Trio plead guilty to running illegal school after Ofsted investigation

Three people have pleaded guilty to running an unregistered school where Ofsted claims councils paid hundreds of thousands of pounds to send children to be educated.

Patricia Hodgkinson, Dr Albert Okoye and Clement Earle have been convicted for running Freiston Hall in Boston, Lincolnshire, in what is believed to be the third prosecution of its kind.

It was an unregistered school for children with highly complex physical and mental health needs.

Ofsted has said six councils were misled into paying hundreds of thousands of pounds for children to be taught at Freiston Hall and were charged £1,200 a week for each child’s education.

Despite the children’s home being registered, some of the youngsters living at the site were educated at Freiston Hall.

Inspectors found unsupervised children wandering around the premises and staff who were struggling to keep reasonable order and calm, with pupils becoming agitated and upset.

The school had also failed to carry out necessary staff suitability checks and give first aid training to staff.

The trio were given a conditional discharge and ordered to pay £1,000 costs and £20 victim surcharge after pleading guilty at Lincoln Magistrates’ Court last week.

After suspicions were raised, the government referred the school to Ofsted’s unregistered schools taskforce in 2017 and, despite a warning issued by inspectors, the school continued to operate illegally.

Amanda Spielman, chief inspector of Ofsted, said: “The people running Freiston Hall were receiving large amounts of public money from local authorities, who were paying for exceptionally vulnerable children to be educated in an unregistered, unsafe school.

“Registration is so important. Schools operating beneath the radar aren’t subject to regular inspection, so we cannot be assured that they are safe or providing good quality education.

“We want to send a clear message to those who continue to run unregistered schools, despite being warned not to. You will face justice.”

She added: “This case should also serve as a warning to local authorities. Decisions about placements must be made with due diligence.

“All local authorities should be carrying out the necessary checks to make certain that schools are registered with the Department for Education.”

The case comes after two people were found guilty of running an unregistered, independent school in the first case of its kind in October last year.

Earlier this year, Ofsted officials warned some of the most vulnerable children are being left to play computer games all day in suspected illegal schools which “rob” them of their life chances.

Inspectors have found open sewers, rat traps and exposed electrical wires, the watchdog said in a report which estimated thousands of children are taught in suspected illegal schools

The watchdog has repeatedly called on the government to provide more powers to seize evidence and question witnesses in such schools.