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 | | Monday, 15 May, 2000, 17:21 GMT 18:21 UK Complaint upheld against inspection  Ofsted is standing by its inspection report A complaint made about a school inspection after which a teacher committed suicide has been partially upheld. The Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted) has written with its decision to Middlefield Primary School in Eynesbury, Cambridgeshire, where Pamela Relf, who was found drowned earlier this year, was a long-serving teacher. The school lodged its formal complaint with Ofsted about how the inspection last November had been carried out. An inquest into Ms Relf's death heard that she had been depressed for some time, but had broken down in tears after criticism from inspectors. She left a handwritten note which said: "I am now finding the stress of my job too much. The pace of work and the long days are more than I can do." 'Private matter' An Ofsted spokeswoman confirmed on Monday that the school's complaint had been partially upheld. But she refused to divulge details of Ofsted's response to the complaint, saying that it was a private matter between the watchdog and the school.
And she said Ofsted stood by its inspection report on the school, which said that the school had "serious weaknesses", leadership was inadequate and that too many of the lessons were "unsatisfactory or poor". Last month, the leader of the teachers' union of which Ms Relf was a member said Ofsted should be more rigorously scrutinised, following her suicide and that of another teacher whose school had been under inspection. Peter Smith, general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, called for research into the impact on schools of inspections by Ofsted. Ms Relf's death led to an acrimonious written exchange between Mr Smith and the head of Ofsted, Chris Woodhead. On hearing that Middlefield Primary's complaint had been partially upheld, Mr Smith said: "In view of the wide publicity given to the tragic suicide of Pamela Relf and the fact that the school made a formal complaint, Ofsted should immediately publish the results of the inquiry. "We want assurances that Ofsted will take immediate action to ensure that these mistakes are not repeated." | | See also:  Internet links: The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites Top Education stories now:  Links to more Education stories are at the foot of the page. | |||||||||||||||||||
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