Student Support Team and Consultants
Mr. Alan Andrew
Director of Student Support
Mr. Alan Andrew is from the United States where he has earned degrees in Psychology (B.A.) Special Education (M.Ed.) and School Psychology (Ed.S.). His professional experience includes primary and secondary SEN teaching, working as an educational psychologist and head of school, and he is very happy to be in his new role of Director of Student Support at ICS. Alan has lived and worked in the USA, UK, Belgium, and Spain.
Melanie Nichole Lemona - Assistant Director of the Student Support Department/Head of Primary Student Support
Melanie is an accredited Graduate Member of the British Psychological Society, and is a Child Developmental Psychologist. Melanie has received graduate training in psychoanalytic mother-infant and toddler-group observations supervised by an accredited psychotherapist as well as post graduate training at The Whittington Hospital, Post Natal Unit, in London, U.K. as a Sibling Support-Play Therapist. She received additional training in Behavioural Interventions and ABA Certification through work experience with children and adolescents with the Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), learning disabilities, and behavioural challenges. Her extensive training has allowed her to obtain expertise in the area of child assessment, behaviour analysis and therapeutic care through play, for ASD, learning difficulties, emotional struggles, and behaviour challenges.
Sonja Adam - Head of Primary Years Special Education
Sonja is Head of the new Primary Years Special Education (PYSE) programme and the PYSE class at ICS. Sonja has been supporting children’s learning at ICS for seven years and she worked as the Student Support Coordinator for the last four years. It has been a pleasure for Sonja to learn and grow in special education and in inclusive education management. She is excited to set up the new PYSE programme which is aimed to help families in need of an individualised and inclusive approach for their children with learning support needs.
Sonja is passionate about inclusive education and the value of specialized educational settings. She is committed to equal opportunities in differentiated learning environments in which students can reach their personal potential. Sonja has a professional background in mainstream and special education in Germany, Brazil, Mozambique and the United Kingdom.
Sonja graduated as a preschool teacher in Germany in 1993, and two years later as a Kindergarten teacher for Steiner Waldorf Schools. She worked in this field as a class teacher until 2001 when she discovered as a ‘Volunteer Reading Aid’ her passion for working with individual children to succeed in learning.
Sonja completed a Bachelor of Education (B Ed Honours) degree and her MA degree in Special and Inclusive Education (Psychological Perspectives) at the Institute of Education (University of London). The main focus of her MA was concerned with reading development and literacy remediation. Sonja is a certified Learning Support Teacher at Steiner Waldorf Schools, and she completed remedial teaching courses with Orton Gillingham and Lindamood-Bell. She also has a CELTA and is a teacher for those with English as a Foreign Language (EFL).
Besides Sonja’s commitment to ICS, Sonja enjoys working for Skola International Trust for Special Education (SITSE) which promotes special and inclusive education at a local as well as international level.
Tereza Nogueira – Art Therapist
Tereza Nogueira is our UKCP registered psychotherapist working with children who may need psychological support to help their development. Having gained a formal qualification to work with children and adolescents in South America, Tereza has also gained a qualification as an Integrative Child Psychotherapist, in the UK. Additionally, she is trained as clinical supervisor. Tereza has several years of experience working with children with Autism, ADHD, attachment, eating and communication disorders, behaviour difficulties, anxiety and obsession, trauma and abuse etc. She speaks Portuguese as well as English and can communicate reasonably well in Spanish too.
Philippa Smeaton-Ewins – Speech and Language Therapist (Primary)
Philippa Smeaton-Ewins is the Speech and Language Therapist at the ICS Primary. She comes from Scotland and graduated with a BSc(Hons) degree in Speech Pathology and Therapy from Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh in July 2003. She has been working as a Paediatric Therapist for 5 years now, initially working within Child Family Centres and Mainstream schools before going on to work in more specialist provisions for pre-school complex needs and school-age children with Autistic Spectrum Disorders and challenging behaviours. She came to work for ICS in the summer of 2006 because it offered her the rare opportunity of working within an educational environment that fully embraces children of all learning abilities and styles.
Laura Muir
Head of Student Support at Secondary
Muir holds a masters degree in education with a specialization in special education from the United States and a masters in sociology from the London School of Economics. She has worked with special needs children in the United States and the United Arab Emirates. Her background is in evaluating, supporting, and instructing students with learning disabilities, on the autism spectrum, with ADHD, and with behavioural concerns. She has managed diverse individual student plans and taught literacy, humanities, and mathematics. Additionally, she created and implemented a special needs programme in Abu Dhabi, where she trained and supported teachers to work with SEN students. Laura is very excited to be joining ICS’s student support team.
Beryl Jones
Speech and Language Therapist
Beryl obtained her BSc (Hons) degree in Speech and Language Therapy from the University of Reading in 2007. Her training experience includes working within Special schools, language centres and also Mainstream schools with Inclusion provision.
Beryl is a member of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists, Health Professional Council, London Autism Special Interest Group and London Bilingualism Specific Interest Group.
Beryl has a passion for making learning interesting, fun and accessible. Working within a multi-disciplinary setting Beryl’s role is to facilitate the understanding and exchange of language within social and academic communication settings.
Beryl is originally from Sierra Leone, lived in Germany for 12 years and has worked in the UK across a variety of culturally diverse social and education settings.
Learning Support Assistants - Primary
Co-teachers Secondary