Parents sue school over BBC-exposed 'inhumane' calming rooms

Parents are suing Whitefield School and Waltham Forest after BBC footage showed autistic children being locked in calming rooms and abused, prompting claims of false imprisonment and human rights breaches.

Parents are suing a special school after a BBC investigation uncovered CCTV footage showing autistic children being locked inside calming rooms and abused at Whitefield School in north London. Ten families say their children, all of whom had learning disabilities or several mental disorders, were among those harmed by treatment in the rooms.

What did the BBC investigation find?

The BBC investigation began after it was shown footage of children in calming rooms at Whitefield School in north London. The leaked footage obtained by the BBC showed children being shoved into padded rooms, thrown to the floor, restrained by the neck, or left alone sitting in vomit.

A police investigation into the abuse, recorded inside the rooms at Whitefield special school in north London, ended two years ago without any charges. The CCTV obtained by the BBC had been recorded between 2014 and 2017 but only emerged in 2021.

One 12-year-old boy appeared in over 55 hours of CCTV footage filmed inside the rooms. CCTV shows a pupil being restrained by school staff in a calming room.

At the time, the Children's Commissioner for England, Dame Rachel de Souza, said the use of the rooms was

horrifying

Who is taking legal action?

Leigh Day is bringing a civil legal claim on behalf of 10 families against the trust which ran the school and the London borough of Waltham Forest. The law firm says the use of the rooms was

barbaric

, according to its clients. The claim alleges that children were falsely imprisoned and their human rights were breached.

What was done to these children was profoundly harmful, and its impact continues to be felt by families every day

, says Alison Millar, who is leading the case.

The school is now run by a new trust which says the failings have led to

important learning

How did the school and authorities respond?

Last month, a long-delayed review commissioned by Waltham Forest found that restraint and seclusion became

normalised

and a culture developed that allowed

pejorative views of non-compliant children

It added that parents were clear that the practices were

unimaginable

and

inhumane

The BBC has also found evidence of mistreatment in seclusion rooms at other schools across the UK. CCTV from a different school showed a boy being

brutally

and

unlawfully

restrained, while elsewhere an autistic child was kept inside a cage.

The Department for Education repeatedly declined to be interviewed about the failings in school seclusion rooms, or consider making CCTV installation mandatory inside them, as with nurseries. It did introduce a legal duty to record and report the use of seclusion.

But the families of Whitefield children say this is not nearly enough, and would not prevent similar abuse happening again.

What evidence has emerged about the children's treatment?

The BBC also uncovered documents showing staff did record the use of seclusion for some pupils at Whitefield. One observation report of David Gloria's three-hour placement in a calming room recorded him crying on 38 separate occasions over the period, while asking to leave throughout.

He was also documented saying he was

confused

and did not

understand

why he was there.

David's father, Ricardo, said that nothing has changed that would prevent the abuse at Whitefield happening again and families have been abandoned to care for their traumatised children.

The extended delays have hindered justice for the children who suffered unfair treatment at Whitefield's School over the years.

It is crucial that some form of justice and a rehabilitation plan are established for the victims and their families.

Jacqui Shurlock, chief executive of the charity Challenging Behaviour Foundation, said the Department for Education must act now to ensure the abuse at Whitefield never happens again.

The DfE has not taken sufficient action to stop the use of rooms which sound therapeutic, but are in fact used to seclude children for lengthy periods, leading to significant harm.

The Department for Education has been asked for a response.

What have the trust and council said?

A spokesperson for Flourish Learning Trust, which ran the school when the footage was discovered, said it no longer operates any schools and none of the prior leadership are still in post.

Whitefield School itself is now being run by a different trust which supports the outcomes from the review and has been working hard to transform the school and give every pupil the care, dignity and support they rightfully deserve.

A Waltham Forest spokesperson said: