INTERVENTIONS 

Inclusion and Special Educational Needs and Disabilities

St Stephen’s CofE Primary is an inclusive school where we welcome children and families from all backgrounds, cultures and with a variety of needs. All our children are made to feel welcome and are valued as members of the St Stephen’s family.  We have a dedicated inclusion team and a non classed based inclusion teaching assistant, who together are skilled at identifying and addressing both the learning needs and the social and emotional needs of our children.

Our curriculum is carefully designed to support all pupils, irrespective of their needs, to thrive and succeed. Our teachers plan work that to ensures that each child makes progress from their starting points.  We do this through adaptive teaching techniques with a focus on:

• 1) Modelling (I do, we do, you do)
• 2) Dual Coding (using visuals to support spoken and written information, which research shows is the best way to move information from the short term to the long term memory)
• 3) Scaffolded Supports such as breaking information into chunks, using mind maps, sentence starters and guided support from adults.

Children with specific needs are given an Individual Education Plan (IEP) which we review termly to measure measure impact and progress.  Children have access to a range of interventions to support their learning needs as well as their social and emotional needs. For example:

We work closely with outside services to support us to provide specialist provision where a need has been identified. This includes Education Psychologists, Speech and Language Therapists, Specific Literacy teachers (dyslexia expertise), Occupation Therapists, Lambeth Autism Advisory Service and Community Paediatricians.

Through our holistic approach to the child, we strive to motivate and support all pupils, including those with SEND, to achieve their dreams and aspirations.

Mental Health and Wellbeing

We are dedicated to supporting and ensuring that our children at St Stephen’s are happy, motivated and develop a healthy resilience in order thrive and enjoy their childhood.

Our Inclusion Team meets regularly to discuss and plan for the mental health and well being of the pupils. Being a small and friendly school means that we get to know each and every child individually and can ensure that the right support is put in place to help them succeed when they are faced with difficulties or anxieties.

We have the following experts available to support our children and families:

• We have 2 full time members of staffed trained in Mental Health needs of children
• A full time Health Mentor from Evolve who runs mentoring sessions to improve emotional wellbeing and personal development as well as addressing other important factors of mental health such as physical activity, diet and sleep.
• A Confidence and Communication Coach who comes to school on a weekly basis and works with children to help them manage their emotions and anxieties as well as teaching them to reframe their thoughts into more positive ones.
• Counselling: We have a school councillor who works weekly with children and parents to support specific mental health and well being needs.

Our curriculum is designed to support children's well-being, development of relationships and good mental health through a range of lessons and positive experiences which incorporate Growth Mindset teaching, our PSHE curriculum, RE,  PE & Sports, PSHE based assemblies and Educational Visits. 

Our inclusion teaching assistant also runs social and emotional interventions such as ‘Let’s talk about developing friendships’, ‘Socially Speaking’, ‘Time to Talk’ and ‘Lego Therapy’.  There is also a weekly Friendship Club run at lunch time by the Inclusion Lead where children get to enjoy a number of fun activities such as games, arts and crafts and cooking in a caring and inclusive environment.