Four staff at a special school have “lost their jobs” after an audio recording raised concerns about the staff’s behavior towards children.
As the Essex Daily Gazette reported, an accidental recording on a student’s iPad captured an entire day in a classroom at Market Field School.
The child’s mother found the file and informed the school of its contents.
Headteacher Ruth Whitehead said she had concluded that there had been “gross misconduct” and wrote a letter to parents apologizing.
In it, Ms Whitehead said: “What happened falls far short of the high expectations we have for staff behavior and the values we stand for as a school.”
“On behalf of the Market Field School, I am deeply sorry that this has happened.”
She said the recording, which began on a taxi ride to school, captured a full day in Oak Tree’s class, where six students, aged between seven and 11, have complex autism.
She added that “serious concerns” about the protection and behavior of staff towards children were highlighted and referred the matter to the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO), who concluded that there were no protection issues, but about the behavior of the staff.
Following an investigation by the school, four staff “lost their jobs” and had been referred to the Disclosure and Barring Service, Ms Whitehead said.
The type of recording was not disclosed.
Ms Whitehead concluded in the letter that she was “confident that the incident was an isolated one, confined to one room”.
She said she couldn’t fully express “the absolute devastation, shock and disbelief” at what happened.
She told parents: “The safety, well-being and happiness of your children is my number one priority and I know that is a sentiment shared by the entire school team.”
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