Children in Residential Schools at Risk from Abuse

[call me jaded]

http://www.tes.co.uk/2115266

 

Schools flouting abuse checks

 

Michael Shaw and Dorothy Lepkowska

Published: 15 July 2005

 

Children are at risk of abuse in the majority of boarding schools and many special schools, according to a hard-hitting report by eight independent government watchdogs.

 

It found that schools, both private and state, were improving but were still unable to protect the most vulnerable young people.

 

Children in special schools were being hurt by teachers using unacceptable force to restrain them, said the inspectors. Young people said some staff did not know how to control them without causing pain.

 

Physical control techniques were sometimes used as punishments, said the inspectors, when they were intended to prevent injury, serious damage to property or a severe breakdown in order.

 

Some teachers were also unable to spot the children being abused or neglected outside school, particularly those with special needs. The inspectors said that the quality of child protection systems and training in schools was variable.

 

The Commission for Social Care Inspection visited all 555 state and independent boarding schools. It found that 60 per cent did not meet all the national minimum standards for child protection. Around 40 per cent of residential special schools also failed to meet these standards.

 

 

Read more in this week's TES

[call me jaded]

The full report can be downloaded here:

 

http://www.csci.org.uk/about_csci/news/safeguarding.htm

[Lucas]

In my residential school, all new staff were told that everyone in the school was Dyslexic and nothing else. Dyslexia isn't stigmatised as a behavioural disorder, see?

 

This pretty much took away any possibility for abuse because the new staff members just assumed we were all normal apart from our reading and writing ability and treated as such, whilst overlooking strange things they saw. They all eventually worked out that only half the school was Dyslexic, there were some Aspies and a lot of ADHDers. Just by changing their first impression affected how they would work with children for the rest of their lives.

[Canopus]

I attended a special needs residential school and it was generally an unpleasant place where child abuse and victimisation by both the staff and prefects was commonplace. The headmaster imposed a very harsh regime similar to public schools of old and made people live under an atmosphere of fear.

[Carol]

Please tell me they are not all bad - we are currently waiting to hear about the possibility of our son going to an independant special school - which seems to come very highly recommended - can you check & see which schools are in which percentage?

 

Carol ( trying not to let the panic rise)

[bevalee]

Hi Carol

 

My son is in a residential school, and he is very happy.

 

Don't panic! He attends an independant special school for AS, and it does come highly recommended.

 

Especially by me, my son and a few other parents on this site.

 

Not all schools are the same.

[Canopus]

I think things have changed since the early 90s and special needs schools tend to be run by people who better understand the special needs than in days gone by, and don't run the schools like boot camps, prisons, or public schools anymore.

 

My (now defunct) school catered for kids with behavioural problems and lumped together a diverse mix of kids. Some of the kids had AS, others were there because they required more attention than they would have got in a comprehensive, and others were truly nasty vindictive individuals who were simply not wanted by comprehensives. The headmaster believed that a traditional strict and disciplined culture to the point where one could not go home for 3 weeks was what was needed to get the kids back on track and turn them into citizens.

[Surrey]

My son is due to start a residential school in September and of course my first concern was about abuse, what parent wouldn't be?

 

However I have tried to do as much homework as I can and have asked parents of children already in the school, what their experience have been. Luckily all have had nothing but praise for the school.

 

I think its important to bear in mind that there are different types of abuse. I knew from experience that if i sent my child to a mainstream school he would certainly be subjected to bullying from other children who thought he was 'strange'. Possible bullying by teachers that do not have the expertise to understand autism. Most parents sending their child to a residential school have to make an agonising decision. However, I preferred to send him somewhere where I HOPE he will be happy rather than somewhere I KNEW he would suffer.

[Canopus]

If the school has a track record of dealing with AS effectively then it is probably fine.

[bid]

I think special schools have changed a great deal in the last decade or so.

 

There are now quite a few special schools specifically for AS...back in 1997 I visited the very first special school for AS that had not long been opened.

 

Bid

[Canopus]

It was the carestaff that were often the worst offenders for child abuse at my school. Very few were qualified in child care and none had any experience or knowledge of SEN even though they were working in a special needs school. Many were formerly in the armed forces. Some of the carestaff were friendly people but others were particularly nasty individuals who got up to disreputable activities including using some kids to bully or use physical force against other kids.