Including Children with Special Educational Needs

Our curriculum has been written with close regard to the St. Anne’s Special Educational Needs Policy: Promoting Inclusion and the SEND Code of Practice. We aim to raise attainment through the creation of inclusive cultures, practices and policies.

At St. Anne’s and Guardian Angels School we work hard to ensure that all children achieve well in school and our curriculum is designed to provide access and opportunity for all who attend the school. We are committed to: 

• Ensuring that all reach high levels of achievement 
• Being an inclusive school and providing curriculum access for all 
• Ensuring that the identification of all SEND provision happens at the earliest possible stage of a pupil’s school career 
• Meeting the individual needs of pupils by making all reasonable adjustments possible to the curriculum and classroom 
• Working towards inclusion in partnership with other agencies and schools 
• Achieving a level of staff expertise to meet pupil need 

In order to meet the learning needs of all pupils, teachers adapt and differentiate work. They strive to meet individual learning needs in their planning, lesson delivery and feedback. Where pupils are identified as having special educational needs, the school provides for these additional needs in a variety of ways where the provision is related specifically to their needs. The range of provision is dependent on resourcing and funding but may include: 

• In class support for small groups with an additional teacher or Teaching Assistant (TA) 
• Small group withdrawal with class teacher, TA or Learning Mentor (LM) 
• Individual class support / class withdrawal 
• Further differentiation of resources 
• Home learning support club 
• Targeted interventions 
• Provision of alternative learning materials / special equipment 
• Group support 
• Staff development / training to cultivate more effective teaching strategies 
• Support from specialist professionals or external agencies 

Specialist Provision: St Anthony’s Class

St Anthony’s Class is an inclusive classroom for autistic students. It is a specialist classroom which students can access for part of the day whilst also accessing mainstream lessons where it is in their best interests. Phoenix school is supporting us to build an inclusive space for a group of up to 10 children to work effectively following the Phoenix model. Staff working within St Anthony’s class will receive enhanced support from Phoenix outreach service, receive extra training and be able to access and use Phoenix assessment and planning resources where required. They will also attend resource evenings to meet other teachers and visit Phoenix and work with Phoenix staff.

The support received from Phoenix school is part of a 2-year pilot project which runs from September 2023 – July 2025. Phoenix and Tower Hamlets SEN section launched the pilot to meet growing autism numbers in mainstream schools in the borough. They recognise that a lack of special school places means more children are accessing mainstream for longer and want to ensure that children who attend mainstream schools have access to trained teachers and resources to support them.

It is important to state that St Anthony’s class is not a Phoenix ‘Satellite Class’ (in satellites, staff are employed by Phoenix and the children are on roll at Phoenix school). St Anthony’s Class is for children who are on roll at our school and the staff working in St Anthony’s class are employees of St Anne’s and Guardian Angels School. St Anne’s and Guardian Angels school is responsible for safeguarding, policies and the daily running of the class. Phoenix works in an advisory capacity only.

Pupils’ attendance in St Anthony’s Class will not receive preferential treatment for placements at Phoenix. Consultations for places will still be through the Local Authority.

All aspects of our SEND Offer and our SEND Policy apply to those children in St Anthony’s class.

We hope the pilot leads to better outcomes for autistic learners who attend mainstream schools. Our vision is that those learners in St Anthony’s Class will develop the skills, confidence and ability to:

• communicate their wants and needs to others
• spend increasing amounts of time with their peers in their mainstream class, with full re-integration where possible and appropriate
• successfully progress on to the next stage of their schooling and for families to be well supported in this transition

Tower Hamlets Local Offer: Special Educational Needs and Disability

The Tower Hamlets Local Offer website (link below) includes information about Education Health and Care Plans (EHCP's) and specialist services for children and young people. It also includes details of how an Education, Health and Care Needs assessment can be requested. The website also allows you to search for SEND Service Providers including schools and social care services. You can use the filter to search for services according to what SEND conditions they cater for.