Claims students at Sunshine Special Development School left outside in winter without teachers

Parents at Sunshine Special Development School have aired shocking claims about incidents involving vulnerable students.

Parents have made a raft of shocking claims against Sunshine Special Development School. Picture: Supplied

Children with special needs were left outside in winter without teachers at a special school in Melbourne’s north, parents claim.

Problems are continuing at Sunshine Special Development School, which has 183 vulnerable students, most of which are non-verbal.

New claims include a student with behavioural problems being kept in a bus shed during winter with a support person, but without a teacher.

Another student was kept in an outside yard area with a bean bag and water, also without a teacher.

In another incident, parents observed members of the leadership team playing rock, paper, scissors in the school yard to determine which one would accompany a student to the hospital as none of them wanted to go.

In the end an education support person was sent to accompany the student to hospital.

Parents are also concerned about the spending of school funds, with teachers told to buy books from op shops while the school spends money on branded merchandise not used for teaching.

Sunshine Special Development School has 183 vulnerable students, most of which are non-verbal.

More than 55 staff have left the school since the start of last year and principal Nicole Edwardes is now on leave and an acting principal is in her place.

The school is under review and investigations are continuing into claims from parents made earlier this year.

The Herald Sun reported in July the school had a number of serious problems including serious violence between students, a mass exodus of teachers and students being stuck “caged animals” in classrooms.

Parents said they were still seeking answers from the Department of Education, the federal government and the Ombudsman.

“Allegations including child abuse, bullying, failure to or false reporting of incidents, possible human rights violations and mismanagement of public money are currently under investigation by the Department but no information has been provided to parents,” parents said.

“Parents have the right to have legitimate questions answered.

The leadership team has also not addressed any of the issues raised by parents”.

A Department of Education spokesperson said the “welfare of students is our highest priority and we investigate all parent complaints”.

“Sunshine Special Development School is committed to ensuring all students are supported to fully participate, learn, and succeed at school,” he said.

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