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A friend and colleague of Ruth Perry has told Sky News her death must lead to change in the way schools are inspected.

Ruth Perry, head teacher at Caversham Primary School in Reading, Berkshire, killed herself after finding out that Ofsted inspectors had downgraded her school.

Sophie Greenaway, headteacher at nearby Thameside Primary, worked with Mrs Perry for many years.

Speaking of the impact on Mrs Perry’s family, she said: “They’ve lost their mum, they’ve lost their wife, and us speaking out now can’t bring her back but she has to not have died for no reason.

“Some change needs to come of this because this can’t happen to anyone else.”

Mrs Greenaway described Ofsted inspections as being like “the biggest interrogation of your life”.

She said that, from the moment of being informed her school would be inspected, “immediately it’s anxiety, worry and it’s so intense”.

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Schools are contacted the day before a two-day inspection.

‘I’m so scared of letting people down’

“I’m so scared of letting people down, of letting my school down by saying the wrong thing,” Mrs Greenaway said.

“And that’s what’s so terrifying – that you can say something and it can be taken the wrong way and then your entire school judgement for the next five years on a piece of paper can be reliant on that one thing.”

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‘They had a dedicated, caring and expert headteacher’

She said that once an inspection is complete, a small number of school leaders are called together by the inspectors.

“You get the word told to you that you are going to be judged on and defined by for four years, five years… and then you’re told in no uncertain terms that you cannot share that outside that room.

“Otherwise you do risk a reassessment of that judgement being taken away from you.”

That grading can only be shared with staff and parents once Ofsted’s assessment is published.

Mrs Perry had killed herself in the period when only she knew that her school had been downgraded.

“That pressure to keep it within you from your family and from members of staff is intense,” Mrs Greenaway said.

A ‘high-stakes single judgement’

Under the current assessment system schools are awarded a rating of outstanding, good, requires improvement, or inadequate.

Ofsted data show on their last inspection in England 72% of schools were judged as “good”, with 17% given the top rating and just 12% rated in the bottom two categories.

The National Association of Headteachers is calling for the system to be reformed, arguing inspections currently give a “high-stakes single judgement” of a school.

Teaching unions have been calling for Ofsted inspections to be paused following Mrs Perry’s death.

Read more:
Devastated family blame headteacher’s death on ‘deeply harmful’ pressure of Ofsted inspection
School which ‘refused entry’ to Ofsted over headteacher’s death is facing inspection

‘Our aim is to raise standards,’ Ofsted says

But Ofsted’s chief inspector Amanda Spielman has resisted those calls, saying: “I don’t believe that stopping or preventing inspections would be in children’s best interests.

“Our aim is to raise standards, so that all children get a great education.

“It is an aim we share with every teacher in every school.”

She said: “Ruth Perry’s death was a tragedy.

“Our thoughts remain with Ruth’s family, friends and the school community at Caversham Primary.

“I am deeply sorry for their loss.

“The broader debate about reforming inspections is a legitimate one, but it shouldn’t lose sight of how grades are currently used.

“They give parents a simple and accessible summary of a school’s strengths and weaknesses.

“They are also now used to guide government decisions about when to intervene in struggling schools.”

A school in Reading
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Ofsted inspections are like ‘the biggest interrogation of your life’, says Sophie Greenaway

‘It’s absolutely agonising waiting for the call’

Lisa Telling, the executive head at Katesgrove Primary, another school close to Caversham Primary, knows her school will be one of the next to be visited by Ofsted, as its inspection is overdue.

“It’s absolutely agonising waiting for the call. It’s stomach churning,” she said.

“Sunday night I don’t sleep.

“I start to get that anxious feeling in my tummy.

“Monday I come to work and every time I jump… I instantly think Ofsted.

“We’re just on tenterhooks all the time and it’s genuinely wretched.

“We need to have a consistent system that when the inspectors come through the door they’re going to work with you.

“We’re asking for a pause after Ruth’s death to re-look at this.

“As leaders, as Ofsted inspectors, we all want the same thing.

“We all want the best education for our children, the same as our parents.

“We can do this together.

“Let’s just stop. Let’s not be adversarial, let it be together, because actually together we can achieve more.

“Let’s work together.”

Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org in the UK. In the US, call the Samaritans branch in your area or 1 (800) 273-TALK

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Zhenhao Zou: More than 20 new potential victims come forward after ‘prolific’ rapist jailed for assaulting 10 women

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Zhenhao Zou: More than 20 new potential victims come forward after 'prolific' rapist jailed for assaulting 10 women

Another 23 female potential victims have reported that they may have been raped by Zhenhao Zou – the Chinese PhD student detectives believe may be one of the country’s most prolific sex offenders.

The Metropolitan Police launched an international appeal after Zou, 28, was convicted of drugging and raping 10 women following a trial at the Inner London Crown Court last month.

Detectives have not confirmed whether the 23 people who have come forward add to their estimates that more than 50 other women worldwide may have been targeted by the University College London student.

Metropolitan Police commander Kevin Southworth said: “We have victims reaching out to us from different parts of the globe.

“At the moment, the primary places where we believe offending may have occurred at this time appears to be both in England, here in London, and over in China.”

Metropolitan Police commander Kevin Southworth
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Metropolitan Police commander Kevin Southworth

Zou lived in a student flat in Woburn Place, near Russell Square in central London, and later in a flat in the Uncle building in Churchyard Row in Elephant and Castle, south London.

Read more: How a student described as ‘smart and charming’ was unmasked as a prolific sexual predator

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He had also been a student at Queen’s University Belfast, where he studied mechanical engineering from 2017 until 2019. Police say they have not had any reports from Belfast but added they were “open-minded about that”.

“Given how active and prolific Zou appears to have been with his awful offending, there is every prospect that he could have offended anywhere in the world,” Mr Southworth said.

“We wouldn’t want anyone to write off the fact they may have been a victim of his behaviour simply by virtue of the fact that you are from a certain place.

“The bottom line is, if you think you may have been affected by Zhenhao Zou or someone you know may have been, please don’t hold back. Please make contact with us.”

***ONLY USE IF HE IS CONVICTED OF AT LEAST TWO RAPES***It is feared Zou may have carried out dozens more sex crimes. Pic: Met Police
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Pic: Met Police

Zou used hidden or handheld cameras to record his attacks, and kept the footage and often the women’s belongings as souvenirs.

He targeted young, Chinese women, inviting them to his flat for drinks or to study, before drugging and assaulting them.

Zou was convicted of 11 counts of rape, with two of the offences relating to one victim, as well as three counts of voyeurism, 10 counts of possession of an extreme pornographic image, one count of false imprisonment and three counts of possession of a controlled drug with intent to commit a sexual offence, namely butanediol.

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Moment police arrest rapist student

Mr Southworth said: “Of those 10 victims, several were not identified so as we could be sure exactly where in the world they were, but their cases, nevertheless, were sufficient to see convictions at court.

“There were also, at the time, 50 videos that were identified of further potential female victims of Zhenhao Zou’s awful crimes.

“We are still working to identify all of those women in those videos.

“We have now, thankfully, had 23 victim survivors come forward through the appeal that we’ve conducted, some of whom may be identical with some of the females that we saw in those videos, some of whom may even turn out to be from the original indicted cases.”

Mr Southworth added: “Ultimately, now it’s the investigation team’s job to professionally pick our way through those individual pieces of evidence, those individual victims’ stories, to see if we can identify who may have been a victim, when and where, so then we can bring Zou to justice for the full extent of his crimes.”

Mr Southworth said more resources will be put into the investigation, and that detectives are looking to understand “what may have happened without wishing to revisit the trauma, but in a way that enables [the potential victims] to give evidence in the best possible way.”

The Metropolitan Police is appealing to anyone who thinks they may have been targeted by Zou to contact the force either by emailing survivors@met.police.uk, or via the major incident public portal on the force’s website.

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Girl, 11, who went missing after entering River Thames named

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Girl, 11, who went missing after entering River Thames named

An 11-year-old girl who went missing after entering the River Thames has been named as Kaliyah Coa.

An “extensive search” has been carried out after the incident in east London at around 1.30pm on Monday.

Police said the child had been playing during a school inset day and entered the water near Barge House Causeway, North Woolwich.

A recovery mission is now said to be under way to find Kaliyah along the Thames, with the Metropolitan Police carrying out an extensive examination of the area.

Location of Barge House Causeway, North Woolwich, where 11-year-old girl Kaliyah Coa went into the River Thames on 31/03
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Barge House Causeway is a concrete slope in North Woolwich leading into the Thames

Chief Superintendent Dan Card thanked members of the public and emergency teams who responded to “carry out a large-scale search during a highly pressurised and distressing time”.

He also confirmed drone technology and boats were being used to “conduct a thorough search over a wide area”.

He added: “Our specialist officers are supporting Kaliyah’s family through this deeply upsetting time and our thoughts go out to all those impacted by what has happened.”

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“Equally we appreciate this has affected the wider community who have been extremely supportive. You will see extra officers in the area during the coming days.”

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On Monday, Kerry Benadjaoud, a 62-year-old resident from the area, said she heard of the incident from her next-door neighbour, who “was outside doing her garden and there was two little kids running, and they said ‘my friend’s in the water'”.

When she arrived at the scene with a life ring, a man told her he had called the police, “but he said at the time he could see her hands going down”.

Barge House Causeway is a concrete slope that goes directly into the River Thames and is used to transport boats.

Residents pointed out that it appeared to be covered in moss and was slippery.

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Planning reforms to ‘rewire the system’ and get Britain building – all while protecting wildlife

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Planning reforms to 'rewire the system' and get Britain building - all while protecting wildlife

Major developers will only deal with one regulator under planning reforms which ministers say will “rewire the system” to get Britain building – all while protecting the environment. 

A review by former Labour adviser Dan Corry into Britain’s sluggish system of green regulation has concluded that existing environmental regulators should remain in place, while rejecting a “bonfire of regulations”.

But Mr Corry suggested there might be circumstances in which the government look at changing the wildlife and habit rules inherited from the EU, which protect individual species.

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These lie at the centre of the controversy of a £120m bat tunnel – the shed in Aylesbury which protects a rare breed from future high speed trains.

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The government has now explicitly ruled out any such change in this parliament.

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Campaigners have questioned whether the changes go far enough and will make a major difference to the rate and scale of building in the UK.

Speaking to Sky News, Environment Secretary Steve Reed insisted that accepting nine of the recommendations from the Corry review would amount to wholesale reform.

The minister said: “We can get a win-win for economic growth and for nature. And that is why we are moving ahead with proposals such as appointing a lead regulator for major developments so that the developers don’t have to navigate the architecture of multiple regulators.

“They just work for a single regulator who manages all the others on their behalf. Simplifying the online planning portal.

“These are huge changes that will save developers billions of pounds and speed up decisions doing damage to the environment.”

Mr Reed insisted that there would be “no more bat tunnels” built, even though the Corry review suggests that more work needs to be done to look again at the relevant guidance.

It says: “Rapidly reviewing the existing catalogue of compliance guidance, including on protecting bats, will identify opportunities to remove duplication, ambiguity or inconsistency.

“Natural England has already agreed to review and update their advice to Local Planning Authorities on bats to ensure there is clear, proportionate and accessible advice available.”

The review will mean:

• Appointing one lead regulator for every major infrastructure project, like Heathrow expansion

• A review on how nature rules are implemented – but not the rules themselves

• Insisting regulators focus more on government priorities, particularly growth

Economist and former charity leader Mr Corry, who led the review, said it shows that “simply scrapping regulations isn’t the answer”.

“Instead we need modern, streamlined regulation that is easier for everyone to use. While short-term trade-offs may be needed, these reforms will ultimately deliver a win-win for both nature and economic growth in the longer run.”

However, Sam Richards from Britain Remade, a thinktank trying to get Britain growing, said that while the steps are welcome, the number of regulators that report to the environment department would remain the same before and after the review. He questioned whether this would have the impact ministers claimed.

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