'Ofsted stress gave me a heart condition - but I won't give up on these kids': The Salford head slamming watchdog's 'regime of fear'
On a 12ft high maroon pillar at the entrance to the school is embossed the school crest and extracts from an Ofsted report from 2008. It says: "The excitement and buzz for learning is immediately apparent to any visitor to this outstanding school."
Ben, 50, a Catholic father of two with the Kennedy-esqe looks and charm to impress any parent, arrived in 2015 after a stellar stint as head of St Joseph's Academy in Kilmarnock. Ofsted rated St Ambrose 'good' at the time. But since a 2016 inspection it has remained stuck in the category 'requires improvement'.
The tragedy has sparked an outcry across the profession, with the National Education Union; school leaders' union NAHT; and the Association of School and College Leaders calling for inspections to be halted. In 2019 63 per cent of pupils at St Ambrose were getting maths and English GGSE at grade 4 . By 2022 this had increased to 75 per cent. The national average is 69 per cent. In 2019 just 37 per cent were achieving a grade 5 in the same subjects at the school. Last year it was 50 per cent - matching the national average.
"We are now a settled school where people from a very wide cross section of Salford come to us, like a big family. When you go through school mergers it is difficult to bring communities together. "The school has, according to Ofsted, required improvement since 2016. People will think 'what's wrong with him?' . That's the problem with what the system does. Any school that gets a judgement of 'requires improvement' or 'special measures' is facing a huge range of complex factors.
"I made sure that I got coaching, and counselling too. Because when you are constantly being told you are not good enough - and you have the gnawing weight of pressure, waiting for a phone call that could turn everything over, it affects you. You get 24 hours notice that they are doing an inspection. Any head teacher in that position will tell you, you are on the edge of your seat.
He even believes the pressure trickles down to the pupils. "They deserve to go to a good school. But the Ofsted grading obliterates some of the positives in their heads. It means the whole community can have a negative outlook. He admits that he has considered quitting when under the cosh from Ofsted inspections. "Yes, I have. I have never gone as far as writing a letter. I have thought to myself 'It must be me, it must be my fault' and maybe there is someone in the wings waiting to do better. I have always talked myself round and thought - 'no, you have been called to do this - you need to do it'.
"We have had eight points of contact in seven years from Ofsted. I know other schools that have been in special measures the same amount of time and had no contact. Ofsted needs to have a better way of communicating with schools. Even now when that phone goes I can feel my heart ping - and I am used to Ofsted coming.
"Right now schools are being asked to do more than they have ever been asked to do, with very limited and dwindling resources, and the government missing every single target on teacher recruitment for several years in a row. "I think you also need to decouple safeguarding from inspection. Safeguarding should be a yearly audit. It is ridiculous if we are saying kids are at risk, and then leave something for four years. We need to calm down the language that we use to describe young people in this country, which is often very negative, based on the proposed threat that they pose, and that infects current inspections.
"At the moment I am not confident that Ofsted recognise the level of feeling that there is, or that this has the capacity to become a crisis that could overwhelm them. "If you were to look at the feedback and results of Salford schools it is so much better than it has ever been. We got this piece of artwork produced to be put up in all Salford schools," he says.
"Ahead of the coroner’s inquest, it would not be right to say too much. But I will say that the news of Ruth’s death was met with great sadness at Ofsted. We know that inspections can be challenging and we always aim to carry them out with sensitivity as well as professionalism. Our school inspectors are all former or serving school leaders. They understand the vital work headteachers do, and the pressures they are under. For so many colleagues, this was profoundly upsetting news to hear.
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