‘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!
