(UK) SPED school charged with putting kids "in isolation rooms unsupervised"

Jan 17, 2018, (UK) Mirror: Special needs school 'held kids in isolation rooms and excluded them illegally' under Dame headteacher https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/special-needs-school-held-kids-11866891 Staff at a special needs school 'held the door' closed on pupils alone in isolation rooms and illegally excluded students, according to a damning report. The Brookfield School in Herefordshire was rated "outstanding" by a 2014 Ofsted inspection team, but now 'requires improvement' after regulators assessed it again at the end of last year. The latest inspection noted that under headteacher Oremi Evans – who was given a damehood for services to education in 2015 - exclusions were not properly recorded and pupils were put in isolation rooms unsupervised. … "Staff are no longer allowed to close the door or hold it shut. Doors remain open and pupils are supervised at all times." … "The number of fixed-term exclusions has risen sharply since the new headteacher took up his post," it states. "Staff have confirmed that this is not because there are more pupils being sent home, but because exclusions are now properly recorded. … David Gaston took on the principle role in January 2017 after Dame Oremi was appointed executive head of the Aconbury Centre- a pupil referral unit for students who are having difficulty at school … Last year it was reported that an “alarming number” of parents with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) were seeing their children illegally excluded from school. … An Ofsted report noted: "Across nearly all local areas inspected, an alarming number of parents said that some school leaders asked them to take their children home. …