It all started in 2021, when the new management of a school for children with special educational needs, located in east London, discovered a sealed box with 44 memory cards with images from security cameras from the inside of three rooms.
These images revealed how the staff had beaten, kicked and left the minors abandoned in their own urine, as the BBC discovered.
Although the school, located in the Walthamstow neighborhood, found that these abuses occurred in the so-called “calm rooms”, some staff continue to work there and have not been prohibited from caring for the children.
The parents of the students claim that they have not been allowed to see the images and that they were deceived about the use of isolation of minors in these rooms.
The Whitefield school said it had acted in the best interests of the students and was not required to make a recommendation that these employees not be able to work with children.
This is one of the largest schools for children with special needs in the United Kingdom, with around 370 students.
The BBC revealed that London’s Metropolitan Police and local authorities had launched a joint investigation into “organised abuse” by staff between 2014 and 2017, the year the venues were closed.
The BBC has now had access to confidential investigations carried out by a human resources consultancy the school hired to assess video recordings and staff behaviour.
They reveal appalling abuse and neglect affecting 39 students, many of whom cannot speak.
They show that six staff had abused children, but were not dismissed, and at least a referral to the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) – a public body that allows public or private organizations to make more recruitment decisions. by identifying candidates who may not be suitable for certain jobs, especially those involving children or vulnerable adults – but this was not done.
From leaked school and city reports, requests for information, and interviews with current and former employees, our investigation may reveal that:
The students were left alone in the rooms for up to four hours, and the images showed them naked, sitting in urine and eating crumbs from the floor.
Children were “beaten”, kicked and punched forcefully “without obvious justification” and pads often used in rugby training were used to push pupils into the rooms.
The human resources consultancy identified more than 20 video clips showing the use of excessive force and records of police notes describing possible assaults but despite this, the Crown Prosecution Service did not recommend prosecutions.
An informant who worked at the school describes what he saw on security cameras as “torture” and says the rooms were worse than a cell.
An informant contacted the BBC because he believed that the school’s investigations were to “cover up” what happened. “You end up with staff with no sanctions against them, no learning or awareness, no serious review of the case to see what went wrong,” he says.
England’s Children’s Commissioner says the BBC’s findings are “appalling” and that rules on seclusion should be toughened.
“There is no place for that type of behavior and it needs to stop,” said Rachel de Souza.
“It’s torture”
The BBC spoke to 9 of the 39 affected families who say they are still being denied a response. We have also seen evidence of police providing misleading information to a family.
Many special schools use spaces outside of classrooms to address sensory needs or aggressive behaviors. But the children were locked alone in Whitefield’s “calm rooms,” which were empty and devoid of natural light. One of them was an old bookstore cabinet.
“My son was in a state of panic, crying and hurting himself, begging for water and food and they just ignored him; it’s torture,” said one of the parents. [Getty]
Government guidelines state that seclusion should only be used for an “appropriate” period of time, but De Souza believes these rules were taken “to the extreme” at Whitefield.
One of those who were in these rooms was David Gloria, now 20, who was diagnosed with autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Despite school records showing where he was taken, he does not appear in any of the 500 hours of video turned over to police, highlighting the extent of the isolation at the school.
His father, Ricardo, says he asked about the use of these rooms when David began being left in them and was wrongly told that staff always stayed there with students.
David soon began returning home distraught, which made his father suspicious. Ricardo then demanded to see the rooms and the records of the times his son was there.
The BBC has seen an observation report which mentioned that he was there for three hours.
In this report David appears clearly upset, crying on 38 separate occasions during this period of time and asking to leave at all times. He is also seen saying that he is “confused” and “doesn’t understand” why he is there.
Significant self-harm is recorded: the child hits his head, hits his stomach and throws himself against the wall. After two hours, David is observed urinating twice, but he is not allowed to leave.
After about three hours, a staff member records that he will be taken to his classroom to “recover.”
His father Ricardo, who is a police officer, visited the room and said it was worse than a prison cell. He saw a CCTV camera inside and demanded staff show him one of the videos.
Ricardo says the images shocked him. He says the video begins with David being “assaulted” by staff who put a knee on his back and pushed him inside, a use of force that is not recorded in the written observation. It was then abandoned.
“My son was in a state of panic, he cried and hurt himself, he begged them for water and food and they simply ignored him; it’s torture,” Ricardo said.
“I thought they were leaving him in a room with pretty lights.”
The child who appears in more images than any other (over 55 hours) is Ashley. He was 12 years old at the time.
His family says the time he spent in the calm rooms led to him being hospitalized in 2020; His worsening behavior included him recently jumping out of a moving car.
Ashley is now 22 years old. Her mother says that her anxiety has increased so much that she rubs her head on the floor so aggressively that she develops large sores from the carpet burns.
Sophie
Sophie says her son Ashley’s experience at Whitefield affected her deeply. [BBC]
“It’s amazing that you can keep a human being in a room the size of a closet and expect them to be okay,” Sophie says. “I thought they were leaving him in a sensory room with pillows and pretty fairy lights.”
The leaked documents describe a staff member pinning Ashley against a room wall and punching him with such force that his body “jolts” before staggering.
The outside consultant concluded that the incident constituted proven physical abuse and said the teacher had shown no remorse or concern for Ashley’s well-being when interviewed, suggesting a “possible lack of learning.”
It also concluded that the teacher should be dealt with in accordance with the school’s disciplinary policy and should be referred to the DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service).
But the BBC obtained information that this was not done and the teacher continues to teach at the school, a decision which education consultant Elizabeth Swan describes as “incomprehensible”.
This member of staff who appeared to hit Ashley was also not prosecuted, despite being interviewed by police in relation to more than 40 worrying video clips.
The same teacher also briefly appears in the footage visiting a child inside one of the rooms after the student urinated and wiped his face, according to the documents.
Later, the child appears to pick up crumbs from the floor and is finally dressed, without being cleaned first, about 90 minutes after arriving. On another occasion, a non-verbal child is left sitting in his urine.
“Abhorrent” abuse
Another mother, Halima, says the school only told her that her son Abdulahi, who did not speak, had been taken to these rooms on two occasions, but appears in 11 videos given to police.
Furthermore, the Metropolitan Police informed the family about a single “isolated” incident. But the BBC learned of another occasion when he was repeatedly pushed, in what police note records described as a “possible assault”, and then left alone to walk on his knees and cry.
The BBC’s findings highlight how children have more rights in young offenders’ institutions than in school isolation, says safeguarding expert Elizabeth Swan. She says a youth custody regime had in fact been put in place at Whitefield without outside scrutiny.
Rachel de Souza believes the seriousness of these failures means a referral to the national safeguarding board that reviews cases should be considered.
She says staff found to have abused children should be dismissed and DBS referrals should have been made when warned.
Flourish Learning Trust, the trust that runs the school, told the BBC that a new leadership team took over after the calm rooms were closed, sharing the footage with police and learning from mistakes.
He noted that some staff members had resigned since the investigations were completed, but three who returned received extensive training.
The trust claimed it complied with employment legislation and that the local authority, Waltham Forest, was satisfied with its conduct.
Separately, the foundation laid off a staff member. But she added that she was not legally required to make DBS referrals for the six members of staff who were not dismissed, even though the findings of her investigation showed they abused pupils.
The school says this is because they were not removed from duty, but rather suspended.
Government guidance says suspension qualifies as the removal of a staff member from a position. The DBS also told us that the obligation to refer staff is not altered by a decision to suspend them.
When we asked the local authority why it had not made the referrals itself, given the seriousness of the abuse demonstrated by the consultant, it said it acted in accordance with the requirements.
The BBC also learned that the use of seclusion varies widely in England. Requests for information received from 375 special schools revealed that 50 centers sometimes isolate students in classrooms, usually monitoring them through doors or windows, or using cameras. Some students may be locked in rooms.
A government spokesman described the abuse at Whitefield School as “abhorrent” and said the seclusion recommendations provided clarity on the difference between punitive and non-punitive use.
Parents have repeatedly requested images of their children inside rooms from police and local authority investigators
They say the Metropolitan Police blocked publication of the images, telling them they were too distressing or that it would breach privacy law.
Police added that they cannot comment while investigations continue into non-Whitefield staff, who are understood to be linked to other professionals who may have been aware of concerns around the school.
