SENDCo (Special Educational Needs Coordinator):

Ms. K MacAlpine

If you would like to arrange an appointment with Ms. MacAlpine to discuss your child’s needs, please either speak to a member of the school office team, call the school on 0208 699 5127, or email admin@stgeorges.lewisham.sch.uk.

Be engaged. Be resilient. Be included.

Intent

At St George’s, we place great importance on Inclusion which allows every child to develop and flourish on an equal footing.  Through our learner qualities and Christian values, we foster an environment where the emotional, physical, academic, social, moral, spiritual and cultural needs of each child is considered.  Our intention for Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities (SEND) is to ensure that all children receive a high-quality and ambitious education, regardless of need or disability. We believe that it is vital that our pupils are equipped with the tools needed to become independent, inquisitive learners both in and out of the classroom.  

Through our high quality planning, teaching and provision we:  

• Pride ourselves on early identification and intervention for SEND to ensure that progress and opportunities are maximised.  

• Ensure that all children have access to a broad and balanced curriculum which is adapted to enable children to understand the relevance and purpose of learning.  

• Provide an accessible learning environment which is tailored to the individual needs of all pupils.  

• Develop children’s independence and life skills  

• Regularly monitor the progress of children with SEND, using a child-centred approach.  

• Provide good quality and relevant training for all staff members supporting children with SEND.  

• Work in partnership with parents and carers.  

• Work closely with external agencies and other professionals to hone and develop our provision for children with SEND.  

Our intent is to follow the statutory guidance outlined in the Special Educational Needs and Disability Code of Practice augmented with powerful knowledge carefully selected to build upon our pupils’ starting points of cultural capital.  

Inclusion means that every child at St George’s is treated as an equal and given equal opportunities to progress at their level and to access different levels of support within school.  Our approach will be evaluative, allowing swift changes where needed to.  Intervention should be given at the earliest possible point both in class and for outside referrals.  

Implementation

All areas of our curriculum are implemented using ten principles of effective instruction outlined in our Teaching Touchstones, which work in symbiosis with the Gradual Release Towards Independence model for teaching.  

At St. George’s, every teacher is a teacher of SEND. As such, inclusion is a thread that runs through every area of the school enhanced by collaboration between senior leaders, teachers, support staff, external agencies, parents and most importantly, the child.   

At St. George’s, pupils with SEND will:  

• Be included in all aspects of the school day.  

• Be provided with quality first teaching, differentiated to their needs.  

• Be respected and their contributions valued and acknowledged.  

At St. George’s, pupils with SEND may:  

• Have specific 1:1 or small group intervention to support their Phonics, Maths or Literacy learning.  

• Take part in social and emotional support interventions such as Lego Therapy, Inclusion Outreach and Nurture Groups.  

• Have additional support from our Parent Support Adviser. 

• Receive additional support with their speech and language development from a specialist teaching assistant.  

• Work alongside external agencies such as an Educational Psychologist, Speech and Language Therapist, Occupational Therapist or the Inclusion Outreach Team to develop specific targets/programmes tailored to the child’s individual needs. 

Impact

The impact of our curriculum is directly aligned to our whole school vision and culture statements. 

We say to our pupils:

Be Engaged: 

This means we want our pupils to: 

Be brave: 

• Be provided with quality first teaching, differentiated to their needs  

• Be open to new experiences and learning  

• Ask for help if they need it 

Be great: 

• Be stimulated to learn 

• Demonstrate high levels of engagement  

• Apply what they know with increasing confidence and independence 

Be you: 

• Demonstrate high levels of engagement 

• Be confident 

• Be positive 

Be Resilient: 

This means we want our pupils to: 

Be brave: 

• Give things a go 

• Try their best 

• Demonstrate a growth mind-set when faced with challenge 

• Take measured risks 

• Face their feelings about situations and contain their emotions 

Be great: 

• See set-backs as learning opportunities 

• Make good progress from their starting points 

• Achieve well and develop as individuals and as members of St George’s community 

Be you: 

• Feel secure 

• Be emotionally resilient 

• Be reflective 

• Maintain a positive outlook

Be Included

This means we want our pupils to: 

Be brave: 

• Recognise tasks they can do independently and those with which they may need help 

• Plan how they can reach their own aspirations and beyond 

Be great: 

• Have equal access to a broad and balanced education  

• Celebrate, reflect and measure their progress and success 

• Reach their full potential 

Be you: 

• Have a voice 

• Feel happy and safe 

• Flourish 

At St. George's we believe that having high expectations and providing high quality teaching for the whole class are the most powerful ways to ensure all pupils succeed. 

We believe that removing pupils from lessons strips them of their statutory right to a broad, balanced curriculum. 

However, we do offer some interventions and specialist provision for pupils whom it would particularly benefit. These include:

• Specific 1:1 or small group intervention to support:
• Phonics
• Maths
• Literacy Learning.
• Speech and language
• Social, emotional and mental health needs
• Lego therapy
• Nurture groups
• Social skills groups
• Sensory Circuits

The majority of our interventions are run in school. However, we also work alongside external agencies. If your child has outside agencies involved, they may receive 1:1 specialist intervention.  These are services such as:

• An Educational Psychologist
• An ASD outreach worker
• A speech and language therapist
• An occupational therapist
• Child and adolescent mental health services
• Sensory support services for hearing or visual impairment needs
• Behavioural support teams
• An Art Therapist

You will be asked to give your permission for the school to refer your child to a specialist professional, eg. a Speech and Language Therapist or Educational Psychologist.  This will help you and the school to understand your child’s particular needs better and to be able to support them more effectively in school.

 

We are very proud of everything we do to make St. George's an inclusive school and have signed up to go through the process of gaining accreditation through the Inclusion Quality Mark. 

We aim to have achieved the Quality Mark by September 2025. 

To find out more about the Inclusion Quality Mark, please visit the website, here.

 

 

There are a range of services available in Lewisham to support children with SEND and their families.

To explore our Local Offer, please click the link below:

Lewisham Local Offer