Kevin and Annette Maxwell say they had little choice but to send their son Jonah to a residential home. Photograph: Adrian Sherratt/The Guardian View image in fullscreen Kevin and Annette Maxwell say they had little choice but to send their son Jonah to a residential home. Photograph: Adrian Sherratt/The Guardian Special educational needs ‘Alarm bells were going off’: parents tell of ordeal at Send school closed down after abuse allegations Annette and Kevin Maxwell say children with special needs have become moneymaking tool for private companies
Jessica Murray Social affairs correspondent Tue 1 Sep 2026 08.00 CEST Last modified on Tue 1 Sep 2026 08.01 CEST Share Prefer the Guardian on Google A nnette and Kevin Maxwell were nervous about sending their son Jonah to a residential home for children with special educational needs and disabilities (Send). Jonah has severe autism – he is non-verbal, has epilepsy and behavioural problems and needs round-the-clock care.
“It was a huge decision, but we almost had no choice because with Jonah at home, you can’t work and we had two other children to think about. He’s beautiful, but he is very, very complicated,” said Annette. “Outsourcing parenting is just foreign to us and it’s horrible, but we didn’t have another option.”
When he first arrived at St Christopher’s in Bristol , Jonah was thriving, receiving different therapies and doing activities such as horse riding. Then, in 2016, the charity that ran the home collapsed and the centre was acquired by the Aurora Group, which runs more than 30 Send schools and is owned by Octopus, an investment management and real estate company.
The Maxwells, who live in Bath, noticed a change almost immediately. They said the food quality went downhill, an overnight nursing position was cut and they began to have concerns about Jonah’s wellbeing. Whenever he came home to visit he seemed very tired.
“Alarm bells were going off. But every time we spoke to management and staff, they would always reassure us that everything was OK,” said Annette.
View image in fullscreen Jonah Maxwell allegedly suffered physical abuse from staff at St Christopher’s in Bristol. Photograph: Adrian Sherratt/The Guardian At this point, the Aurora Group was being paid £292,000 a year by their local authority to care for Jonah. The company was expanding rapidly by acquiring several established providers to become one of the UK’s largest specialist education and care operators.
Then, in 2019, it was announced that St Christopher’s was being closed down by Ofsted after serious allegations of child cruelty came to light . Vulnerable children had to move out at short notice, their belongings hastily packed into black bin bags. They were sent across the country to new placements.
The police began an investigation into alleged child cruelty and safeguarding concerns and this concluded after two years without any criminal charges being brought.
The Maxwells were told by police there had been allegations involving Jonah. In one incident, he was said to have been roughly grabbed and shoved into his room by a staff member. They also found out a carer had allegedly been waking him up every two hours through the night to go to the toilet to avoid having to clean soiled sheets, which police said could be classified as child cruelty.
“I just wish I’d been more pushy at the time and tried harder to get to the bottom of things. I really, really regret that I didn’t do more,” said Annette.
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