Dear Parents/Carers,

I am writing to you as many of you will have seen the horrific images in the National news yesterday or today about the historical abuse of pupils at a special school in Walthamstow, London. This was shocking to us all, and undoubtedly may have caused you concern.

I wanted to reassure you that the staff team at Oaklands treat all pupils with dignity and respect at all times. Everything we do is driven by our unique values which is underpinned by having a deep understanding of SEND, autism and the individual learners needs. Our positive behaviour policy means that no child would ever be left alone or isolated and our school does not have a 'calm room' like the one referred to in the press footage. In addition, we have robust recruitment processes to ensure that the staff who work at Oaklands have gone through rigorous safeguarding checks. Our policies can be found on the school website here: https://www.oaklands.leicester.sch.uk/policies/

All of the staff who work at Oaklands care deeply about each of our pupils and we have been equally distressed to see a school in the news with such upsetting safeguarding failures.

If you wish to talk about any of our policies, please do feel free to call the school to speak with a member of the Senior Leadership Team.

Regards
Sarah