Gospel\u00a0Oak Primary School was inspected on January 13, shortly after Ofsted\u2019s new \u201creport card\u201d framework<\/a> was rolled out.<\/p>\n The previously \u2018outstanding\u2019 Camden school was eventually graded \u2018expected standard\u2019 for attendance and behaviour and \u2018strong standard\u2019 for all other areas.<\/p>\n But despite the positive outcome, Hayes, a headteacher of 19 years and former head of school improvement in Islington, described the inspection as \u201cthe worst experience of my professional career\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was truly harrowing,\u201d he told Schools Week<\/em>. \u201cEven though the outcomes for our school were very good and we’re very pleased with the majority of judgments, the process was horrific.\u201d<\/p>\n Ofsted\u2019s new inspection framework grades behaviour and attendance together. This has drawn strong criticism, because schools with strong behaviour policies can be downgraded for their attendance rates, over which they have less control.<\/p>\n Hayes said behaviour was strong at Gospel Oak, and that on the first day of inspection, the lead HMI commented on how \u201cgreat behaviour was, and asked how we’d achieved it\u201d.<\/p>\n But persistent absence \u2013\u00a0the percentage of pupils missing the equivalent of a day a fortnight or more \u2013 was around 21 per cent last year, above a national average for the first two terms of the year of around 13 per cent.<\/p>\n Hayes said this was partly due to issues with one year group.<\/p>\n The school\u2019s final report card<\/a> acknowledged attendance \u201cis improving steadily to meet national expectations\u201d, and noted leaders\u2019 work.<\/p>\n Hayes said at the end of day one, an inspector told him the persistent absence rate meant the school did not meet the strong standard grade for \u2018attendance and behaviour\u2019, under Ofsted\u2019s \u2018secure fit\u2019 model.<\/p>\n Next morning, inspectors indicated it could even fall into \u2018needs attention\u2019, which would also have affected the school\u2019s leadership and governance grade.<\/p>\n Seeing another senior leader begin to cry, Hayes also broke down.<\/p>\n \u201cIn front of the team of inspectors\u2026 I burst into tears when it was indicated to me that under a number of judgment areas, my school might effectively fail.\u201d<\/p>\n He said the inspectors \u201cdidn’t say anything\u201d.<\/p>\n Hayes\u2019s deputy head immediately called Ofsted\u2019s emergency wellbeing helpline.<\/p>\n The service allows inspectors or staff to speak directly to senior HMI at Ofsted headquarters if they have concerns about leader or staff wellbeing.<\/p>\n The helpline was among a raft of measures aimed at reducing the emotional burden of inspection introduced following the 2023 coroner ruling.<\/p>\n Ofsted also introduced a new policy allowing school leaders to request an inspection be paused.<\/p>\n The senior HMI asked if leaders wanted to pause the inspection, but Hayes told his deputy he did not, feeling he and his staff \u201ccouldn\u2019t possibly do it all over again\u201d.<\/p>\n That afternoon, Hayes\u2019s governors also phoned Ofsted\u2019s emergency contact number due to concerns for his wellbeing.<\/p>\n Following the coroner\u2019s ruling, all Ofsted inspectors were also given fresh mental health first aid training.<\/p>\n But Hayes said he felt inspectors were not equipped to respond properly when faced with a leader who was struggling emotionally.<\/p>\n Inspectors \u201crepeatedly, through the inspection, asked if I was ok\u201d and \u201cendlessly asked me how I\u2019m feeling\u201d.<\/p>\n Hayes said he eventually responded \u201cno, I’m not okay. In fact, I’m terrified.\u201d But he said inspectors \u201csimply moved on to the next question\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cNo inspector in the room seemed to know how to react to a headteacher saying they were terrified. It’s like they missed the second part of the training.\u201d<\/p>\n Hayes said he had assumed Ofsted would \u201cat some point\u2026 make some kind of welfare call\u201d so chose not to submit a formal complaint. But he was surprised when no call came.<\/p>\n When sent a post-inspection survey, he \u201cwrote at length about how awful the process had been and how shocked I had been that nobody had contacted me. And still, nobody contacted me.\u201d<\/p>\n A senior Camden council official later arranged for Hayes to meet with some senior HMI from London, where he said they \u201capologised\u201d and noted his concerns.<\/p>\n Ofsted told\u00a0Schools Week\u00a0<\/em>that both times the helpline was contacted, the callers were asked if a follow-up call with the school would be helpful, but this was declined.<\/p>\n Hayes was not aware this had been asked, but said he believes Ofsted should have made efforts to speak to him directly, regardless.<\/p>\n \u201cYou would have thought that somebody would have got back to me to check I was ok, to check my school was ok.\u201d<\/p>\n Hayes said despite the steps taken by Ofsted following Perry\u2019s death, he doesn\u2019t believe the watchdog \u201cunderstand[s] the impact their inspection has, that this framework has.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0\u201cThere is a misunderstanding, I think, about\u2026 the pressure that we are under on a day-to-day basis, with falling rolls, insufficient resources, very high levels of complex special educational needs.\u201d<\/p>\n He believes wellbeing protocols would be less necessary if inspections were less high-stakes. He would like to see them carried out more frequently, for the colour-coded grades to be scrapped and for reports to highlight more positives.<\/p>\n He acknowledged it is \u201cvitally important\u201d schools are held to account, but said the way this is being done currently is \u201cinappropriate\u201d and \u201cdeeply stressful\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cI fear for the health and wellbeing of colleagues who still have this to come.\u201d<\/p>\n Hayes said he feared particularly for less experienced heads, and that Ofsted inspections could \u201cput people off going into headship\u201d.<\/p>\n As well as the joining of attendance and behaviour in one judgment, Hayes also raised concerns over inspectors\u2019 rigid application of the \u201csecure fit\u201d approach in the new framework.<\/p>\n The approach replaced the old \u201cbest fit\u201d model, and means each standard within each grade must be met before it can be awarded. Inspectors could previously award grades by determining a \u201cbest fit\u201d across a range of standards.<\/p>\n Ofsted recently announced i<\/a>t had no plans to ungroup attendance and behaviour, despite chief inspector Martyn Oliver recently admitting<\/a> it \u201cbothered\u201d him.<\/p>\n Hayes said he felt it was \u201cnot just unfair, but not representative of a school\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cWe missed one sentence in the attendance part [of the \u2018strong\u2019 framework] so you have to drop down entirely to \u2018expected\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cThey don’t relate to each other at all. You can have amazing behaviour and terrible attendance. You can have terrible behaviour and amazing attendance.\u201d<\/p>\n Hayes added that attendance is \u201clargely, particularly in a primary, a judgment on the parents\u201d.<\/p>\nAttendance and behaviour concerns<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Two calls to Ofsted helpline<\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/schoolsweek.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Ruth-Perry-alamy-1200x800-1-670x352.jpg\")
\u2018They endlessly asked how I\u2019m feeling\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\u2018No comeback from Ofsted\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n
High-stakes Ofsted inspections<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Ofsted framework \u2018unfair\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/schoolsweek.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Martyn-Oliver-2026-BETT-feat-1920jpg-400x400.jpg\")