Click Here for COVID-19 Information and Resources

COVID – 19 Update:

Dear students and families,

We are currently planning for September and hopefully a full re-opening of the school, as long as guidance allows us to do so. We have been considering the best way to support young people with this transition either in coming back to school and for those joining us for the first time. We fully recognise that the COVID 19 Pandemic may have had a profound effect on your family and your child so I wanted to share with you our plans.

Mental Health has been defined as ‘A positive sense of well-being which enables an individual to be able to function in society and meet the demands of everyday life; people in good mental health have the ability to recover effectively from illness, change or misfortune’ (Mental Health Foundation 2005). It is our duty as a school to support mental wealth as an anxious child is not a learning child. We aim to promote:

The capacity to enter into and sustain mutually satisfying personal relationships
A continuing progression of psychological development
An ability to play and to learn appropriately for their age and intellectual level
A developing sense of right and wrong
The capacity to cope with a degree of psychological distress
A clear sense of identity and self-worth

(Carpenter, Happe and Egerton 2019)

Despite being supported with home learning, those young people who have not been accessing school will have experienced the ‘five losses of routine, structure, friendship, opportunity and freedom’[1] described by Professor Barry carpenter in his think piece A Recovery Curriculum: Loss and Life for our children and schools post pandemic, through their time out of school and, as they now begin to return to school in greater numbers their well-being and attendance will need to be encouraged and supported though a graduated response. As attendance grows, the curriculum offer at St. George’s School will by necessity grow and change. Young people at whatever developmental level will be supported to:

revisit prior learning and experiences;
be challenged to remember and re-engage;
be challenged to apply what they know, understand and can do;
develop the levels of fluency and accuracy previously attained

across the social, emotional, personal and academic curricula of the school, and achieve the objectives and outcomes expected for them.

All of our learners will need a holistic recovery, some may need a focused recovery intervention programme, personalised to their needs; others may need a deeper and longer lasting recovery period, enabling a fuller exploration of the severity of their trauma and emergent attachment issues.

In moving through the recovery phase and beyond we will consider the following key points in our planning, development, and delivery of our ‘recovery’ curriculum:

We will prioritise the physical, mental, and emotional well-being of our young people, staff and families as we recognise that good health and well-being is fundamental to ensuring that young people can engage effectively in their learning
We will support re-connection with friends, the environment, expectations, and staff, factoring in play; physical activity; outdoor learning; enjoyment and relaxation, and building relationships and resilience
We have reviewed the school’s curriculum intent and re-aligned this where necessary during the ‘recovery’ phase
We will maximise opportunities for communication and dialogue with young people and their families about the curriculum and as changes take place
We will focus initially on learning across literacy, numeracy and health and wellbeing with increasing and sequenced content and learning experiences within both the National and wider curriculum. Students will be given wider access as and when it suits their learning needs
We will provide a variety of approaches for young people to demonstrate their learning, skills, knowledge and understanding across the curriculum
We will extend our ability to work with young people and families to evidence the learning that has taken place and to identify the next steps in learning in light of the above
We will ensure we use the principle of equity to provide additional and appropriate support where it is most needed to maximise learning and address the impact of other vulnerabilities
We will focus on sustaining, promoting, and developing the skills that will increase the capacity of young people to learn remotely where this remains necessary, making sure that remote learning equips them to make a successful return to school when the time comes

I hope you can see that an awful lot of preparation and risk assessing has taken place to ensure we can minimise risk to students and staff alike. We will continue to dedicate ourselves to safe working practice as students, families and staff are always at the forefront of all we do. We have developed a COVID 19 handbook which is in it’s early stages and will need updating every time guidance changes but I wanted to share it with you so you can see how we are working to keep everyone safe.

Click on the link below to take a look.

Covid19 handbook for families Download

Communication

We will continue to phone families every week
We will post information and updates on our website
We continue to use our text service to send information

Home Learning

Home learning is available in a variety of different ways depending on the needs of your child. Thank you to the teachers who are keeping in touch and guiding you.

Thank you all for your support at this difficult time. Also, thank you to those staff in school for putting themselves “on the line” every week, making sure children are happy and engaged and well looked after.

Best wishes,

Sue Holman

Welcome to
St George’s
Special School

In the community of St George’s School everyone is considered as an individual and is valued equally. Everyone is made to feel welcome and has a voice.

Our school is a safe place to achieve, have fun and to develop skills towards individual, informed paths as we leave school and move forward in life. We learn to make choices for now and the future and to become as independent and self-sufficient as possible taking our place in society as part of Modern Britain.

We do our personal best and celebrate our achievements however large or small. As a team we experience the world and work towards achieving our goals and dreams and being the best we can be.

Our Mission

High standards are achieved through high expectations, robust target setting and high attendance

Staff, students and stakeholders alike treat each other with tolerance, compassion and respect.

St. George’s practises a Total Communication approach valuing and listening to all

Calendar

August 2020
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27th July 2020	28th July 2020	29th July 2020	30th July 2020	31st July 2020	1st August 2020	2nd August 2020
3rd August 2020	4th August 2020	5th August 2020	6th August 2020	7th August 2020	8th August 2020	9th August 2020
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24th August 2020	25th August 2020	26th August 2020	27th August 2020	28th August 2020	29th August 2020	30th August 2020
31st August 2020	1st September 2020 Development Day Development Day 1st September 2020All day Read more	2nd September 2020 Development Day Development Day 2nd September 2020All day Read more	3rd September 2020	4th September 2020	5th September 2020	6th September 2020

Upcoming Events

OFSTED Reports

St George’s School Published Report Download

St-George’s School Final Inspection Report Cover Letter Download

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Contact

St Georges School
Watergate Road
Newport
Isle of Wight
P030 1XW

Telephone: (01983) 524634

Designated Safeguarding Leads:
Steff Gleeson Deputy Head
Sue Holman Headteacher
Dave Piggott Safeguarding Governor

E Mail: Bev Martinez. office@stgeorges.iow.sch.uk