Children with special needs ‘hit, kicked and left in own urine’ at school

Pupils at a special school in London were routinely ‘tortured’ by being locked in so-called ‘calming rooms’ for hours at a time, it was alleged.

CCTV footage shows them ‘naked, sitting in urine and eating crumbs off the floor’ in rooms which could not be opened from the inside, according to a BBC investigation. 

Whitefield School in Walthamstow is now under new management, but some staff accused of being involved are still employed there and have not been barred from working with children, it was claimed. 

During the use of isolation rooms between 2014 and 2017, pupils were forced in using ‘rhino pads’ more typically used in rugby training, while some were slammed and hit ‘without obvious justification’, the BBC reports.

Families of children at the school say they still show signs of trauma years after the ‘organised abuse’. 

Of the 39 pupils ‘abused and neglected’ in the rooms, which have now been closed, many were not able to speak.

The school, with around 370 pupils, is one of the UK’s largest special schools and its website says it seeks ‘to deliver enjoyment, achievement, and wellbeing for all’. 

But a whistleblower told the BBC that treatment of pupils amounted to ‘torture’ and claimed the bare rooms, without natural light or ventilation, were worse than cells. 

After 44 memory sticks of CCTV recordings from them were found in 2021, a HR consultant was employed to examine the footage. 

A leaked report of the findings tells how a staff member pinned a pupil against a wall and hit him so hard his body was ‘jolting’ which constituted physical abuse, though the teacher allegedly showed no remorse.

The consultant concluded they should be disciplined and a referral should be made to DBS.

But the BBC claimed this was not done and they continue to teach. 

Flourish Learning Trust, which runs the school, said a new leadership team was in place and footage had been shared with police. 

Some staff members have since resigned while one was sacked, but the trust said three staff members who returned have received extensive training.

Worried parents who asked to see CCTV footage of their children in the rooms say they were blocked by the Met Police who told them it was too distressing or would breach privacy law

In one observation report, a boy was described as self-harming by slapping and punching his head and throwing himself into the wall. After two hours, he was seen urinating twice but was still not allowed to leave. 

The Flourish Learning Trust acknowledge that what happened was ‘wrong and wholly inappropriate’, adding that there was an entirely knew group of people in charge.

They said in a statement: ‘This is a historic matter which pre-dates the current leadership of both the school and the Trust. Even before this matter was discovered, leaders had introduced significant changes to the Trust’s safeguarding policies and practice and, in recent inspections, Ofsted has found safeguarding at the Trust’s schools to be “effective” and that pupils are “kept safe”.

‘We can, however, never be complacent about welfare and we are continually updating and improving our policies and practice.’

They added: ‘In exposing what had occurred in the years up to 2017, we accepted that there would be reputational damage but this was far outweighed by the need to expose what had happened and ensure these practices could not be allowed in the future in any school across the sector.’

The Metropolitan police is continuing to investigate and said there have been no arrests.

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