New concerns about the safety of vulnerable children under the care of a major private special school operator have led to one local authority withdrawing pupils, The i Paper can reveal.
Two UK taxpayer-funded private schools run by the Witherslack Group – which is ultimately owned by Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund – are coming under extra official scrutiny, with the Government warning it could shut one of them down.
The Department for Education says it is working with Ofsted and a “taskforce” made up of seven local authorities to “closely monitor” Queensmead House School, where the taxpayer funds places at an annual cost of £95,020 a pupil. It says it will intervene and close the school if necessary.
A separate authority – Hillingdon Council – has decided to remove pupils it funds from the school in Windsor “due to safeguarding concerns”.
‘Terrible’ injuries and trauma
Meanwhile, Surrey County Council is looking into another Witherslack special school – Bramley Hill – in response to The i Paper’s story from August, which revealed that children there had been left with “terrible” injuries and trauma because of their treatment by staff at the school, which charges the state annual fees of between £96,814 to £107,531 per child.
England’s Children’s Commissioner Dame Rachel de Souza is also involved. Her office has been in touch with former Bramley Hill parents and has written to Surrey County Council seeking assurance that it will be thorough in “investigating these allegations”.
Children’s Commissioner Dame Rachel de Souza’s office has called for a thorough investigation into Bramley Hill School (Photo: Yui Mok/PA Wire)Witherslack says both schools “continue to provide the highest standards of education and care to their pupils” and that recent Ofsted inspections and local authority quality assurance reviews “have found no evidence of safeguarding concerns”.
The company saw annual profits rise 28 per cent to £44.6m last year. But the news concerning Queensmead House and Bramley Hill is only the latest blow for the special schools chain. Witherslack is facing potential legal action from parents at several of the other 34 special schools it runs in England. They say their children have been “traumatised” by “damaging” physical restraint.
The law allows teachers and other school staff to physically restrain children under their legal power “to use reasonable force to prevent pupils from hurting themselves or others, from damaging property or causing disorder”.
Witherslack says physical restraint only happens “when safety is at risk”. But parents claim it is overused.
How the Queensmead House crisis began
The crisis at Queensmead House School began during the summer holidays when letters from two councils funding places at the school, situated in Windsor Great Park, were sent to parents about safeguarding concerns.
In one, Bracknell Forest Council told parents it had “launched a thorough and comprehensive investigation into the concerns and is working closely with several other local authorities”. “This is a matter we are taking with the utmost seriousness,” the letter adds.
Queensmead House School is situated in Windsor Great Park, near Windsor Castle (Photo: Mark Kerrison/In Pictures via Getty Images)The i Paper has also seen a letter to a parent from Windsor and Maidenhead Council sent in August, which said the authority lacked the “necessary confidence” to “safely permit” a child to continue attending Queensmead House.
Three local authorities, including Hillingdon, initially withdrew pupils from the school. But just two days later, they were reinstated.
Witherslack responded to councils’ concerns over the summer with letters to parents, in which it said it was seeking “legal advice” about the “drastic action” to end pupil placements.
The concerns led to parents of pupils funded by seven different local authorities being told to keep pupils at home for three days in the first week of term – where they were taught remotely – to allow the councils to carry out a quality assurance review.
Witherslack said the resulting review in September found the school had “effective safeguarding leadership, clear policies, and committed staff and identified no significant safeguarding failures”.
“All placements from those local authorities have continued and those young people have been attending classes since the start of term,” it added.
But another authority, Hillingdon, has kept pupils out of the school. Parents have been left worried and angered, saying they are “confused” by the situation. “It’s all absolutely disgusting,” one posted on social media.
“I’ve been kept in the dark, it’s a phrase that is used by a lot of parents,” another Queensmead House parent told The i Paper. “I don’t understand why local authorities have done drastically different things. That is totally confusing.”
‘Chaotic’ school had five head teachers in two years
Parents’ worries about Queensmead House School go back at least as far as the previous academic year.
“A professional going to see my son told me they saw a child being carried by staff like a table through the playground,” one parent, who had a child at school until last year, told The i Paper.
The DfE says it will not hesitate to ‘act swiftly’ and close Queensmead House School if necessary (Photo: Google Street View)“The teachers were being kicked and punched by the other children. It was like Lord of the Flies.”
The parent complained about a “constant changeover of headteachers…they never seemed to stay in post for more than a year. It was chaotic.”
Queensmead House has had five headteachers in the past two years. Witherslack says this was a result of serious illnesses, but adds that the change has not caused “safeguarding issues” and that inspectors had found that the school “manages pupils’ behaviour well.”
The Sheikh Mansour connection
Witherslack has been rapidly expanding its position in England’s lucrative private special school market since its purchase by Mubadala Capital in 2021.
Mubadala Capital is a subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala Investment Company, where Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan – vice president of the UAE, and a leading member of Abu Dhabi’s royal family – is chairman of the board.
Manchester City owner Sheikh Mansour is the deputy Prime Minister of the UAE (Photo: Getty)Neither Mubadala Capital nor the Mubadala Investment Company wished to comment.
Witherslack is one of the biggest companies to have benefited from an increase in demand for special needs education in England, which has left local authorities unable to find enough places in their state special schools – with no choice but to pay much more for expensive private alternatives.
A ‘toxic environment’
In August, The i Paper received multiple accounts of children at Bramley Hill School, in Surrey, being taken outside and restrained on a bench in the school’s courtyard in front of other pupils. One boy was left with “terrible” open wounds on the top of his toes after being “dragged” across a concrete floor, their parent said.
Now, as a result of that story, Surrey County Council says it is making a series of visits to the school because of the concerns raised.
Parents say Bramley Hill School in Surrey has become a ‘horror show’ since being taken over by the Abu Dhabi-owned Witherslack Group (Photo: Provided)An email from the council to Guildford Liberal Democrat MP Zöe Franklin, seen by The i Paper, says the authority was “aware of the press article and the wider concerns raised by parents about Bramley Hill School”.
“In response, the council has arranged quality assurance visits this term as a part of the council’s commitment to robust oversight and safeguarding. It is also monitoring the school’s leadership and staffing.”
Parents have told The i Paper they are unhappy with the way their children have been treated at Bramley Hill this term. Another, posting a message in an online forum for parents at the school, describes it as a “toxic environment”.
A Witherslack Group spokesperson said it had created new roles at Bramley Hill “to strengthen our focus on safeguarding — including dedicated designated Safeguarding Leads (DSLs) whose sole responsibility is safeguarding, free from any teaching or pastoral duties”.
Regarding Queensmead House, a Department for Education spokesperson said: “Special schools cater for some of the most vulnerable young people in our society and it is vital that children are safe and supported in their education.
“We are continuing to work closely with Ofsted and a new local authority-led taskforce to closely monitor the school.
“We do not and will not hesitate to take swift enforcement action, from emergency inspections right through to school closure, where that is necessary.”
Hillingdon Council said: “The safety and well-being of all children in our borough is always our priority.
“We have taken the decision to withdraw the children [from Queensmead House] due to safeguarding concerns and have been liaising with their families to explain the reasons and offer support.
“We are in the process of identifying and securing alternative options for those impacted and are confident these will be in place imminently.”
The Witherslack Group’s response
A Witherslack spokesperson said: “Recent Ofsted inspections and quality assurance reviews at both Queensmead House School and Bramley Hill School have found no evidence of safeguarding concerns.
“Both schools, rated as Good by Ofsted, continue to provide the highest standards of education and care to their pupils. The safety and care of pupils at Witherslack Group schools is our utmost priority, and this is reflected in our industry-leading Ofsted ratings, where Witherslack Group has the highest proportion of Outstanding schools in the sector…
“Only one local authority has not continued placements at Queensmead House School, despite providing no evidence of any specific safeguarding concerns and failing to engage with the school on this issue.
“Of the small number of placements affected, most parents desperately want their children to remain at Queensmead House School, and the school has continued to offer its support to young people and parents with placements from that local authority, the majority of whom have continued to attend classes since the start of term.
“Bramley Hill School continues to benefit from Witherslack Group’s support to embed our therapeutic practice model, which meets the highly individualised needs of its pupils. Our work is centred on creating a safe, inclusive, and person-centred learning environment.
“Restrictive physical interventions are only used as a last resort, when safety is at risk, and there is potential of significant harm to a young person, others or the environment.”
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