Schools turn to crowdfunding Ofsted challenges 

School leaders are turning to crowdfunding legal challenges against Ofsted amid heightened anger over the inspectorate following the death of headteacher Ruth Perry.

Queen Emma Primary School in Cambridge has lodged a request for a judicial review over an ‘inadequate’ grade, including the watchdog’s “limiting judgments”. 

A school is rated ‘inadequate’ overall if safeguarding is found to be ineffective – as at Queen Emma.

Schools have historically been put off from challenging Ofsted grades in the courts as it can be expensive and difficult to win.

While it has paid for legal advice from its own budget so far, Queen Emma will now launch a crowdfunder to cover the “substantial costs” of pursuing the case.

It comes as Fair Judgement – a group of headteachers fronted by former Ofsted inspector John Bald – has so far raised more than £44,000 for its own proposed legal challenge.

Lawyers at Irwin Mitchell are advising the group whether there are grounds to bring action against what it deems as a “manifestly unfair” school inspection framework.

It will also seek to challenge the apparent lack of time inspectors have to substantiate their evidence. 

Ofsted could potentially face a third case from the NAHT, the leaders’ union, which announced in March that it was taking the first steps towards a judicial review against Ofsted.

It follows the watchdog’s refusal to heed the union’s demand that inspections stop to allow a review of the risk to mental health of school staff in the wake of inspections. 

‘Shattered all belief’

At its annual conference last week, Paul Whiteman, its general secretary, said lawyers were “putting the finishing touches to a legal challenge”. 

It is understood that 22 judicial reviews have been taken against Ofsted since 2007, although few made it to court before action was withdrawn or settled. 

In an impact statement included in Queen Emma’s formal complaint to the watchdog, Sarah Jarman, the school’s head, said its inspection in October 2022 “shattered every piece of self-belief I have”. 

The school wants an internal review over the way Ofsted has handled its complaint – which is stage three of the inspectorate’s complaints procedure.

Queen Emma said an inspector took away confidential information about children. BBC News reported that it had seen a letter in which the watchdog apologised for information being “inadvertently removed”. 

But the school is separately seeking the judicial review “with the expectation that Ofsted will most likely say to us ‘there’s nothing wrong with this inspection’,” Jarman told Schools Week. 

“In our experience, Ofsted has been such a shut shop that there seems to be no openness and transparency.” 

Gerard Clarke, a dispute resolution lawyer who represented Durand Academy in its High Court challenge over an ‘inadequate’ rating, said there were “a number of problems” for those seeking action against the watchdog. 

“Often schools do not have the funds to litigate and they cannot take the risk of adverse cost orders being made against them,” he said. 

“Another factor [is that] the bar is set quite high in terms of challenging any decision of any public authority, particularly when you’re challenging what can be said to be the exercise of judgment.”

But he it was “possible” that more could seek action if they were able to raise funds. 

‘Use your voice’

Calls for Ofsted reform have intensified after Mrs Perry’s death. Her family say she took her own life in January before the publication of an ‘inadequate’ judgment at Caversham Primary School in Reading.

Julia Waters, Mrs Perry’s sister, blamed pressure from the Ofsted process for her death and last week called on school leaders who worked as inspectors to “hand in your badges”. An inquest into the head’s death has not yet been held.

Jarman said Perry’s death had “influenced” her to come forward and “share my feelings and my experience”.

‘Hand in your badges’: Ruth Perry’s sister urges heads not work as Ofsted inspectors

She encouraged other leaders who “have felt they haven’t had a voice” to “come forward and have that voice”.

Bald said the grounds in the three proposed legal challenges against Ofsted were “essentially the same – that no reasonable person could think this is a fair way to inspect schools”.

The complainants were currently “discussing to see what common ground there is for cooperation”. 

Fair Judgement said if it were “unreasonable, impractical, or unnecessary to pursue legal action” or if it had cash leftover, funds would be donated to a memorial to Perry at Caversham.

Ofsted declined to comment.