the first footage the family ha s shared of Perry since she killed herself last year after Caversham primary school in Reading, which she had led for more than a decade, was downgraded from the schools watchdog Ofsted’s highest grade, outstanding, to inadequate, its lowest.

Berkshire’s senior coroner ruled that her suicide had been “contributed to by an Ofsted inspection”, after an inquest heard testimony from colleagues and medical professionals about the mental distress Perry had suffered during and after the inspection .