St John's is a Church of England primary school where every child is welcomed, valued and loved.

The school's purpose is to serve the community of Sparkhill by providing each child with the education they need to flourish and each family the support they need to thrive.

We aim to teach children to look beyond themselves and to serve others with love.

"Use your God-given gifts to serve others" 1 Peter:10

At our school, every child is part of our school family. Each child is unique, and has unique needs. Our aim is to meet every child's needs by giving them what they need in order to thrive- not survive- in school.

SEND and Inclusion at St John’s C of E Primary School

At St John’s we are proud to have a positive ethos of inclusion for all our children that have additional or special educational needs. All staff, in liaison with parents, work hard to ensure the needs of all children with any additional need are supported and challenged.  

All teaching staff endeavour to ensure that all children make progress and achieve to the best of their ability regardless of their starting point, this includes progress socially, personally, morally and spiritually; regardless of their gender, ethnicity, religion, social background, sexual identity, physical ability or educational needs. We recognise that sometimes children may need extra support to achieve to their full potential. This may sometimes mean that they have access to members of the Inclusion team.  We also seek support support and advice from a range of outside agencies such as the Educational Psychology, Communication and Autism team, Occupational Therapy and Pupil and School Support.

For further information, you may find it useful to view the Birmingham Local Offer, our SEND Policy and our School Local Offer (links are found at the bottom of this page). 

If you are unable to find the answer to any of your questions or if you are worried about your child’s progress, please contact our SENCO,

Ms Lyne

enquiry@st-johns-pri.bham.sch.uk

0121 6751469

Attachment and Trauma Sensitive Schools Award (ATSSA)

A framework of support and understanding for schools and other educational establishments within which children and young people who have experienced adversity, can heal, thrive, play, and learn.

All Staff have completed the Attachment and Trauma training and we have won the Bronze award.  This is the feedback we have been given. There are a number of significant points that are worthy of special mention:

• Quality staff care and emotional support to protect mental health and well-being is multi-levelled and provided at a very high level, through SLT and varied therapeutic and peer support. Leaders are aware of the multiple risk factors to staff mental health and well-being, and are proactive in providing support to cope with the psychological and emotional demands of the job. All people interviewed mentioned the development of self-care by the leadership team and how they appreciated flexibility with deadlines and reduced timetables after sickness. Staff also discussed the importance of sharing resources and practice and how this is encouraged by SLT. Care for staff is a particular strength of the school.
• You have a range of strategies in place for supporting parents and carers in understanding child development and attachment relationships. Strategies are largely informal in nature, and particularly engage parents who may find it difficult to trust service providers, including educators. Staff demonstrated a depth of understanding and empathy about why some families may be described as ‘hard to reach’, recognising that their relationship to ‘help’ may not have always have been positive in the past. Staff interviewed mentioned St John’s holistic approach to support – that all hands were ‘on deck’ when building relationships with parents and carers. Staff also spoke about how they try to make meetings and conversations with parents and carers as informal as possible in order to strengthen trust and support. Sharing information with families about the Zones of Regulation practice, for example, shows an understanding of the importance of including parents and carers in the school’s development. Evidence about the support you offer to children and families was compelling and moving. You demonstrate deep empathy in relation to the daily struggles that families face. Connection with and care for families is a particular strength of the school.
• There is a strong focus on multi-sensory learning and play, and many and varied examples of this were shared. Staff spoke about enrichment activities such as visiting a  museum and the ‘going on a plane to Greece’ topic. This, combined with the emphasis on making learning fun and individual attention for each child, is an excellent recipe for helping children to become fully engaged with learning. The range of opportunities offered to pupils is impressive and thoughtful, linking practical activities to ideas and concepts, such as actually eating food when exploring food poems. These activities will be beneficial to the children in so many ways, for example building cognitive skills, such as cause and effect reasoning; sensory development; social and emotional development; and to decompress, reflect and relax. This is a particular strength of the school.
• The methods the school uses to Meet and Greet pupils are thoughtful and comprehensive. Staff shared a good example of how one pupil who has a daily meet and greet by a particular staff member. Nurture breakfast clubs and home pick-ups and drop offs were also discussed by staff. The temporary meet and greets set up for children who were dealing with challenges at home, such as a new baby, showed that staff are thoughtful and tender towards the emotions children feel at different times in their school lives. The environment you have created on arriving at St John’s Primary School is a particular strength.
• You have a strong range of strategies to ensure pupils, including the most vulnerable, are supported in communicating emotions feelings and worries. The use of Zones of Regulation shows a deep understanding of what is beneficial for the child – and that being what is paramount to practice. St John’s School’s PSHER Curriculum has been powerful in developing emotional communication.  The support of pupils in communicating their emotions is a particular strength of the school.