'Suspend Ofsted inspections to help schools in wake of coronavirus crisis' says West Yorkshire headteacher

A headteacher has called for Ofsted inspections to be suspended for the foreseeable future to allow schools the flexibility to support pupils returning to the classroom after months of absence.
Judy Shaw has been in charge at Tuel Lane Infant School in Sowerby Bridge since 2005Judy Shaw has been in charge at Tuel Lane Infant School in Sowerby Bridge since 2005
Judy Shaw has been in charge at Tuel Lane Infant School in Sowerby Bridge since 2005

Judy Shaw who has been in charge at Tuel Lane Infant School in Sowerby Bridge since 2005, also wants the Government to engage in an honest conversation with the teaching profession about funding cuts.

She said: “Many pupils will have had a very difficult time since schools closed and the long-term damage caused by social distancing in terms of loss of trust and difficulties with human interaction isn’t known.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Join our new coronavirus Facebook group for the latest confirmed news and advice as soon as we get it“We will be able to support our pupils, we will know what they need, but we can only deliver what they need if we are freed from unnecessary bureaucracy and the threat of punitive Ofsted inspections.

“I am more than happy to be held accountable for what we do, but I don’t want my staff having to look over their shoulder for an inspection which judges success by such rigid criteria.

“A time will come for Ofsted to be re-instated. We will all know when that is, but it isn’t now.”

Mrs Shaw is expecting 40 of the school’s 100 pupils to return on Monday, but having seen funding per student fall by more £400 since 2013-14, she believes the wider education system needs an immediate cash injection.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

She added: “Schools, not just ours, have been struggling for years to fund vital services such as educational psychologists and special needs support. Those non-teaching staff are going to be even more important as we go forward from September, and the Government can’t avoid the funding issue any more.

“Proposed summer camps are great, but they are a sticking plaster not a cure for the gaps in education. It would be lovely to think that Ministers would put the same kind of trust in teachers as they have in doctors and give us adequate funding to devise local solutions.”

-------------------------

Editor’s note: first and foremost - and rarely have I written down these words with more sincerity - I hope this finds you well.

Almost certainly you are here because you value the quality and the integrity of the journalism produced by The Yorkshire Post’s journalists - almost all of which live alongside you in Yorkshire, spending the wages they earn with Yorkshire businesses - who last year took this title to the industry watchdog’s Most Trusted Newspaper in Britain accolade.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

And that is why I must make an urgent request of you: as advertising revenue declines, your support becomes evermore crucial to the maintenance of the journalistic standards expected of The Yorkshire Post. If you can, safely, please buy a paper or take up a subscription. We want to continue to make you proud of Yorkshire’s National Newspaper but we are going to need your help.

Postal subscription copies can be ordered by calling 0330 4030066 or by emailing [email protected]. Vouchers, to be exchanged at retail sales outlets - our newsagents need you, too - can be subscribed to by contacting subscriptions on 0330 1235950 or by visiting www.localsubsplus.co.uk where you should select The Yorkshire Post from the list of titles available.

If you want to help right now, download our tablet app from the App / Play Stores. Every contribution you make helps to provide this county with the best regional journalism in the country.

Sincerely. Thank you.

James Mitchinson

Editor