Ten families file civil suit over abusive seclusion rooms at London special school

Ten parents have launched a lawsuit against the trust running Whitefield special school, alleging that autistic children were confined and mistreated in so-called calming rooms.

Leigh Day is representing ten families in a civil action against the trust that now operates Whitefield special school and the London borough of Waltham Forest, alleging that autistic pupils were locked in "calming rooms" where they were physically restrained, thrown to the floor and left in vomit. The allegations stem from one outlet-obtained CCTV captured from 2014-2017, which showed a 12-year-old boy appearing in more than 55 hours of footage.

A 2022 review commissioned by Waltham Forest concluded that seclusion practices had become routine and fostered a culture of demeaning attitudes toward non-compliant children. The Children’s Commissioner called the practice "horrifying" at the time. The Department for Education has declined to comment and has not required CCTV monitoring in seclusion spaces, though it introduced a duty to record their use.

Advocates say the current safeguards are insufficient to prevent future abuse. The trust that ran the school when the footage was recorded no longer operates any schools, and a new trust now runs Whitefield, pledging reforms.