Both John Butt’s letter and Carol Taylor Fitz-Gibbon’s Opinion article regarding inspection standards (TES, March 29) make the case for a much closer scrutiny of a process which is, at best, feverish, and, at worst, tyrannical.
The inspection of this school supports the main thrust of these arguments. First, the evidence base can only be fairly challenged if all participants are given the opportunity to dispute it. This did not occur here.
Second, after some interesting written dialogue with Office for Standards in Education following the November 1995 inspection, only an official complaint provides the route to reparation.
Surprisingly, one of the letters I received spoke warmly of wanting to know school views of the inspection process. However, the changes from April 1 are now being mobilised to further hide the inadequacies of the philosophically unaltered structure.
When broaching the stress endured by my staff the registered inspector also cited “the changes” as a kind of “sanity at last”. We did not believe him, nor those elements of the report that are based on erroneous (mainly missed) evidence.
TIM PESKETT Headteacher Weedon Bec county primary school West Street Weedon Northampton
