Ofsted is finally on the right path – but it still has a long way to go

On what for many children was back-to-school week, the new head of Ofsted has been showing welcome signs of a willingness to learn.

Sir Martyn Oliver held a meeting with Professor Julia Waters, the sister of the much-loved headteacher Ruth Perry who took her own life after a bruising Ofsted inspection in which her school was rated as “inadequate”.

A coroner concluded that the inspection “likely contributed” to the death of Ms Perry, whose family said “urgent lessons” needed to be learned. And how: colleagues and family members told the inquest that meetings with Ofsted inspectors had left her so distressed that at times she was unable to speak.