Royal Greenwich LA Key Contact Details

Inclusion and Place Planning

Onder Beter

Deputy Director Children and
Families Social Care

Claire Burns

Safeguarding Engagement
Service Leader for Schools

Vicki Cuff

Senior Assistant Director Inclusion, Learning and Achievement

Jane’s service provides the following support for schools:

They also facilitate forums for Premises Managers, School Admissions and School Business Manager

School Bursarial Service

Janet Davis

Accountancy Business Change Manager

School Improvement

SEND

Florence Kroll

Director Children’s Services

Jane Lawley

Strategic Lead for Inclusion and Place Planning

Matthew West

Head of School Improvement

Hetal Patel

Head of SEND Outreach

Martyn Patterson

Strategic Lead for SEND and Vulnerable Learners

Steve Harris

Director Greenwich Learning Partnership

The Bursarial Service supports schools with Financial Admin and Financial Management tasks. Support is provided on a tiered or adhoc basis, depending on the needs of the schools.

Social Care and Safeguarding

The SEND Outreach Services are made up of four specialist teams, maintained by the Royal Borough of Greenwich, dedicated to supporting children and young people (CYP) with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND).
We work alongside early years settings, mainstream schools, and post-16 providers, as well as families and practitioners, to build inclusive learning environments where every child can thrive.

Our goal is to help develop strong SEND provision across Greenwich by offering expert guidance, practical support, and high-quality training — making learning accessible and meaningful for all CYP in mainstream education.

Our Teams:

  • Early Years Inclusion Service – Supporting children under 5 with SEND in PVI settings. Mainstream nurseries are able to access SEN Inclusion Funding and Disability Access Fund (DAF) for children who meet the criteria.

    Autism Outreach Service – Supporting CYP with a diagnosis of autism or who are on the referral pathway via the Social Communication Support Service (as a buy in option).

  • Sensory Service – Supporting pupils and students with hearing or vision impairments, including those who are blind or deaf.

  • STEPS (Support Team for Education in Primary and Secondary) – Helping to reduce barriers to learning and support progress for CYP struggling academically from primary through to Year 7.

Martyn has oversight of the SEND Assessment and Review Service, Careers Education Information and Guidance (CEIAG) and apprenticeships.

  • The SEND Assessment and Review service ensures that young people with additional needs receive the right support at the right time, whether in mainstream schools or specialist settings.

  • The CEIAG team ensure that young people do not become NEET and have onward destinations and a clear pathway to education and employment.

Onder’s division oversees all statutory Children's Social Care functions alongside our targeted early help (Family and Adolescent Support Services), Youth Justice Services and Disabled Children and Young People's Service.

All contacts regarding possible harm to children attributable to child abuse and/or neglect are made to our Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) for children. We undertake child and family assessments, manage children's cases in different intervention frameworks/plans such as child in need (CIN) plan, child protection plan, care plan, pathway plan (for care leavers), Youth Justice Plan or disability support plan. As part of these plans, school colleagues are expected to attend various meetings such as child protection conferences.

We support schools in their enquiries about safeguarding children either via the MASH consultation line or via our dedicated Schools Safeguarding Officer role. This is a critical role to support schools and DSLs. Our division also oversees the LADO role which has an important interface with the schools.

If you are making a new referral please forward your email to the MASH team on MASH-referrals@royalgreenwich.gov.uk or call the MASH duty line on 020 8921 3172.

For the MASH Consultation Line please call on 020 8921 2267.

Claire and Laura Lumbis, the Schools' Safeguarding Officer, work together to support safeguarding in schools. This includes keeping schools and education settings up-to-date on the latest safeguarding legislation and guidance, as well as offering consultations and support to staff if they have a safeguarding concern.

Claire also leads on the Wellbeing in Schools Hubs (WiSH) service, which supports just over 100 children in the borough who are either persistently or severely absent from school; addressing the root-cause of non-attendance including emotional, well-being and mental health challenges. The WiSH service sets goals collaboratively with children, their families and schools, and delivers intensive, bespoke support for up to a year to bring lasting change.