Damning dossier of complaints from parents and staff at Ballarat Specialist School

Parents at Ballarat Specialist School have spoken out about a series of alleged incidents, including children being punched, kicked and inappropriately handled while being restrained.

Incidents at the school include one student being pushed and kicked and students being locked in a separate room on a daily basis. Picture: iStock

Vulnerable students at a Ballarat school have been critically injured while restrained in classrooms, physically and verbally abused and had broken bones covered up, their devastated parents claim.

A damning dossier of complaints from parents and staff at Ballarat Specialist School obtained by the Herald Sun includes details of a teacher’s alleged “snuggle time” with a female student which was investigated by Victoria Police. A male student also groomed a female student by sending her naked images of himself and talking about masturbation.

Other allegations include a child being left alone at pick-up, a child being forced to walk on a fractured knee after an accident was ignored and children being humiliated and called names by staff. The school, located in Lake Gardens, caters for 443 children with disabilities aged from 5 to 18.

Despite the school’s goal of enabling “students and staff to reach their full potential in a safe and stimulating environment”, parents have told the Herald Sun they fear for their children’s safety on a daily basis.

Parents and staff, who do not want to be named for fear of repercussions from school leaders, say not enough has been done to make the school safe, despite more than two years of detailed complaints made to the Department of Education.

Parents, who do not have any other choice for schooling for their children, say they should not have to “send our kids into situations where they are mentally, physically harmed”.

Parents and teachers stress the issues are isolated to a small minority of staff, with the majority trying to support children and get problems resolved.

Staff have also contacted the Education Department raising concerns about the neglect, restraint and abuse of students at the school’s senior campus, The Farm.

Incidents included the mishandling and restraint of four students, a student being pushed and kicked, and students “locked in a separate room” on a daily basis. The staff member, who has now left the school, said they witnessed “hands on/inappropriate handling of young students”.

One mother said she felt like a “broken record” and that despite repeated reports, her daughter continues to be called “f*cking b*tch, dog, Peppa pig”.

Another parent said she was concerned about the “failure of many staff to record incidents and communicate injuries and accidents to parents”.

She has repeatedly raised allegations about one teacher who would cuddle a female student – referred to as “snuggle time”, have age inappropriate discussions and take the student alone out of the class.

One mother said her son, who has Down syndrome, was secluded repeatedly after making “meowing sounds”, stopped speaking after being put in a room with non-verbal student, and was never properly assessed and wasn’t given support to develop. She said he was “disconnected and scared/ashamed” in class and has been pulled from the school following a mental health breakdown. Her son is now 17 and cannot read, write or count to 20.

Another mother said staff “watched on while my son beat himself to a pulp for 35 minutes”.

“He also ended up in ICU after eating a foam yoga mat after being left unattended in a room,” she said.

A Ballarat Specialist School student ended up in ICU after eating a foam yoga mat while unattended in seclusion.

“A lot of the time kids can’t talk so they are particularly vulnerable and dependent,” she said.

One staff member said they had been reprimanded for trying to advance the life skills of students and was distressed by other staff calling children names and humiliating them.

Such incidents include not helping female students when they have their periods and disciplining autistic children for rocking and stimming, which are repeated movements.

Other claims include children being excluded from school camps if they are deemed too hard to manage.

One parent and member of the school’s council said staff who spoke up were “called a troublemaker and then you get harassed until they leave”.

She said staff reported bullying and abuse from children who were not supervised properly but nothing was followed up. “We are verbally berated by leadership,” she said.

A Department of Education spokesman said: “We take parent complaints seriously and investigate all parent complaints.”

“The health and wellbeing of students is always our number one priority. Ballarat Specialist School is committed to providing a safe learning environment in which all our students are supported to thrive.”

Under departmental guidelines, restraint and seclusion are only permitted in exceptional circumstances and to protect the safety of another person.

Karen Dimmock, CEO of the Association for Children with a Disability, said teachers and schools “need the resources, training and time to put in place reasonable adjustments and positive behaviour support to meet student needs”.