Special school pupils ‘tortured’ in calming rooms, investigation claims

Children were forced to sit in their urine and eat crumbs off the floor

Staff at a special needs school reportedly abused pupils in ‘calming rooms’ (Gareth Fuller/PA) (PA Archive)

Police are investigating allegations of abuse at a school for children with special needs after staff were reportedly filmed hitting and kicking pupils.

Children were left to urinate in so-called “calming rooms” at Whitefield School in Walthamstow, east London, and kept in isolation for up to four hours, according to documents obtained by the BBC.

The corporation reported CCTV footage taken between 2014 and 2017 showed children sitting naked and eating crumbs off the floor. One whistleblower who worked at the school said that the way pupils had been treated amounted to “torture” and that the rooms were worse than cells.

In a statement, Flourish Learning Trust, which operates the school, said that what had occurred was “wrong and wholly inappropriate”.

The practices were discovered when new leadership at the school discovered a sealed box in 2021 containing 44 memory sticks of CCTV footage from inside three of the rooms.

Children were reportedly “slammed” and kicked, while rhino pads, which are often used in rugby training, were used to push them inside.

As a result, the Metropolitan Police and the local authority launched an investigation into the “organised abuse” by staff between 2014 and 2017, when the rooms were closed.

The abuse was discovered after memory sticks of CCTV footage was found in a sealed box (PA) (PA Wire)

The Children’s Commissioner for England said the BBC’s findings were "horrifying".

"There is no place for any of that behaviour and it needs to stop," Dame Rachel de Souza said.

A spokesperson for Flourish Learning Trust said: “What occurred between 2014 and 2017 in Whitefield School was wrong and wholly inappropriate. Those in charge are no longer involved in the Trust or our schools.

“These issues were only brought to light by the actions of the Trust’s current Senior Executive Leaders who uncovered them soon after taking office and demanded that they were fully investigated.

“Across our Trust, we take our responsibility for promoting and protecting the health, safety and wellbeing of our children and young people incredibly seriously. Welfare is of paramount importance and is central to the way we run our schools.”

They added that this was a historic matter and that significant changes had since been implemented at the school, with Oftead concluding that current safeguarding measures are “effective” and that pupils are “kept safe”.

They continued: “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.”

A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police said: “Police are continuing to investigate alleged non-recent abuses at a school in Walthamstow between 2014 and 2017.

“Following a thorough investigation, including the careful viewing of over 500 hours of CCTV footage, files were submitted to the Crown Prosecution Service in relation to a number of people connected to the school – the CPS confirmed they will face no further action.

“Enquiries continue to establish if any offences were committed by individuals who were not connected to the school. There have been no arrests.No further information will be provided while the investigation remains ongoing.”