By Mark Langabeer, Hastings and Rye Labour member
Panorama’s last edition exposed some of the scandalous treatment given to children with special needs in the so-called ‘independent’ sector. The reporter, Sasha Hinde, was only able to reveal the treatment by going undercover as a worker at one of the schools.
What she found was a catalogue of disturbing behaviour at a school supposed to care for children and young adults with disabilities. The school, called ‘Life’, describes itself as one that prepares young boys and girls for adult life. But in reality, it is revealed that some of the staff show aggression, bullying and on occasions, violence towards the young people there.
The school is based in the Wirral, Merseyside, and most pupils are referred from Wirral Council. When they are placed they are supposed to have Educational Health Care Plans, setting out the needs of each child. The costs of each plan can vary between £50,000 to £150,000 each year.
Sasha Hinde got a job of assisting the Head of Sports at the school. She filmed the behaviour of some of the staff, using terms that belittled the children in their care. This was not just so-called staff room banter, where they would describe the children as ‘flids’, meaning that they were stupid, but they abused the children themselves. There was one occasion, when a member of staff had a student in a headlock. Some of the scenes are quite difficult to watch and very harrowing.
Nor was this just a case of a ‘few bad apples’; the tone was set at the top. As saying goes, fish smells from the head first. The Head of Sports – and a member of the management team – belittled a student about his skills as a footballer. “You’re the best footballer in a disabled school…well done you”, he is heard to say. The Head at the school appeared to be indifferent to a member of staff who had drawn on a child’s forehead and even seemed amused by the incident.
A CEO with no background in education or health
The Chief Executive Officer of Life, Alastair Severmutto, admitted that he had no background in teaching or in mental health; he had been a professional rugby player, who was an executive on the board of Bournemouth Football Club. Severimutto’s attitude was that he was a “businessman” and an “entrepreneur” and his aim was to run a hundred schools and create a billion-pound business.
The Panorama programme made the point that the number of Educational Health Care Plans had doubled in the past nine years, and since 2015 there has been a big rise of Independent/private schools, catering for the needs of children with disabilities. This says all you need to know about privatisation and privately-run education services – profit always comes first and any ‘service’ provided comes a poor second. They have a business model based on the lowest pay possible for staff, with those employed having minimal, if any, experience or training in the professions or careers appropriate to looking after children with special needs and disabilities.
Among those interviewed by Hinde was an advocate for children with disabilities, who, along with pupils and parents, had sent complaints to the local authority. She also interviewed Dame Christine Lenehan, the former Director of the Council for disabled children, who was of the opinion that those involved shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near educational establishments. Lenaham believed that there were some good independent schools, but that special needs schools should be under the control of local communities and local authorities.
She is right on that: schools should be run on the basis of educational need, not by those who only want to profit from them. As an aside, we also learnt, astonishingly, that this school was rated ‘Good’ by Ofsted – another reason why we should call time on this particular body.
This programme is available to watch on BBC i-player, here.
