Wings School, operated by Kedleston (Wings Education) Limited, in Cumbria, was closed by its owner following consultations with Ofsted, which inspects and regulates services that care for children and young people.
The regulator carried out an inspection in May, finding the school “inadequate”, and then carried out a follow-up monitoring visit last month when it noted further concerns.
According to Companies House records in the UK, Paul Brosnan is the chief executive of Kedleston Group and is listed as a director of Kedleston (Wings Education) Limited alongside Tony Hurran. They founded Kedleston Group in 2006, an operator of schools and homes across England for autistic children and those with social, emotional and mental health needs.
Paul’s father, Denis Brosnan, was previously a director of Kedleston (Wings Education) Limited but resigned in late 2020. He is a director of Kedleston Group.
It is not known what knowledge Paul or Denis Brosnan had, if any, of the conditions at Wings School. The Irish Independent made efforts to contact Denis Brosnan but did not receive a response.
In May, Ofsted found that children at Wings School had suffered harm due to “serious and widespread safeguarding failures” and that the leadership and management arrangements at the school “were ineffective”, according to a report by the regulator.
The June visit was to monitor what efforts Wings School had made since the May inspection. Ofsted found it was unable to demonstrate “sufficient action” to meet the steps in the compliance notices. Its report said further safeguarding concerns had been identified.
“Some children say that staff use physical restraint as a form of discipline and compliance,” the report said. “They say excessive force is used and that they have sustained physical injuries. These are now being investigated by the appropriate safeguarding professionals.”
After the inspections, a consultation followed between Kedleston and the regulator. Kedleston decided to deregister the school earlier this month.
In response to questions, Kedleston Group said it takes the wellbeing of children and young people “very seriously”.
“The Wings School in Cumbria has recently experienced operational challenges which were being addressed in close liaison with our regulator. After careful consideration, the difficult decision was taken by us to deregister the school and on-site children’s home.
“In conjunction with local authorities, the children have moved from the home and are now residing elsewhere. Their wellbeing remains our absolute priority.
“Our organisation has a strong track record of providing the highest standards of children’s services and takes its responsibility of supporting children very seriously.”
A spokesperson for the UK’s department of education said: “Working closely with Ofsted and the local authorities, we acted quickly to remove all pupils from the school and make sure an alternative placement was provided for all children.”
Ofsted declined to comment.
