This morning, I woke at 5.15am to the sounds of Sam screaming in happiness from the next room. Sam is 3 and has Autism. He is non verbal, and we are in the process of viewing SEN schools for him. We live in Salford, and there is only one choice of SEN school here. Springwood Primary, Salford. This school caters for children with various disabilities, not just Autism.

Suspected Abuse at Springwood Primary, Salford

I have previously blogged about our school search, but have always been careful NOT to name the schools we viewed. Today, that needs to change. Springwood is the school we’ve been steadfast about NOT sending Sam to. For various reasons, we felt it wasn’t the right place for him. This morning, I woke up to this news article in the Manchester Evening News.

I am going to quote it in full for you – including their image……

“An investigation has been launched after three sets of parents claimed their disabled children were ‘abused’ at the same special needs school.

Ian and Elaine Worth, Nicola Fernley and Wendy Trueman have all raised separate complaints about staff at Spring Wood Primary School in the past 12 months.

They believe their children have been subjected to physical and emotional abuse at the school, in Swinton, Salford, over the last academic year.

The parents believe their complaints were ‘swept under the carpet’ by the school – so the Worths and Ms Fernley have taken them to Salford Council to investigate.

But the town hall has passed the allegations back to the school for a probe by its governors.

Mr Worth, 41, from Swinton, said: “We think something has gone seriously wrong at that school but our concerns don’t seem to be taken seriously.

“It feels like the safeguarding policies are in place to protect the teachers, not our children.”

The Worths described how their son, who has autism, Down’s Syndrome and cannot talk, had ‘completely changed’ over the last year – going from a loving, happy child to being aggressive, withdrawn and having frequent ‘meltdowns’.

They said they were baffled by the change, which was putting a massive strain on their relationship, until they were contacted by Springwood and told a supply teacher had raised concerns with how he was treated in class over the course of a day in May this year.

It was alleged that staff members had dragged him across the classroom, flicked water in his face and tipped a cup of water over his head – before saying to him: “That’s what you deserve.”

The matter was investigated by Springwood, which found that only the water flicking incident could be proven as staff members gave different
versions of events.

The staff involved were suspended and then spoken to before being allowed to return to the school.

The Worths were unhappy with the outcome so raised it with Salford council’s children’s service department.

Mr Worth, a field support engineer, said: “We 100 per cent believe our has been abused

The Worths said they had recently become aware of complaints which fellow parent Nicola Fernley had made about staff at Springwood.

Mum-of-three Ms Fernley, from Little Hulton, Salford, told the M.E.N. she had taken her 10-year-old son, who has autism, severe learning difficulties and has difficulty communicating, out of the school in September over concerns she had with staff.

The Worths and Ms Fernley have also become aware of similar concerns raised by Wendy Trueman over her 10-year-old son, who has Apert syndrome and needs to use a wheelchair after suffering a stroke.

A spokeswoman for Salford City Council said: “We have received a number of allegations which are being dealt with through our usual schools complaints procedure. The chair of governors, supported by council staff, is investigating.

“We cannot comment until that investigation is complete but the City Council does take all complaints very seriously.”

My Thoughts

To say I felt sick after reading this is an understatement. Those poor children (and of course their parents). I have said previously that we need a SEN Free School in Salford – Now I am certain of it. Obviously these allegations against staff at Springwood Primary, Salford have not yet been proven. But it sounds to me like there is a severe lack of supervision if this sort of thing can be alleged and not proven (or disproven) immediately by the school.

Earlier this year, another harrowing story was published by the Manchester Evening News – A 6 year old boy lost 3 fingers after Springwood Primary, Salford failed to act upon Health and Safety advice to put safety covers on the school gates.

Both of these stories reduced me to tears. Life as an Autism parent is hard. Sam is non verbal, so my main concern about him attending school is that he won’t be able to tell me about abuse or bullying. For me, the new allegations have reinforced my belief that Salford NEEDS a specialist Autism school.

Children in Manchester can attend Grange School – a purpose built Autism School. All staff are trained in Autism and each child works towards GCSE’s wherever possible. I can’t help but feel that children in Salford are missing out because of their postcode.

Let’s hope Salford take notice and address the total lack of a suitable Autism provision soon.

*UPDATE IN 2019*

I just wanted to add a little to this blog post. As a lot has changed since the time of writing… Sam now attends a special needs school in Middleton, which we are very happy with. My advice to parents who are concerned about abuse or bullying towards their special needs child is… BLOW THE WHISTLE! Speak to the head teacher. If you get no joy there, contact the school governors and Ofsted. Try asking other parents if they’ve noticed anything. If you’re concerned, the school need to reassure you. If they can’t (or won’t) do that, I’d be concerned too!

Sam’s school frequently send home photos and videos of him having an amazing time at school. He goes out to his taxi happily every morning, so I know he’s happy. If the time ever comes where that doesn’t happen… I will act on it. Finally, why not read more of my Autism content.