Junior school ‘cell’ for naughty pupils
Children with special needs being shut away ‘to calm down’
WITH bare walls and a grubby carpet, this cramped cupboard is where primary school whistleblowers claim special needs children are being shut away.
The former storage room has a thin rubber mat on the floor and no table or chairs.
The only window is the reinforced glass in the door, which looks out onto shelves piled with books, magazines and plastic containers.
Insiders said children as young as five at Caddington Village School, near Luton in Bedfordshire, had been taken to the 6ft by 5ft space – which has scuff marks on the walls.
‘ It’s disgusting. These are the school’s most vulnerable children and they are carried kicking and screaming to this cupboard. It’s traumatising for them,’ one told The Sun.
At least three children have allegedly been placed in the area, which was set up as a ‘quiet room’ five months ago.
These are said to include a sevenyear- old boy who was ‘regularly’ held there, a five-year-old girl with behavioural problems who was carried ‘screaming’ from the dining area by two teachers, and a young boy who ‘ headbutted’ the walls in frustration.
The allegations shocked parents. One father said: ‘It is way over the top.’ Other people claimed such treatment was ‘more common than people realise’.
One wrote online: ‘I worked in a school with exactly the same kind of rooms where kids would be put with the door closed.’
Some expressed sympathy for teachers, with one writing: ‘ What exactly would you have the school do with these kids? They can’t yell at them, they can’t restrain them, they can’t win.’
On its website, the school says of itself: ‘Children can expect a safe, happy and positive environment in which they can develop independence, respect, confidence and responsibility.’
It was rated good by Ofsted inspectors two years ago. Previously it was judged to ‘require improvement’.
Some 79 per cent of pupils meet the expected standards in reading, writing and maths – compared to the national average of around 50 per cent. It also has half the national average of children on free school meals and just 1 per cent of pupils don’t speak English as a first language.
However, it has a 10.2 per cent rate of persistent absences, compared to 8.2 per cent nationwide.
The school said yesterday: ‘When pupils use the quiet spaces at Caddington, it is either because they take themselves there to calm down or they are taken there by trained staff because they are at risk of harming themselves or others. Pupils are supervised the whole time they are in the room and in one case a parent was also present. The parents of the children were informed on all occasions.’
The council added: ‘The use of such rooms is governed by national guidance and we will further investigate whether this has been the case at Caddington.’
‘It is way over the top’