Shocking treatment of vulnerable students at Victorian schools exposed in shame file

A list reveals 44 Victorian schools where students with disabilities have suffered seclusion, neglect and abuse, including being locked in cages and tied to chairs.

Incidents detailed include children being taken to hospital after getting injured due to a lack of supervision. Picture: iStock

Forty-four Victorian state and private schools are on a shameful list detailing restraint, seclusion, abuse, neglect and discrimination of vulnerable students with disabilities.

The list includes specialist providers with serious ongoing concerns such as Marnebek School in Cranbourne East, Jackson School in St Albans, Sunshine Special Development School and Southern Autistic School in Bentleigh East.

It comes as disability advocates are calling for the desegregation of children with disabilities and the closure of all specialist schools by 2051.

The list details issues of restraint, seclusion, abuse, neglect and discrimination of vulnerable students with disabilities. Picture: iStock

The list which includes incidents dating back to 2015, includes 20 state primary schools and seven secondary schools in Balnarring, Melton, Kilberry Valley, Ivanhoe East, Drouin and Fitzroy.

The list was compiled by the Education Rights support group run by Julie Phillips, one of the state’s most highly regarded disability advocates.

It includes schools where children are locked in cages and rooms, tied to chairs and left alone despite such measures only being officially admissible in extreme cases.

Incidents include children being taken to hospital after getting injured due to a lack of supervision; biting and hitting each other and staff; and wandering around naked.

Ms Phillips said there was a higher level of abuse, neglect and violence in segregated schools although the same issues were present at mainstream schools.

“The problems we have documented here are not going away given that the rules actively permit the violence and abuse of children with disabilities,” she said.

Other schools with recent issues include the assault and false imprisonment of children at Croydon Special School in 2021; Trafalgar Primary, which faced a discrimination complaint this year over the restraint and assault of children with disabilities; and Tyrrell Secondary College, accused of isolating and segregating children with autism in 2022.

Private schools on the list include Billanook College, St Joseph’s College in Wonthaggi and Ballarat Christian College.

Disability Advocacy Network policy and advocacy director El Gibbs said violence towards, and segregation of, people with disability must end.

“The Disability Royal Commission final report made clear that the more people with disability are shut away from the community, the more likely they are to experience abuse,” she said.

The list includes the use of martial arts-based disciplinary techniques by staff to subdue and control students.

James Sumarac, a retired martial arts teacher who worked at dozens of Victorian schools defended his approach as “non-pain compliant”.

“I was never causing pain and kept both the child and staff safe,” he said.

It comes after the Herald Sun revealed a series of shocking incidents involving children being neglected and abused in government primary and secondary schools.

Most recently, parents and staff from Ballarat Specialist School have spoken about children being subjected to inappropriate “snuggle time” with a teacher; being restrained, secluded and humiliated; and having broken bones ignored.

The Commissioner for Children and Young People and the Education Department are investigating the claims. Principal Sam Sheppard told parents the departmental review was “due to finish shortly”.

A department spokesperson said: “The safety and wellbeing of students and staff is always the highest priority, and all Victorian government schools are committed to providing a safe learning environment in which all our students are supported to thrive.”

Schools on the list given special mention for positive treatment include Bona Vista Primary School, Charlton College, Loch Primary and Ringwood North Primary School.

Mum says bullying claims were ‘ignored’

A student with autism, ADHD and dyslexia was hit in the testicles and had his pants pulled down by another child as part of a sustained bullying campaign.

The mother of the boy, who is no longer attending Shepparton East Primary, said the school and Department of Education did not do enough to protect her son from the unprovoked attacks.

Photos of the injuries sustained by a student at Shepparton East Primary School due to bullying from other students.

The boy was told “no one likes you” and “you should die” and was kicked repeatedly and had a spade shoved into his side.

He was also hounded by “mobs of students” and “subjected to ongoing slurs about being gay, a simp, and being transgender”.

He was also attacked by a larger child, leaving bruises that lasted for more than a week.

“The trauma of this was immense on all of us, and irreparable,” she said.

The mother said her son was suspended when he finally retaliated or segregated in a separate play space, causing further social isolation.

The mother said her son was left with bruises that lasted for more than a week after being attacked by a larger child.

“The bullying was portrayed as a disability issue instead of what it was – just bullying. They used his disability against him,” she said.

“The following day after the hit in the testicles, the same child attacked him in an unprovoked assault, caught on camera.”

The mother said the school breached her son’s privacy by meeting with his private psychologist and attempted to hijack NDIS funding for their own use.

She said her son’s mental health deteriorated so much in the last year that he was “scared of everything” and lengthy absences made him isolated from his peers.

He had back spasms so bad he ended up in emergency with a psychological trauma presentation. He was self-harming by picking holes in his legs. Despite “desperate pleas for help” the boy had privileges taken away such as being able to play tee-ball and participate in school concerts. The mother complained to the Department of Education and was told they were “satisfied that every attempt to support (the boy) was made by the staff at Shepparton East Primary School.

The mother said she was portrayed by the school as a hysterical parent and her son as “the problem”.

“Most of the teaching staff were amazing, but they were hamstrung by superiors and inadequate department ass-covering,” she said.