The new Green-run administration says it is committed to “meaningful and lasting improvement” following the publication of the Local Child Safeguarding Practice Review into abuse at Whitefield School in the 2010s, reports Sebastian Mann, Local Democracy Reporter
Waltham Forest Council has published a 21-point action plan after a review found children were subjected to abuse at a local special school.
38 pupils at the Whitefield School were found to have been mistreated through the misuse of ‘calming rooms,’ which are meant to help children with special educational needs (SEND) deal with stimuli, between 2014 and 2017.
CCTV footage, uncovered in 2021, showed the children being left alone in these windowless rooms for up to four hours at a time. They were seen sitting in urine and eating crumbs off the floor.
The images also showed children – many of whom were non-verbal – being kicked by staff members. The rooms were closed following an Ofsted inspection in early 2017.
Following the publication of the Local Child Safeguarding Practice Review (LCSPR) by the Waltham Forest Safeguarding Children Partnership in July, the new Green-led council administration says it is “committed to meaningful and lasting improvement”.
Its short-term goals, which it hopes to complete by March, are centred around speaking with affected families, assessing the current wellbeing of the abused children, and sharing the review across education, health, and social care partners, such as SEND groups and headteachers.
In the medium term, the council will offer training and awareness on restrictive practices to schools and governors and develop a referential template. By January, the council aims to submit a multi-agency report to the partnership assessing its work so far and identifying any areas for improvement.
One of the final aims – due by September – is to develop a framework for assessing restrictive practices, safeguarding, governance and oversight, staff competency, and SEND children’s experiences.
The action plan is built on the nine recommendations made by the partnership in July.
No-one who worked at the school during the abuse has been arrested. Six staff members 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 LCSPR and the council’s response will be discussed at an extraordinary meeting of the children and families scrutiny committee, made up of elected councillors, next week.
Read more: Council buried Whitefield abuse report after school’s legal threat
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