Criminal inquiry into special needs teaching firm

Ofsted is carrying out a criminal investigation into a business educating children who have struggled with mainstream schooling.

The watchdog visited Remedicare Education's sites, in Wokingham, after a former director of the company was jailed for smuggling drugs into prisons around the country.

Laura Horton admitted sending fake legal papers to jails, including Isle of Wight Prison, laced with the synthetic drug spice, before becoming one of the firm's founding directors in 2023.

The company says the watchdog had agreed that children were not at risk, but it's now accused of not registering as a school, which would have led to a greater level of scrutiny.

Laura Horton was one of the company's founding directors in June 2023, though she stood down a few months later.

Her home in Aldershot had already been searched by police the previous year, in relation to the drugs offences. Detectives later linked them to her time working at Broadmoor Secure Hospital in Crowthorne.

Broadmoor houses some of the most dangerous offenders in the country, who are judged to have committed their offences due to mental health issues.

Horton had resigned from that job after allegations of an inappropriate relationship with a patient.

Remedicare said it had carried out all the required checks with the authorities, before taking her on, which came back clear. It also stressed that the offences had been committed before she joined the business.

Company director, Jack Hardy said: "We followed safeguarding guidance at every stage, including restricting her duties, removing her from student-facing roles in May 2024 and ultimately ending her employment.

"We have since had external confirmation that our actions were appropriate at every stage of the process."

The parent of a boy who was educated by the company said at first he could not believe the woman who had been his point of contact with the business could be the same person who had been jailed for drug smuggling.

Pete Evans said Horton appeared to have a role equivalent to "a headteacher," when his son who is autistic, was being placed with Remedicare in October last year around the time she was formally charged.

"It was first disbelief," he said, when he first saw reports of her jailing.

"But the thing that concerned me most was when after contacting Ofsted they told me that there was an ongoing criminal investigation into its mere existence as a potentially unregistered school. That didn't sit well with me."

Remedicare Education insists it has done nothing wrong.

Reading Borough Council which is Mr Evans' local education authority, initially said it was his son's former school that was responsible for placing the youngster with the provider.

It subsequently accepted that was wrong. Lara Patel, executive director of children's services said she fully understood parents' concerns.

She added: "An internal review of how placements are commissioned has highlighted the need to further strengthen the process."