Head teachers in Kent and Medway have joined calls for major reforms to Ofsted saying the system of inspections is driving teachers out of the profession and badly affecting mental health.

The Kent Association of Headteachers has written to the Prime Minister urging him to act swiftly and conduct a review of the way Ofsted inspections are carried out, saying the current regime “is clearly having a detrimental impact on the mental health and well being of colleagues in schools.”

The letter says inspections are too high stakes and leave schools second-guessing what Ofsted’s approach is.

Teachers quit or carry on despite the pressure of an inspection massively affecting their health, it contends.

Referring to Ruth Perry, the headteacher who died after an inspection that downgraded her school, the letter says she was one among many who could show how their personal lives and schools were “torn apart” because of simplistic Ofsted ratings.

“The main driver of schools’ anxiety is the high stakes system linked to the judgement. Every school is a complex and dynamic community, each with their own strengths and areas of improvement and yet our schools are diluted down to a single word judgement. Too many times leaders’ careers and the schools are torn apart by this simplistic judgement.”

The letter says that schools are not against being accountable and “are not afraid of robust discussion and evaluation.”

However, the letter calls for a proper review of how the inspection regime works “with the first priority being an evaluation of the negative impact of the current regime on the mental health and well-being of headteachers and school staff at large.”

It adds that there should be immediate changes to safeguard the profession with a stress risk assessment produced for every inspection as a bare minimum.

Heads also call for the removal of the simplistic single word judgement from inspections and move towards a balanced review of a school’s strengths and areas to develop.

Mike Walters, chairman of KAHT, said there was a very strong view that "we should be adding our collective voice to the national calls for reform to Ofsted."