At St. John's we have a set of values that underpin everything we do. One of our key values is Inclusivity; we welcome everyone to our school and value all equally, whatever their needs may be. To support this value, we have an Inclusion Team whose role is to ensure that all members of our school community have their individual needs met in order that we are able to nurture the potential in everyone. The Inclusion Team is made up of a range of school staff who meet regularly to review the progress of vulnerable individuals and groups. We work very hard to try to do this however, as a mainstream primary school, we recognise that for some children with very complex needs, these will be better met at a specialist school.

Inclusion Quality Mark

St. John's CEP School is proud to hold Inclusion Quality Mark (IQM) Centre of Excellence Status, recognising our commitment to ensuring that every child is valued, supported and able to thrive. Following our latest annual review in June 2026, we successfully retained our Centre of Excellence status, with the assessor recognising the school's "deeply embedded culture of inclusion" and the significant impact this has on pupils, families and staff. 

The review highlighted the strong relationships that exist throughout our school community, the highly effective support provided through our Redwood intervention, our commitment to inclusive teaching and learning and the way children's rights and pupil voice are embedded across school life. The assessor noted that inclusion is a "golden thread across all school systems" and that St. John's continues to demonstrate the qualities expected of a Centre of Excellence.

Pupils described St. John's as a place where they feel "free to be yourself", while parents spoke positively about the care, support and opportunities provided for their children. Staff were recognised for their shared ambition, teamwork and commitment to removing barriers to learning for all pupils.

In the assessor's final summary, St. John's was described as:

"A deeply embedded culture of inclusion that is understood, valued, and enacted by all members of the community."

As part of the IQM Centre of Excellence network, we continue to collaborate with schools locally and nationally, sharing effective practice and learning from others to further strengthen our provision. We remain committed to continually developing our inclusive practice so that there are no limits to what our pupils can achieve.

Our latest IQM Centre of Excellence Review Report can be accessed below.

Redwood and Cedar

We aim to provide support for pupils within their main classroom wherever possible, however we acknowledge that, for some children with significant additional needs, a more personalised and differentiated approach may be required at certain times during their education to provide the best opportunities for learning. To meet this need we have additional interventions as outlined below.

Redwood – this is a small, specialist intervention supported by 3 adults. The additional needs of the children in this group are varied but focus mainly on the areas of communication and interaction, cognition and learning and speech and language. Children follow the Early Years Foundation Stage Statutory Framework or the National Curriculum, both of which are highly personalised and differentiated in order to address their needs. It is our aim that children accessing the Redwood provision for their specialist interventions also maintain daily contact with their home class where they participate in certain aspects of the curriculum based on their individual needs and abilities. 

Cedar – this is a short-term Nurture Group intervention that pupils join having been assessed as suitable using the Boxall Profile. The needs of the pupils in this group fall broadly within the social, emotional and mental health category. Pupils are identified as requiring this brief intervention by their class teachers for a variety of reasons. The group is run by 2 members of staff who have undertaken training provided by the Nurture Group Network. This small group of pupils receives intensive support for up to 4 terms, retaining regular contact with their home class as appropriate, with the aim of full reintegration back into their home class from the 4^th term onwards at the very latest. 

Places in these interventions are extremely limited and are prioritised for pupils with the greatest needs as assessed by school staff in close consultation with parents. Access to these interventions follows an assessment of the child's needs within their home class after a period of in-class intervention as laid out in the Mainstream Core Standards document. For more information and contact details, please follow the link to the Inclusion Team Brochure.

Please click here to read the Accessibility Plan

Click for KENT SEND Strategy