Worried about abuse/neglect in a Special School

[Againstthegrainn]

My son is 6. Diagnosed with ASD/Learning disabilities. He is non verbal and up until now I was looking forward to him getting a place at a Special school as mainstream is not meeting his needs (they have admitted this and have been supporting us)

Was watching BBC news and something came up which showed horrific abuse towards children who have SN, teachers locking them in cages, hitting them. I am not saying this happens everywhere but a couple of people have made comments like "I would never put my child in a special school especially if they are non verbal"

A colleague also said she visited the school and a teacher shrugged her shoulders and said "these kids are hopeless so there is no point in bothering with them" - this sounds crazy to me and I doubt a teacher would say that but it played on my mind for awhile

After seeing what I saw now, I am very worried about sending my non verbal son to a place where he cannot tell me if anything happened

I appreciate I may be overreacting but i'd appreciate some advice if you have a child who attends Specialist provision and how you dealt with the unknown

Go visit the school talk to them first hand

Visit the school. My DGD goes to a special school it Is absolutely fantastic, I can’t praise them enough. DGD took me on a tour and I met everyone. She has never been so happy.

Visit the school...talk to the actual teachers and watch the children :)
I have worked as a TA in special school for 20 years and my experience is NOTHING like that. We love the kids we work with and do our best to make school a happy and educational experience... very few people would work in special ed for the money; it's often quite a tough job and you have to really care to do it.
Parental feedback is always taken into account for Ofsted too and reported concerns would be taken very seriously. Our conduct is taken very seriously.
My own son attended the special school I now work in. Special schools usually have a daily home school diary to tell you about their day and for parents to share any info, concerns, happy moments... it's a lot more detailed than info in mainstream because we have tiny classes and it's so important when a child can't tell you.
Please don't be put off by a) people who have no idea and b) a horrific situation which made the headlines.
Safeguarding of children is absolutely paramount :)

Thank you all. I will arrange for us to go visit the school and speak to the teachers. I am sure I will feel a lot better after going there. I appreciate the kind and helpful replies. Thank you