Parents of autistic students at a northeast London school who were effectively tortured, experts say, have consented to release the footage after a police investigation recently concluded with no criminal charges filed.
New leadership at Whitefield School unearthed the footage, which shows autistic children being shoved into padded rooms — so-called calming rooms — thrown to the floor and restrained by the neck.
Some were left sitting in their own vomit. The abuse occurred from 2014-17, and parents of the students told the BBC the trauma the kids experienced lingers.
“It broke my heart,” said the mother of one of the abused children after viewing the video for the first time. “You wouldn’t even do that to a dog.”
About 40 children with learning disabilities and severe mental disorders were locked, usually without food for drink, for hours in the padded rooms.
“You saw them open the door, whack Jamie in his back – he went flying on the floor,” said another mother, fighting back tears.
Jamie’s mother said her son suffered his first ever seizure after he was placed in the calming rooms and believes his treatment led to epilepsy, which can be triggered by stress.
Other parents said their children developed PTSD because of what happened inside the school. The psychological damage for one child was so severe he had to be placed in a mental hospital because he was at risk of self-harm.
Families of six of victims agreed to allow the BBC to show the footage because they wanted the public to know the horrors of what went on inside Whitefield School. Some say they’ve never gotten the full story from authorities on the scope of the terror their children faced.
Many of the abused were non-verbal and clearly in distress. They are seen injuring themselves over prolonged periods of time.
According to the BBC, only once does a staff member intervene, when a boy is throwing his shoes at the surveillance camera and a teaching assistant appears to strike him.
Parliament member Sir Iain Duncan Smith said the footage “must lead to profound change” and described it as “jaw-dropping.”
Currently British law allows for removing disruptive pupils from classrooms but only for a limited time in facilities deemed “suitable.”
Safeguarding expert Elizabeth Swan it was “easily the worst footage” she had seen.
“You look at the children and they’re being defeated and responding to that treatment with self-injurious behavior, it’s torture,” she said.
Earlier this year the BBC reported that safeguarding investigations commissioned by the school had proven that six Whitefield staff had abused pupils. But none of those staff members were referred to the government’s Disclosure and Barring Service, and three of them remained employed at the school.
Parents told the BBC they complained to the school about unexplained injuries, but no investigation followed. One boy repeatedly had a busted-up nose, caused by him punching himself, the school’s footage revealed.
“It’s a cover-up from higher up,” said one mother. “I don’t see how they could get away with this level of abuse and no-one’s accountable.”
The first known investigation occurred in 2017 when a director of the trust which ran the school visited the rooms. But the trust recorded no concerns.
A single teaching assistant was tasked with receiving the footage.
She would download the footage once a week and compare it with written staff observations. During that time there were more than 20 clips showing excessive force, but none were reported. A school safeguarding investigation concluded she had turned a “blind eye” to the abuse.
She told investigators she had become “desensitized” to the beatings, the BBC found.
The Metropolitan Police says it continues to conduct investigations into Whitefield but they were not related to abuse.
The Flourish Trust, which runs Whitefield, says it has learned its lesson learned from the failings in this case.
A local case review has since been commissioned with claims it will be wholly independent. The commission said it has only now become aware of the footage inside the calming rooms even existed.
over a four-year period, according to experts, and after a police investigation ended with no charges, investigation into the
