Two parents and a former teaching assistant at a South London primary school have claimed its special educational needs department suffers from “systemic” issues that are putting children at risk, after a boy ran out towards traffic on a busy road. Gemma Ekrem, 39, had three children at Old Bexley Church of England Primary School in Bexley until the most recent school year, including her six-year-old son Harley who started in September 2021.
Harley has global development delay and an autism spectrum disorder, with an education, health and care plan (EHCP) in place to address his needs. On March 30 this year, Ms Ekrem was called to the school to pick up her middle child, Hayden, while he was feeling ill, and arranged to collect all three of her children at the same time so she didn’t have to leave him alone at any point.
During the handover, she claims the school’s main gate and reception door were left open, and as Harley’s teaching assistant (TA) brought him to the office, Harley let go of their hand and ran out the door and gate when he noticed they were open. CCTV shows the moment he runs up the stairs and out of the school site, as his brother Hayden sprints after him, followed by their panicked mum.
Ms Ekrem told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): “I’m screaming for help so my son Hayden, who was being sick, came running out the office and gate to get Harley out of the road.”
She added: “It was horrible because when I looked up I saw two cars passing and I saw Harley go into the road… I thought he was dead and that’s what I live with now constantly – just the fear that I could have lost him that day. And I could have lost Hayden as well because Hayden went running out to get him. I could have lost two children that day.”
The mum said she injured her knee and ankle while running after Harley after tripping on the steps outside the school, leaving her kids hysterical. After submitting a complaint to the school – initially an informal measure as set out in the school complaints policy – she felt the issue wasn’t being taken seriously, and hired a solicitor to help with her complaint, which was escalated to a formal complaint after she claims her concerns were initially dismissed. Claiming her complaint was again dismissed, this time by a different staff member, she escalated it to stage three out of five in the school’s complaints process, this time involving the trust that runs the school, Amadeus Primary Academies Trust.
She said: “They tried to say it was an isolated incident and this rarely happens here.”
However, another parent claims she has witnessed a boy running up the road, chased by two staff members, in what she claims was one of a series of similar incidents. Polly Hutton, 36, claims to be aware of multiple instances of children in her daughter’s class running out of the school during class time. She claims on one occasion she gave two members of staff a lift to help them catch up with a child.
Ms Hutton told the LDRS: “I had just dropped my child at school in the morning and was driving back to work. I passed two teachers running in the opposite direction of the school. I thought it was a bit odd but carried on driving. I then saw a boy running in the opposite direction of the school.”
She added: “I stopped on Hurst Road and when the teachers drew level with me, I offered them a lift to catch up with the child. Both teachers got in and I drove up to Glenhurst Avenue. We could no longer see the child and the teachers got out to search a nearby street. I continued round the bend in Glenhurst Avenue and saw the boy was now walking slowly along the road. I immediately turned around and went back to find the teachers. I explained I had seen him, they got in my car again and I drove back round the bend and dropped them just ahead of where the boy was.”
Stacy Katwala, 50, said she also sent her children to Old Bexley and worked as a teaching assistant (TA) for the SEN department for two years. She claims the department was “constantly overwhelmed” in her time at the school and lacked proper management and resources. She added that she was aware of an occasion when a certain child escaped the school three times due to their TA being asked to work with another child, leaving them unattended.
She said: “The lack of support and trained TAs led to numerous incidents where pupils did indeed escape from school premises or locked themselves in classrooms so staff were unable to get in or out. On one occasion, a member of staff was locked in the quiet room, unable to get out for some period of time.”
Ms Katwala called the quiet room in the school a “depressing place” and claimed issues such as children walking out of school or injuring themselves were not isolated incidents. She said around 20 parents of the school sent a collective email in June 2022, claiming there was a “systemic” issue in the school of the SEN department appearing persistently under-prepared and under-skilled. She claims they didn’t even receive a response to that email.
In response to Ms Katwala’s claim, an Old Bexley spokesperson told the LDRS: “A written response was sent to Ms Katwala on June 28, 2022. The parents involved were invited to engage with our complaint’s procedure.”
Speaking about what she claims is an occasional shortage of staff in the SEN department, Ms Ekrem said: “[Harley] had a funded teaching assistant from his EHCP budget. When the school was short staffed, [the TA] was deployed to other classes to help teach. So [Harley] used to get placed in the quiet room frequently… He doesn’t like it. He’s nonverbal. He comes out really distressed, has a meltdown and it just goes on for hours when he’s at home because he’s so frustrated.”
The mum said an emergency annual review of Harley’s EHCP in the weeks following the incident on March 30 concluded it was a serious safeguarding breach which correspondence seen by the LDRS appears to support. Despite the school detailing actions it has taken to ensure a similar incident does not happen again, in its response to stage three of the complaints process, Ms Ekrem escalated it again, feeling blame was being put on her for not reporting that the door and gate were open.
The mum said: “[The person from the trust] basically just parent blames me. She [suggested] on the email that I should have notified a member of staff that the gate was wide open and the doors were open. That’s not my responsibility, it’s safeguarding at the school. If you’ve got an autism unit practically adjacent to the school office, you shouldn’t be having all these doors open when so many kids have escaped.”
While the letter does make reference to Ms Ekrem not reporting that the door and gate were open it also acknowledges that staff didn’t either, and points out that actions have been taken to prevent a repeat.
Ms Ekrem is speaking out nine months after the incident involving her son as she still feels the school is not taking full responsibility. However, in a response seen by the LDRS, the school said it has replaced the main door so that it cannot be held open on a mechanism and closes automatically. It also states that the gates will not be put on a timer for open events, and that every visitor will have to buzz for entry.
Ms Ekrem said she would like for the incident on March 30 to be investigated further and for her to be reimbursed for the counselling and legal fees she has accrued in the process. But a response to her stage four complaint – involving the CEO of the trust – received this week states that if she wants to pursue compensation, she needs to bring her formal complaint to an end and do so via a legal route, which she is considering doing.
She said her kids’ lives have turned “upside down” since the incident in March and that they’ve since lost friendships at their old school because one of her children has moved schools due to his distress. She said Harley is still off school as he doesn’t want to go back there and she hasn’t secured him a place anywhere else. Her eldest child has since started secondary school.
An Old Bexley Church of England spokesperson told the LDRS: “For confidentiality reasons, we are not able to comment on specific details relating to an ongoing matter. However, addressing any concerns raised by our parents is of utmost importance to us.”
They added: “Our commitment to maintaining a safe and secure environment for all members of our educational community is unwavering. We take every complaint seriously and handle them in accordance with our comprehensive Complaints Policy. Safeguarding remains our top priority and we work diligently to ensure a strong and focused approach in this regard.”
The Old Bexley spokesperson said the school is dedicated to continuously improving safeguarding practices and prioritises the safety and wellbeing of students and staff. They said the school collaborates with an external company that independently oversees safeguarding measures. They added that the findings of complaints are viewed as an opportunity to enhance protocols.
Old Bexley was rated ‘Good’ in all areas in its most recent Ofsted inspection, published in July this year. The school was praised for quickly identifying pupils with special educational needs and disabilities and breaking down long-term aims into manageable steps.
The spokesperson said: “The complaint in question was shared with the Ofsted team at the time, and the findings confirmed that our safeguarding measures are effective. This positive validation from Ofsted reinforces our commitment to maintaining the highest standards in safeguarding throughout our educational institutions.”
Picture: Gemma Ekrem, 39, said she constantly lives with the fear that her son could have died. Credit: Facundo Arrizabalaga/MyLondon
