Update on the Carenne "pig pen"

On October 27, 2009 it was posted to Sydney Indymedia that Peter Harvey had ordered a cover-up of child protection matters at Carenne Special School. As part of this, Mr Harvey told staff to stop using the "pig pen", an area where autistic students were kept when they were distressed.

It has been reported that this area was established in 2007 at the end of the demountable classrooms and used primarily by Ros Luther and Di Klavins. Use of the area was supported by two principals - Terry Mahony and Lyn Duncan with the support of the school executive. The area was moved when the demountable classrooms were moved at the end of 2008. jrosenberg, a poster on this blog claimed that the staff of Mrs Luther's class would not supervise the children while they were in the yard but instead had a mirror on the outside wall of the classroom that they would use to watch them. Staff say that the way the ramps to that classroom are set up that a student could be severely injured in the time it would take staff to reach them.

As can be seen in the photograph top-left taken in April 2009, the area has no shade or other protection from the elements and students have to endure the heat and cold when locked in this yard which could be for hours at a time.


Following Peter Harvey's order, Doug Rowe stored some steel in the area to look as though it hadn't been used and was just used for storage. He also let the grass grow long (up to knee height at one point) and staff were concerned that snakes may be in there. The grass is still kept higher than the rest of the playground for appearance sake.

Staff then began using the Liberty Swing yard (shown under the blue cover to the left) to lock distressed autistic students in. There isn't even a mirror to supervise students in this area as there is no window nearby.