TRUSTEES at a Hampshire special needs school have been found to have managed the school charity properly in the wake of claims of sexual abuse.

Following a pupil’s allegation, Stanbridge Earls School near Romsey was repeatedly inspected and was heavily criticised for excluding the pupil who made the rape claim.

As reported, the troubled school closed last year after failing to get enough children to sign up for classes for the new school year.

But now the Charity Commission, which oversee charitable trusts, has concluded that the trustees “made reasonable decisions” in managing the school charity while it came under intense scrutiny.

The commission carried out its own probe into how the trustees handled the overall administration, governance and management of the charity.

This included how they responded to issues raised by Ofsted and the Department for Education (DfE).

As previously reported, in January 2013, a Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal found last year that the £39,000-a-year school had discriminated against a girl and that staff members failed to tell the youngster’s parents that she had complained of pain in an intimate part of her body.

A spot check Ofsted inspection followed in February 2013 also uncovered serious care failings.

An action plan was drawn up but rejected by the DfE.

However, the Charity Commission report concludes: “That the decisions taken by the trustee body, with specific regard to the tribunal action and subsequent engagement with the DfE and Ofsted were all within the range of reasonable decisions open to them at the relevant time.”