Assistant Head of school; Catholic life and spirituality of the school

St. John’s Mission Statement.

‘Learning for Life’

We provide an education based on sound educational principles within a caring Christian environment, respecting the uniqueness of each individual, encouraging personal growth and respect for all.

 St. John’s School was founded by the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus & Mary in 1897 as a boarding school for delicate children.  In its long history of ‘Special’ education the school has helped boys with ophthalmic difficulties, cardiac illness, respiratory diseases and learning difficulties – meeting each of these needs as they emerged up to 1970, when the school was closed for refurbishment.  It reopened in January 1972 as a day school for boys and girls with moderate / severe learning difficulties with additional language disorders.

The specifically caring and supportive environment helps to cater for children who may have social and emotional needs.  The school, which has charitable status, is approved as a Special School by the D.f.E. (1993 Education Act, Section 188) for 100 pupils ranging in age from 5 to 19 years.

Places are available to children from L.E.A.s across London and at present 12 L.E.A.s use the school.  St. John’s is a Roman Catholic School, but non-catholic children are also considered where it is thought that their educational needs can best be met within the environment it has to offer.  The ethos is of a caring Christian community.

St. John’s is situated in spacious grounds on the fringes of Epping Forest.  It is easily accessible from the M11, M.25, A406 and London Underground.

St. John’s provides an education for children who meet the following criteria:

• They have learning difficulties from within the moderate – severe continuum.
• They are Roman Catholic and / or whose parents / guardians would like their child educated in a setting where the education is under-pinned by Christian values.
• They are ambulant (able to move up and down stairs independently)
• In addition they may have:
• Language and communication difficulties requiring speech therapy and a structured language programme,
• Social and / or emotional difficulties that would benefit from a caring,
• Structured and nurturing atmosphere (but not with behaviour of such severity and intensity that they present a serious risk to the physical well-being of themselves, other children and staff).

St. John’s prides itself on being an inclusive school that has traditionally used a very flexible approach to match the provision it offers to the needs of the individual child. The pupil population at St. John’s School is very diverse and the school is working with increasing numbers of young people with complex needs.

Within the population of St. John’s there are pupils with ASD, Fragile X syndrome, Downs syndrome, Epilepsy, William’s syndrome, ADHD, Asperger’s syndrome, sensory issues and medical conditions.

GENERAL AIMS

In St. John’s School our general aims are:-

1.     To help the children to grow to maturity with an awareness of their personal relationship to God and to other people.

2.     To encourage them to achieve the physical, intellectual, cultural and emotional independence appropriate to their age.

3.     To prepare them for the opportunities, responsibilities and  experiences of adult life.

4.     To enable them to enjoy their childhood in an environment where the ethos is of a caring Catholic community.

Every Child Matters

The Government in its Every Child Matters: Change for children framework states that services should be built around the needs of children and young people to maximise opportunity and minimise risk. To that end:

1.     Classes are small and led by a teacher who is supported by a learning support team

2.     The curriculum is focused around developing each individual’s key skills

3.     Pupils are encouraged to develop their own interest as well as a range of vocational skills

4.     Pupils are provided with opportunities to develop their own independence and life skills.

5.     All pupils in Key Stage 4 and the Sixth Form are entered for externally accredited schemes through AQA and ASDAN approaches. A small number of pupils may enter for GCSE through a link course with Trinity Catholic High School.

St. John’s benefits from a large green site consisting of five buildings, few corridors, large playgrounds and a sports field.  These help to provide a calm environment.  Housed within the buildings are ten tutor bases, an Art studio, Speech and Language suite, Design & Technology workshop, Food Technology area, gymnasium / sports hall and Music, Science / French and RE rooms.  The school is also fortunate in having a large assembly/dining hall, small library, sensory room, soft plan area and a number of spaces that can be used as quiet rooms or settings for individual-small group study.

The Sixth Form is housed in its own designated purpose built complex erected in 1998 and official opened by Bishop Thomas McMahon in 2000.  The Sixth Form centre is designed around an atrium and provides a light and airy building within which students and staff can carry out their day to day activities in comfortable surroundings.  The centre has many specific facilities aimed at offering the students age and developmentally appropriate experiences.

St. John’s employs a large, well-trained, multi-disciplinary staff, consisting of:

• Twenty teachers
• Thirty classroom assistants
• Two Speech Therapists and a Speech Therapy Assistant
• Two learning mentors
• Five administration staff
• Three site staff
• Six catering staff
• Two cleaners

All classroom staff are trained in total communication approaches and effective de-escalation, physical interventions and behaviour management approaches.  This training is delivered internally by staff tutors largely under the auspices of the Elklan, Makaton and Team Teach approaches.

St. John’s organises its secondary and Sixth Form programme so that pupils are taught for approximately half of their time by their form tutors.  This provides the pupils with a strong significant relationship to that enjoyed by the traditional primary school teacher who, through this relationship, often becomes the key to unlocking the individual’s potential.

There are ten form classes:

• Two primary
• Five secondary
• Three Sixth Form

There are approximately 10-12 pupils in each class base.  The classes are organised by Key Stages and are mixed ability in nature.  Fifty per cent of the secondary and Sixth Form programme is delivered to half class groups of approximately six in number, organised by the children’ s preferred teaching and learning styles.

Each class is supported by up to three classroom assistants, although this can vary depending on the exact make up of a class and pupils individual needs.

Alternative learning

Where it is deemed appropriate selected pupils from St. John’s take part in alternative learning sessions at a local outdoor pursuits centre. These sessions are well established and have been in existence for four years.  The sessions are very much aimed at young people who are not yet showing consistent conceptualisation of qualities such as turn taking, empathy, fellowship and caring for others.

Through real experiences pupils taking part in engineered large outdoor activities and husbandry tasks with farm animals, are encouraged to develop appropriate and desirable social interactive skills.  At the same time many of the young people gain a sense of awe and wonder of God’s creation that previously they had been unaware of.

The school holds two major social occasions a year. The Christmas Concert held in December is the result of over a months focused rehearsal and practice and the school’s Fete and Fun Day in July epitomises the close bonds that exist between all the members of the schools community both past and present.

Parents’ views and opinions are welcomed as it is acknowledged that they have a unique perspective of their young person and have known them longer and in more closely than is possible for staff to achieve on a day to day basis.

To this end good ‘Home- School’ communication systems are employed.  Much use is made of home school books and the telephone. The school recommends  that parents clarify any issue or concern they have sooner rather than later and staff do their very best to respond to telephone calls as quickly as they possibly can.

Parents have three formal opportunities to meet with the staff for a termly Parents’ evening and, in addition, at least one review of statement meeting a year.

Our most recent OFSTED Inspection took place in June 2009.

“St John's provides a satisfactory quality of education overall, although it is good for primary pupils and students over 16. The latter two groups make the best progress, because teaching is most consistently good in their classes...”

“The school is a cohesive community in which those from all races and backgrounds get on well together...”

Families and pupils praise the school's work highly. Families say; 'St John's is always there for the families as well as the children if they have a problem,' and 'I had a lovely little monster and now I have a lovely little son'. St. John’s has made good progress against the recommendations of the report.  This has included the adoption of a new assessment package Green Box and Annual Review procedures, which helps to place the young person and their family closer to the centre of the process.

St. John’s bears strong witness to its Catholic identity.  The school tries to actively enable all members of its community to realize its vision statement;

‘To Live life to the full’             John 10:10

St. John’s has good links with the local Catholic community and is involved at a variety of levels with primary and secondary schools in the diocese of Brentwood

On a local parish schools level, individual pupils attend GCSE courses at Trinity Catholic High school.  Others take part in Gospel drama groups, Art lessons and where appropriate KS.3 pre-GCSE sessions.  Over the last three years St. John’s students have achieved GCSEs in Art, ICT and Maths with one student achieving an AS Art pass.

Every year a drama programme takes place  whereby the pupils of  St. Antony’s Primary school come to St. John’s to take part in a half term block of sessions with our pupils.  The two schools also come together during Lent for a series of observances at St. Thomas of Canterbury Parish Church during which their musical achievements are shared with the congregation.

St. John’s plays a supportive role to the Catholic Fellowship (CHF) and its pastoral work and support to people of all ages with disabilities in the local area.

The school also has strong links with the HCPT.  Many children go on pilgrimage to Lourdes every year with a number of local groups.  HCPT Group 26 is organized and coordinated by one of the school’s staff and the school actively fundraises to support its work.

An Inspection was carried out in December 2007 under Section 48 of the Education Act 2005

St. John’s is an outstanding Special School which displays many strengths. It is firmly committed to developing its Catholic identity under the inspirational and outstanding leadership of its Headteacher, committed Governors, highly motivated Staff, the sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary and pupils