By Local Democracy Reporter Charlotte Lillywhite
Additional reporting Kathy Bailes
Staff at Bradstow School in Broadstairs have raised concerns that students will not be able to find an alternative if it shuts.
The school and residential home, for children aged between 5-19 years with severe intellectual disabilities who are on the autistic spectrum continuum, is maintained by the London Borough of Wandsworth with 14 other councils, including Kent County Council, placing children there.
Currently KCC is the largest user of the site with placements of 14 of the 33 children compared to just four from Wandsworth.
But last month The Isle of Thanet News revealed the school is set to shut for good next August amid mounting financial pressures at Wandsworth Council.
The London authority says it has invested £41million for SEND provision since 2021 to keep youngsters within the borough. Proposals for KCC to take over the Bradstow School site have not come to fruition with Wandsworth saying this resulted in the “difficult decision to propose closure by August 2025, pending a comprehensive consultation process.”
Financial challenges
A Wandsworth Council spokesperson previously said Bradstow School operates within a challenging financial landscape and the unwillingness of councils to pay the levels of fees needed to maintain the quality and financial viability of the school has forced the authority to look at other options.
On December 3 the council’s children’s committee agreed to begin the statutory process to shut the school. This will include publishing formal proposals and launching a four-week consultation for feedback, before deciding whether to go ahead with the closure.
Staff concerns
During the committee meeting Conservative councillor Matthew Corner raised concerns students would not be able to find a suitable alternative school if the decision went ahead, including one child who had been offered alternative provision in Birmingham.
He read out a letter from a staff member at Bradstow, which said: “The announcement of the intention to close Bradstow School now creates enormous anxiety and life-changing implications for the young people and the families and the wider community.
“Many, if not all, of the current cohort of young people face the very real risk of finding no suitable alternative placement if and when Bradstow is closed with the likelihood of significant regression in their wellbeing and future prospects.”
Another letter from a staff member stated: “[I wish] to express my deep concern and distress over this announcement, and to highlight the enormous impact that it will have on the lives of the young people, their families, our staff team and the community Bradstow serves.”
Cllr Corner argued alternatives to shutting Bradstow had not been fully considered, including selling part of the site and working harder with other councils to keep it open. He added the school’s new principal was confident she could ‘come up with a financially sustainable plan for the school within the next term’.
However, Wandsworth Council says staff cuts that would be needed to address Bradstow’s financial challenges would reduce the quality of support for children.
A report by council officers said there was no other choice than to propose closure of the school at the end of the academic year, in the face of financial pressures – including a predicted school deficit of £1.7m by the end of the 2024/25 financial year.
Bradstow School has played an important role in supporting children with complex learning needs and autism since 1990, when it was inherited by Wandsworth following the abolition of the Inner London Education Authority (ILEA).
Ofsted inspections
Ofsted rated the school outstanding at an inspection in June last year, but it found the residential care required improvement that October. The school was temporarily banned from admitting new students into its accommodation as a result, after the inspection found ‘serious and widespread concerns’ in relation to the protection of children.
Inspectors said there was a lack of management oversight in key areas, including the use of physical interventions, staff felt overstretched and there were sometimes not enough staff to support children.
Another damning inspection of the school’s residential care in June this year saw its rating drop further to inadequate. Ofsted issued four compliance notices after raising serious concerns about the administration of medication, poor management oversight, how allegations were managed and healthcare plans for children being unclear.
Back up plans to move children out of the school were being made by Kent County Council.
KCC has listed a number of ongoing concerns, including that of a social care and police investigation into medication errors at the school.
Asset disposal
In February The Isle of Thanet News reported that an internal document drawn up by consultants and focusing on asset management at Wandsworth Council listed potential sale of several properties including Bradstow School.
The document was revealed by the South London Press after it was discovered by Councillor Peter Graham, from Wandsworth council’s Conservative opposition.
An asset management document published by the authority last year examined viability of retaining, improving or disposing of properties and listed Bradstow School as a “very high value site for alternate use.”
Housing incoming ! Huge site to stick hundreds of homes on.
That’s brilliant news that place is one of the most dangerous places my wife has worked at . I feel sorry for the service user but that place is not fit for purpose for staff or service user .
Darren Graham – I would be very careful what you state on public site, especially identifying your wife as an employee! You leave yourself wide open to litigation and suggest you think before quoting such as you have. She could have gone to authorities if she was that concerned?
I’ll confirm along with Darren that this is a very true statement….. VERY VERY TRUE
If no alternative solution is found by the end of the academic year. M, where do all these extremely vulnerable individuals go instead? It appears not if them are from Kent families and not Wandsworth as was thought.
Add this to the many with autism who have been in private schools and due to VAT increasing costs to pressured parents there could be even more need to this in the state system than before, not less.