Pupils at a special school were allegedly tortured by staff who hit and kicked students before leaving them in their own urine, a BBC probe has claimed.
Disabled pupils were subjected to vile abuse from staff members at the Whitefield School in Walthamstow, east London, after being left alone in so-called calming rooms for up to four hours at a time.
A BBC investigation revealed that six staff members at the special school, which is one of the largest in the UK with around 370 pupils, were proven to have abused 39 children between 2014 and 2017.
This reportedly included the use of ‘excessive force’ such as slamming, kicking and hitting pupils ‘without obvious justification’, while others were left in the rooms alone with no clothes on, sitting in their own urine.
One pupil of the school, David Gloria, who has been diagnosed with autism, ADHD and OCD, was on one occassion placed in the calming room for three hours, during which he began hitting himself before urinating on the floor.
His father, Ricardo, who is also a police officer, noticed his son became increasingly distressed after several months of starting at the school.
He asked staff if he could see the so called calming room, which are designated spaces for disabled children to use outside of classrooms to work on their anger and de-escalate their emotions.
Ricardo was expecting to see a large room with plenty of calming activites for the children to occupy themselves with.
But instead he was shocked by what he saw. He told the BBC: ‘It was a cell, even worse than a cell. Small, no water, no food, no light and no fresh air.
Ricardo then noticed a camera in the room and asked to see CCTV footage of the time David had spent in there.
He said the footage showed David being ‘assualted’ by staff who kneed David in the back and pushed inside the room.
Within 25 minutes of being in the room, David began crying and questioning why he was there, saying he is ‘confused’ and ‘I do not understand’.
As the hours went by, David reportedly began slapping and punching his head, hitting his stomach and throwing himself into the wall.
David was also recorded urinating twice on the floor, before finally being released back to the classroom to ‘recover’ after three hours.
Ricardo said: ‘My son was in a panicked state and crying and self harming, begging them for water, begging them to go out and begging them for food. And they just ignored him.
‘It’s not human what they done with my son. When I saw back the footage I couldn’t believe it. It’s torture.’
Speaking about his time spent in the calming room, David said: ‘I was sweaty, I was angry, I was upset. They didn’t listen to me, they was ingnoring me.
‘They let me do a wee wee on the floor.’
When starting at the school David, intially visted the claming room once a week, but by the end, he was being put in there up to five times each week.
When asked why he was being sent there, David was told by staff that he was ‘not being sensible’.
Halima is the mother on another pupil who attended Whitefield and was reportedly placed in a calming room on two occassions.
Her son Abdulahi allegedly pushed by staff members before being left alone walking on his knees while in tears. Records of police notes seen by the BBC supposedly describe the incident as a ‘possible assault’.
A woman called Amina said her brother Abdulahi had a number of ‘meltdowns’ and had self-harmed after being placed in the rooms.
Another pupil, Ashley, who was 12 at the time of attending Whitefield, appeared in over 55 hours of CCTV footage that was handed to the Metropolitan Police as part of an investigation that began in 2021.
Ahsley was one of 39 other students who were caught on video being to vile abuse and neglect from staff.
His family said Ashely, who is now 22, was sectioned in 2020 as a result of the time he spent in the calming rooms.
They added that his anxiety has increased so much that he now rubs his head on the carpet leading to sores, while he also recently jumped out of a moving car.
His mother Sophie told the BBC: ‘It’s so unbelievable that you could keep a human being in a room the size of a cupboard and expect them to be OK,’ Sophie says.
‘I thought he was being placed into a sensory room with beanbags and nice colourful lights.’
One report allegedly describe a staff member pinning Ashley up against a wall and hitting him, causing the boy to ‘jolt’ and become unsteady on his feet.
The report was looked over by a HR consultant as part of the Met Police investigation. They said the incident constituted ‘proven physical abuse’.
They added that the staff member responsible for abusing Ashley showed no remorse or concern for Ashley during an interview, suggesting a ‘potential absence of learning’.
The same staff member was also reportedly recorded visiting a pupil who had wet themselves after spending 90 minutes in a calming room.
The teacher wipes the child’s face, as they appear to pick crumbs off the floor, but does not clean any of their clothes.
Another clip shows a child who was left to sit in their own urine.
The HR consultant said the teacher should be referred to the the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS), but, according to the BBC, this was never done and they continue to work at the school.
The teacher was not prosecuted, despite being interviewed by police over their behaviour in over 40 CCTV clips, the BBC said.
The police investigaton found six staff members in total has subject pupils to abuse but none have been sacked.
A whistleblower who worked at the school, who approached the BBC, described the teachers’ behaviour as ‘torture’ and believe the investigations by the school amounted to a ‘whitewash’.
They told the BBC: ‘You’ve ended up with staff with no sanctions against them, no learning or awareness, no serious case review to look at what went wrong.’
The school is now being run by Flourish Learning Trust, which told the BBC that a new leadership team has been put in place, while the calming rooms have now been closed.
The Trust said it has also shared the CCTV footage with police and some staff members have since resigned. Three teachers who returned have also received ‘extensive training’.
It added that it was not legally obligated to make DBS referrals for the six staff members who were found to have abused pupils, but they have instead been suspended, according to the BBC.
Flourish Learning Trust said it had complied with employment law and Waltham Forest Council was content with its conduct.
MailOnline has contacted Whitefield School for comment.
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Dan Woodland
