Select Page
St George’s Hospital School

‘We are so grateful and thankful for the brilliant staff at the St.George’s Hospital School. We have spent quite a lot of time there over the past 18 months, they have made learning such fun – memorable science experiments and story writing, the best time making posters and adverts and treats for the school cafe. The staff are cheerful, calm, gentle and above all fun. Thank you to the great team.’

Serving an area of 1.3 million people, St George’s is the largest health provider in South West London. It is a modern hospital with a rich history beginning in 1733. St George’s Hospital today serves an. It is renowned for excellence in Cardiology and several other areas, training medical students and for advanced medical research. It has a Helipad for the speedy treatment of trauma patients; and the A&E department is regularly used for the Channel 4 programme ’24 hours in A&E’.

The classroom is based on the fifth floor, Lanesborough Wing, and the education team work with school age children and young people admitted to the paediatric wards. These include: Frederick Hewitt (medical, 17 beds), Pinckney (oncology and infectious diseases, 15 beds), Nicholls (surgical, 19 beds), as well as the Paediatric Step Down Unit (PSDU, 5 beds) and Paediatric Intensive Care (12 beds).

The St.George’s Hospital School seeks to minimise the interruption and disruption to children and young people’s education so that academic progress and an interest in learning will continue, as far as medical circumstances permit. Our aim is to provide personalised, challenging, enjoyable and innovative learning opportunities. Our teachers are highly experienced in working with children and young people with a range of complex medical conditions.

The Classroom

The Classroom is open from 10am to 12noon and 1:30pm to 3:30pm, and we welcome all inpatient in education from Reception onwards.

The classroom has a friendly and welcoming atmosphere, where children’s wellbeing is prioritised. It is well equipped with a wide range of educational resources including books, iPads, computers with internet access, revision guides, games and puzzles. Alongside the direct teaching, we use the online resources such as Discovery Education and My Maths to support the students’ learning. We also support children who have their own work from school. Children are welcome in beds, wheelchairs and with drips as required.

If children are in hospital for more than 8 teaching sessions or 4 full days, we will contact their school and ask them to send work so that children can do the same work as their school friends and not fall behind.

 

Rainbow Time

We also offer ‘Rainbow Time’ which will be a 1:1 session in the classroom without other students being present, for those students who are unable to mix with other students due to their medical diagnosis (or, in some cases, need the quietness of a 1:1 session for other reasons). This allows each student the continuity of their education.

 

The Ward

When children aren’t well enough to join the classroom, teachers will deliver fun, practical lessons at the beside.

 

Curriculum

We have a wide curriculum, working within the framework of the National Curriculum. In addition to delivering extended core subjects of English, Maths and Science our weekly timetable offers subjects such as History, Music, Art, Geography, Current Affairs and a Café session. We celebrate many social, spiritual, moral and cultural awareness days in our curriculum. Lessons include a Rights-Respecting focus, and our prioritising of children’s wellbeing often means lessons feature aspects of mindfulness, resilience, philosophy and even yoga! Our pedagogical approach incorporates as many opportunities as possible for active learning such as building our own electrical circuits, making a kaleidoscope, creating musical compositions and simultaneous animations, running potato Olympics and organising our St George’s café. Just a snapshot of bringing learning to life at St George’s Hospital!

‘Every day my son looks forward to going to school – to get away from his room, and all the poking and prodding from doctors is such a relief. He is treated like a school boy, rather than a patient, and I think this has as much healing properties as medicine! Due to his illness, my son has missed about a month of schooling, but hopefully will have caught up because of the hospital school.’

(Parent, 2018)

‘Wow, where to begin. I wanted to write to you to demonstrate how much of a positive impact you have had on me……you have restored my faith in teachers everywhere...the CAMHS Campus School was definitely the highlight of Springfield for me as is the case for so many others. Rest assured if I ever get involved in the murky world of politics your funding will be quadrupled, ring-fenced and seared forever.’
‘We are so grateful and thankful for the brilliant staff at the St. George’s Hospital School. We have spent quite a lot of time there over the past 18 months, they have made learning such fun – memorable science experiments and story writing, the best time making posters and adverts and treats for the school cafe. The staff are cheerful, calm, gentle and above all fun. Thank you to the great team.’
‘We were so grateful to the teaching team. They have been absolutely fantastic. My daughter had surgery on Monday and was quiet and withdrawn. This has been instrumental in her recovery and also kept her mind on education whilst she’s been sick.’
‘Everyday my son looks forward to going to school – to get away from his room, and all the poking and prodding from doctors is such a relief. He is treated like a school boy, rather than a patient, and I think this has as much healing properties as medicine! Due to his illness, my son has missed about a month of schooling, but hopefully will have caught up because of the hospital school.’
‘We are so grateful and happy for the care and support – teachers are so helpful and very kind, we love you all for your hard work, keep it up. Thanks so much.’
‘Thank you for the range of learning opportunities you provided my son in hospital for the week for the week he was on the neuro ward. He found the activities very engaging and accessible. He thoroughly enjoys maths and looked forward to the activities you provided for this – he is especially looking forward to the spreadsheet analysis this afternoon. he enjoys music and was surprised to have the opportunity to learn about and play different instruments. Thanks again for all your help.’
​
‘We are so grateful that there is a school/classroom to attend. Josie really needs something to focus on when he’s in hospital, he looks forward to getting out of his room and working/studying English, Maths and other interesting topics he can learn about. It has really made a difference to his mood during the hospital stays, having been admitted so many times throughout the past 7 months. Furthermore, it helps him keep on top of his schooling.’
‘Thank you for helping me for the past 10 months. You have helped me to keep as motivated and hopeful for my future as I could have been. I cant wit to start college and maybe become a paramedic. I’ll always remember this school and everyone in it’
‘The service aims to enable pupils with long-term illnesses, mental health issues or who are pregnant to remain in education…... You and your staff ensure that these aims are fully met. Most pupils have missed long periods of learning due to illness. They make remarkable progress during their short time in the school.
Pupils told us that, without the school, they would not be able to engage fully in learning or sit any examinations. Parents value the high-quality teaching provided alongside the excellent care and support given to each individual pupil.’

Ofsted, 2018

Education at HHTS

Student Wellbeing

Staff Wellbeing

Making a Referral

Keeping Yourself Safe