Panorama tonight

[LunaTheCat]

Watching this tonight re Wirral school… there are no words, just appalling.

I work in an SEMH school and the group WhatsApp is wild tonight with such upset 😭

It's so distressing to watch, those poor children.

You don't need to be a qualified teacher to work in a independent school. Worryingly your actually held to very few of the standards that protect your sen in state.

It was shocking but I'm not shocked that it happens. Allowing a private company, with no background in education, to educate children will always be a recipe for disaster. The children are basically 'cash cows', taught by unqualified teachers on low wages while those at the top cream all the profits. The funding is there, there's a lack of provision and these companies are up and down the country making vast sums of money from their LA to fill the 'gap in the market'. They're not altruistic, they're greedy and they're unchecked - apart from Ofsted every few years, if that.
I know not all private schools for children with SEN are like this but I think they should be under LA control, not private.

Almost all specialist schools of this type are run privately, by private companies or sometimes charitable trusts.

Our DS was permanently excluded from a small village school and a new, just opened, specialist independent primary was recommended to us. The proprietor was the head of governors at the school he had just left.

I feel for the parents and carers who put their trust in OFSTED’s judgement and sent their children to that terrible place.

I made sure I sent my child to an LA special school for this reason. My main worry was that private special schools exclude kids at the drop of a hat and if your kid won't go in, then they make a minimal effort to reintegrate. But this is on a different level. Utterly shameful

Absolutely heart breaking, hope the thugs are lying low tonight

And this is why OFSTED is not a good way to judge a school! But people do! Heartbreaking!

I feel sick reading the coverage. Vulnerable kids being abused. How are these people allowed to be so free to hurt children? They’re funded by the taxpayer as an education provider. That’s all of us funding that child abuse to happen. The government need to act on this open opportunity for abusers, right now.

Mainstream schools are also using unqualified teachers now on low wages. TAs etc taking classes.

But I agree with your points.

It is an outrage how much money these places are charging local authorities for poor provision.

But as long as they keep paying and parents don’t ask questions - the scam will continue.

They are supposed to re integrate but don’t. You are looked at with suspicion if you try.

In practice they do everything they can to keep cash flowing.

I can't understand why they aren't being arrested!

We don't have the choice of an LEA specialist school as in our region/DS needs they are all independent.

Does anyone know the full names of these people. This is disgusting. They all need to be named and all need to pay for this terrible behavior.

I get it, there was one with in travelling distance to us. They're like hens teeth.

I can't bring myself to watch, my child attends a school for kids with M/S/P LD and I know it'll send me into a spiral of fear about his future

If that wasn't the nail in the Ofsted coffin I don't know what is!? You mean they couldn't see the abuse over the course of a two day inspection....no shit.

The Internet footprint for the school is disappearing as I type. Twitter account gone, insta account gone. Google search result has changed so all photos have been removed.

According to the BBC the police have been made aware.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp6643jd8nwo

Absolutely horrendous. I have worked in a number of SEmH independent schools and have never experienced anything like this. I cried watching - those poor young students. Unfortunately the education system is all being privatised - academies are very similar to independent companies and external scrutiny is limited.

I am struggling to believe any of those men had ever learnt anything about SEN or how to work with children. They just seem like chavvy salesmen who would be day drinking in Wetherspoons if they weren't being paid to sit there harassing kids. Where on earth did they find them?

This absolutely doesn’t mean all private providers are like this as so many lead with a moral purpose and are there for the children and to make a positive difference - this one in particular is horrendous and I believe should be far more open to
scrutiny and monitoring

But many are. This is not the first time abuse has been reported in independent SEN provision.

Too much money sloshing around and far to little scrutiny.

This is what I don't understand though - so many actual teaching graduates who would presumably love a better salary. Why have they picked these untalented idiots who have clearly no desire to teach or help children?

I think it’s more common than people think. These provisions need to be not for profit or better still, under the scrutiny of mainstream provision. No more private equity treating vulnerable children as cash cows.