Children are ridiculed and bullied by staff at a special needs school

A senior member of staff at an independent school for children with special educational needs has been recorded by BBC Panorama as saying he wanted to drown pupils in the bath “like kittens”.

An undercover reporter spent nearly seven weeks at Life Wirral in Wallasey and witnessed staff using offensive language to make fun of pupils for being neurotic or learning disabled, as well as bullying them into dangerous lockdowns.

Last year, Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council paid the school nearly £1m. Whistleblowers told Panorama the abuse was still happening 12 months after the council was warned of the problem.

The school’s CEO, Alastair Saverimutto said he “does not condone the behavior revealed by the program and five members of staff have been suspended”.

A place at the school – for children of secondary school age – costs between £50,000 and £150,000 per year per child, depending on the support required.

Wirral Council has paid out more than £2.2m in total since the school opened in 2021. Ofsted has rated the school “good”.

Warning: This report contains offensive language

While undercover, Panorama reporter Sasha Hinde did work experience with the school’s sports staff.

They saw some staff trying to do their best for the pupils, but most witnessed children being treated cruelly by the adults responsible for their care.

In a taped conversation with chief of operations Paul Hamill, he laughed and revealed that the boy he imagined killing had overheard his comments.

“Just the thought of squeezing him while he’s scratching my arms, trying to wriggle out,” he remembers saying.

The pupil was tutored off-site for two hours, four days a week, by two members of staff led by Mr Hamill – who previously described the boy as a “little serial killer”, and said he deserved to sit in his room. “cells layer themselves for the rest of their lives”.

He told the reporter that after another incident involving the same child, who said he had smashed up the class and threatened to die, he “threw people all over the place” but that “in the document it is like I lead them effectively”.

When shown the footage, the grandmother described Paul Hamill as “a violent, aggressive man … who shouldn’t be around children”.

Panorama wrote to Paul Hamill about the allegations. He didn’t answer.

During nearly seven weeks in Life Wirral, Panorama reporters also witnessed:

• A mental health coach described the school as “full of retards” and called youngsters with dyspraxia the offensive term “flid”.
• The same staff member said that a well-behaved student had “beat him into a (expletive) dog.”
• Three members of staff used homophobic and sexist language towards pupils, calling one a “ponce” to his face and describing him as a “batty boy” to another pupil.
• One of the staff members grabbed the student’s head and drew what another boy said was a penis on his face.
• The students at the school were called “sketty”, a slang term for promiscuous women
• The head coach puts the student in a headlock, mocks his reaction and then pushes him to the ground
• Another staff member dragged the student, who was sitting on a laptop with headphones, out of his chair and into a headlock.
• The school’s CEO, who was fired as a special police constable for misconduct, said he used police-style restraints involving pressure points on children, which “(expletive) nailed”

When Panorama showed the length of the undercover for Dame Christine Lenehan, the former director Council for Handicapped Childrenhe said the school was “fundamentally unsafe” with “no respect for young people”.

“There must be bad leadership here, because leadership creates a culture that is beneficial. Leadership creates a culture about what we do and what we do,” he said.

The mother of a boy who suffered homophobic abuse from staff says she fought for 18 months to get her son into the school because she thought it would help him.

When shown the Panorama footage, he said he was “disgusted” to hear such language in a setting for vulnerable children.

Panorama – Undercover School : Cruelty In The Classroom

Watch the full investigation on BBC iPlayer.

Like other children at the school, this child has an Educational Health and Care Plan or EHCP, a legal document that sets out his needs and how to meet them.

Panorama reporters have seen children being teased for their neurological diversity or learning disabilities. One of the staff said, “We’re a school full of retards, we’re not SAS love. Like, just relax.”

And other staff members mocked the children for yelling, for making high-pitched noises, and for tics—repetitive movements that can be associated with neurodegenerative disorders.

A boy replied: “That’s why we didn’t get a job, because you insulted us.”

The school is led by principal Sarah Quilty who says in a promotional video that she has spent most of her career “working with children and helping children and I really enjoy it and get a lot of satisfaction from it”.

During a meeting with concerned reporters, Ms Quilty said that “some of our staff can be a bit irritated with them (students) you know and it hurts.”

Wirral Council warned of problems at school in February 2023.

Sue Peacock, advocate for Send (special educational needs and disabilities), told Panorama that she had helped the child, who had left the school, raise concerns with the authorities. In a statement shared with authorities, the boy wrote:

“I will not go to Life school again. Because peer on peer abuse I witnessed, teachers on students abuse, physical restraints – police style. Lacking understanding of disability, the staff said the incident was not as bad as described.

Wirral Council said it had investigated, including speaking to parents and children.

There are some concerns, but most give positive reports about the school. The Department for Education was also alerted and asked Ofsted to inspect the school. The inspector maintained a “good” rating.

Not long after, Panorama was contacted by a whistleblower who reported other concerns.

As well as witnessing offensive language targeted at children, the journalist faced regular sexual comments and was told to “put your milk away” by one staff member, while the other two laughed.

Panorama’s undercover reporter met with the school’s CEO, Alastair Saverimutto. He revealed that he has big ambitions for his Life School business saying he wants “100 schools” and to be “the first multi-billion dollar education division in the country”.

He was recorded saying headteacher Ms Quilty would be the “richest headteacher in the country”, saying “she will be scored”.

Mr Saverimutto also told reporters he had been nicknamed “The Savage” when he was a special constable for Merseyside Police, because he was “first in everything”.

He said he had used a police-style vehicle on the student who had been lashing out.

Mr Saverimutto said the boy ignored the 10-second warning and, when the boy failed to calm down, he was “(expletive) nailed”. “It went straight in and he hit the floor. I just did one pressure point and he was gone.

Mr Saverimutto, a former professional rugby player and former chief executive of Bournemouth Football Club, was sacked from the police in September last year, after failing to declare his debts during a police vetting.

According to figures from the Department of Education, the number of pupils with EHCP taught in independent schools has increased by more than 160% since 2015.

While background checks are conducted, those wishing to open an independent special school do not necessarily have teaching experience or knowledge of the Post sector. They are not required to use qualified teachers and can use their own curriculum.

In addition to Mr Saverimutto saying he had suspended staff, lawyers said school staff had been appropriately trained and that they had “refrained from using inappropriate force, or acting aggressively towards pupils”.

He added the school “is proud to have an excellent reputation that transforms the educational experience of students and achieves positive outcomes for children who may not succeed in traditional educational settings”.

Panorama wrote to head teacher Sarah Quilty. He didn’t answer.

The head of sport, Ollie, said the school was a “stressful and demanding environment” and he “never put a student under any circumstances that required physical intervention”.

The school’s mental wellbeing coach, Dan, told Panorama the “isolated comments” in the staff room away from pupils were “just dark humour” and “a well-researched coping strategy in a high-pressure profession”.

He said he never had any “malicious intent towards” the pupil, who he said he “had great concern for”.

Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council said the “behaviour” outlined by Panorama “can only be described as appalling” and “the impact of these events on the families of the children who attend the school has been devastating”.

It said it was investigating and Merseyside Police had been alerted.

The Department for Education said “all pupils have now been withdrawn from school” and are liaising with the council “to ensure alternative education is provided”.

It said it would take “enforcement action including permanent closure if the school tries to reopen”.