Episode 3: A Recovery Curriculum #3 - Vijita Patel (Swiss Cottage School, Development & Research Centre)

In this episode, Vijita Patel considers the strategic implementation of the Recovery Curriculum for her school, Swiss Cottage School, Development & Research Centre in London. She does this from a stance of compassionate leadership, with a clear focus on engagement in learning. Her rich, expansive and penetrating analysis shows how child need should inform organisational judgements, and that a constant focus should be the emotional well being of the child. A mutually respectful relationship with families as co educators, is vital at this time she says.  About Vijita & Swiss Cottage School, Development & Research Centre Vijita Patel is the Principal of Swiss Cottage School, Development & Research Centre, a special needs school for children aged 2 to 19 in London. The school is a designated National Teaching School, leading a large alliance of schools, organisations, and higher education partners to drive systemic improvements in the school system for pupils with special educational needs (SEN) and disabilities. As a National Leader of Education, Vijita supports Headteachers, Senior and Middle Leaders, SENCOs, and Local Authority teams on leading locality and provision developments as the complexity of need increases with this new generation of children with SEN. She has contributed to the development of programmes for teacher training and leadership development, and also worked with Post-Graduate students on personalised learning through research on cognitive processing. Vijita is co-author of the London Leadership Strategy ‘SEND Review Guide’, developed to place ownership of strategic solutions directly with teachers and school leaders. She is also a Trustee of the Varkey Foundation. Swiss Cottage School Development and Research Centre is one of eight schools in the country to have six consecutive ‘Outstanding’ Ofsted Inspections.   For information on the Recovery Curriculum, including the original Think Piece, lecture presentations, resources, reference materials and details of the online communities of practice, visit: https://www.recoverycurriculum.org   Swiss Cottage School, Development & Research Centre http://swisscottage.camden.sch.uk Varkey Foundation https://www.varkeyfoundation.org   [This is an audio-only episode]