BBC News
April 6, 2000
A teacher who was depressed after her school inspection report drowned herself, an inquest was told.
Pamela Relf, a teacher at Middlefields Primary School in Eynesbury, Cambridgeshire, left a note which indicated that she was deeply upset by the inspection from the Office for Standards in Education last November.
Inspectors had reported that the school had "serious weaknesses", leadership was inadequate and that too many of the lessons were "unsatisfactory or poor".
Ms Relf, who had more than 30 years experience as a teacher, disappeared from her home in January - with her body being discovered seven weeks later in a river in Little Paxton, Cambridgeshire.
Speaking after the inquest at Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, Ms Relf's brother called for greater support for teachers from inspectors.
"I think her death says something about the role of teachers in our present society and the pressures in terms of paper work," said David Relf.
The head teacher of her school, Brian Rayner, said that Ms Relf had suffered from the stress that now afflicted many in the teaching profession.
"Like her colleagues in this and all schools there was often the feeling of running to stand still and like all of us, she felt the pressure that resulted," said Mr Rayner.
The Office for Standards in Education declined to comment, as it is considering a complaint about how the inspection was carried out.
The coroner David Morris recorded a verdict of suicide saying Miss Relf had been depressed.
(Retrieved in full from bbc news)
