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A new specialist education facility at St John the Baptist School, Woking, has been completed and will welcome its first students this month. "The Aquinas Centre" creates 30 new places for children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), ensuring children and young people can access the right support without needing to travel long distances.

The centre will initially welcome six Year 7 pupils this September before gradually expanding to provide 30 specialist places. By increasing local SEND provision, more children will be able to learn closer to home, maintain important relationships with family and friends, and remain connected to their local community.

Anna Dwyer, Deputy Head at St John the Baptist School, said:

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"The Aquinas Centre embodies everything we want education to be: inclusive, ambitious and rooted in the dignity of every young person. We recognised a growing need to provide enhanced support for students with the most complex SEND, ASD and SEMH needs, while ensuring they remain fully involved in the life of our school community, and the Aquinas Centre is designed to meet that need.

"This is not about creating a separate experience for our students, but a more inclusive one. Young people accessing the Aquinas Centre will remain full members of our school community, learning alongside their peers while benefiting from tailored support when needed. We are incredibly proud of what this will mean for current and future generations of students and their families."

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St John the Baptist School is a thriving Catholic community school, part of the Xavier Catholic Education Trust, where academic excellence meets outstanding pastoral care. The school plays a leading role in educational development, working with the Xavier Teaching School Hub, Teach South East SCITT, Schools Alliance for Excellence (SAfE), and leading the North East Hants and Surrey Maths Hub. It became the first school in the country to achieve "transforming" status under the SSATs Framework for Exceptional Education across all twelve strands of practice.

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Source: Surrey County Council