Crucial 2016 findings about the misuse of seclusion rooms in Whitefield School were not acted upon after Flourish Learning Trust threatened Waltham Forest Council with legal action, reports Marco Marcelline
A Waltham Forest Council commissioned review that raised concerns about the misuse of calming rooms in Whitefield School back in 2016 was buried after the academy threatened the town hall with legal action.
Failure to act on specific calming room misuse concerns raised by the British Institute for Learning Disabilities (BILD) report in summer 2016 meant the rooms stayed open for a further six months until Ofsted inspected the school.
The revelation comes from the long-awaited Local Child Safeguarding Practice Review (LCSPR), which was published in July.
38 pupils were subjected to physical and psychological abuse while placed in so-called “calming rooms” at the school between 2014 and 2017.
The calming rooms were closed in early 2017 following an Ofsted inspection, and allegations first emerged publicly in 2021 when secret CCTV footage was discovered by new leadership at the school.
Pupils were left alone in the window-less calming rooms for up to four hours at a time, sitting in urine, and eating crumbs off the floor.
The footage also shows children, many of whom were non-verbal, kicked and hit with force by staff.
No-one who worked at the school during the abuse has been prosecuted or arrested. Six staff were proven to have abused children but were not sacked, and at least one referral to the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) was recommended but not made.
The recently published LCSPR reveals that the BILD report identified concerns about the repeated use of calming rooms for a “small number of pupils” in summer 2016 and a review of behaviour support arrangements for two children was recommended.
However, following a threatened legal challenge from the academy to the local authority, BILD findings regarding the use of the rooms were “lost”.
The LCSPR said evidence of the threatened legal action emerged during the Metropolitan Police investigation, through email exchanges between the school and council, alongside interviews with BILD and supporting material.
BILD said it was not aware of the legal action threat, while the council blamed “staff turnover” for its inability to explain why findings about calming room misuse did not prompt wider examination or action until the 2017 Ofsted inspection.
Flourish Learning Trust, which ran Whitefield School at the time of the abuse, refused to comment.
The Echo understands the BILD review looked at four Waltham Forest special needs settings, one of which was Whitefield, and its commissioning was “not prompted by specific concerns” but rather because of a need to provide a plan for the implementation of positive behaviour support (PBS).
The council said that after the report was withdrawn, it implemented BILD’s recommendation to review behaviour support plans for two pupils who had frequently been placed in calming rooms.
But the rooms stayed open until Ofsted inspected the school in January 2017.
The failure to act on BILD concerns was identified in the review as “one of several missed opportunities” for agencies in building a fuller picture of the calming room misuse.
The LCSPR concludes that information held across different organisations, including the local authority, “was not sufficiently connected to identify a cumulative pattern of risk” and that “greater professional curiosity and challenge should have been applied”.
The review also found that while Waltham Forest acted after Ofsted’s January 2017 inspection by carrying out its own review of the school, the response focused primarily on governance and school improvement rather than considering whether children had suffered emotional or physical harm.
Responding to the publication of the LCSPR, Waltham Forest’s cabinet member for children and young people, Daisy Richards, described the events as “deeply upsetting and distressing”.
“At the heart of this case are vulnerable children who endured suffering at the hands of the people trusted to ensure they were safe and treated with the dignity and respect they deserve,” she said.
Cllr Richards continued: “We will examine the effectiveness of our partnership working arrangements, with an emphasis on implementing clearer escalation thresholds and building stronger links between partners to allow for easier sharing of important information.
“All schools in the borough will be asked to review their safeguarding training to ensure that staff are aware of their statutory responsibilities and of best practice guidance.
“National guidance around the use of restrictive practices, including the use of calming rooms, has already been updated in the wake of this case.
“The children involved and their families have been offered support including specialist therapeutic support to help them process and heal from the harm they endured. I want them to know how seriously we take this matter and how determined we are to do all we can to prevent any other child from experiencing such harm.”
Waltham Forest Labour, which led the council when abuse was taking place at Whitefield, declined to comment.
Whitefield parents previously complained about delays to the publication of the LCSPR, which was originally due for release in February 2025.
Speaking in April, Ricardo Gloria, whose son David was abused in the calming rooms a number of times between 2013 and March 2015, said: “I feel let down by several parties in this investigation. Whitefield School took too long to protect vulnerable children, and the local authority has shown a lack of accountability.
“The extended delays have been frustrating and have hindered justice for the children who suffered unfair treatment at Whitefield School over the years.”
David stopped being placed in calming rooms after Ricardo visited the school in early 2015 and watched CCTV showing the treatment that his son experienced in seclusion.
His complaint did not progress beyond the school, and according to the LCSPR, no agency outside Whitefield was aware of CCTV showing abuse until 2021.
The Echo understands that the Glorias are among nine other families who are involved in civil legal action arising from the misuse of restrictive practices at Whitefield, including the use of the rooms, between 2014 and 2017.
The claims against Flourish Learning Trust and the council include allegations that the use of the rooms was inconsistent with the school’s duty of care, amounted to false imprisonment and breached the pupils’ human rights.
Alison Millar, partner at Leigh Day who is leading the civil case, said: “The children and families we represent have endured the consequences of a regime of isolation at Whitefield School that should never have been allowed to happen. What was done to these children was profoundly harmful, and its impact continues to be felt by families every day.
“The review confirms that there was no justification for the restrictive practices in operation at Whitefield School between 2014 and 2017.
“It also highlights that many of the children could not understand why they were being put in these rooms or what they could do to get out of them; for children with autism, learning disabilities and communication difficulties, the experience would often have been incomprehensible, as well as frightening.
“The use of the so-called calming rooms against children with multiple vulnerabilities was, in our clients’ view, nothing short of torture.
“The use of forcible isolation in a locked room against a child is in our clients’ view, barbaric, and we believe wholly inconsistent with the school’s duty of care towards our clients and represented a serious breach of their human rights.
“Our clients are seeking accountability and redress for the harm these practices caused.”
You can read the LCSPR here and you can read the Waltham Forest Safeguarding Children Partnership’s Response here
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