Life Skills Team and Consultants

Anelle Engelbrecht
Life Skills Coordinator

Anelle has worked at the Secondary School of the International Community School since September 2003. She has served as the Special Educational Needs (SEN) Coordinator and currently is the Life Skills Coordinator teaching the SEN and Life Skills students. She loves working with the SEN students and feels that every day at ICS brings new challenges and inspiration as both she and the students are learning together. Anelle qualified as a teacher in South Africa and she worked as a teacher in schools in South Africa and Taiwan before relocating to the UK.

Anelle has been involved in special needs education since 1997. Her experience with special needs include a wide range of special educational needs like the Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Down Syndrome, learning disabilities, emotional struggles and behavioural challenges. She did various professional courses to update and enhance her skills in these areas over the years. Anelle has also worked as a camps councillor at a summer camp for children and adults with special needs in the USA.

During her time with ICS she lead various trips with Travel and Learn to support SEN students. She went to countries such as Spain, Switzerland, Canada, Zambia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, South Africa and Iceland and she loved exploring and experiencing the world in these amazing settings with the students.
Anelle has a passion for diversity and inclusive education and sees it as a privilege to work with the students and the staff at ICS. Anelle, who has a one year old son, feels that motherhood has helped her to grow and understand students and parents even more. She is enthusiastic about students’ progress and likes to keep them motivated and positive at all times.

Melanie Nichole Lemona, Assistant Director of the Student Support Department

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.   

Kate Hemingway, Life Skills Teacher

Kate is the Life Skills teacher at ICS. She is a dedicated teacher and therapist. She is a qualified Speech and Language Therapist (add where qualified) and whilst at university travelled to America working at camps for people with learning disabilities. Since graduating from university in 2005 she has worked for the National Autistic Society in the North of England and in New Zealand as a communication support worker. She has worked at ICS since the beginning of 2008 and feels that every day at school is challenging and inspiring as both herself and the students are learning together. Her ambition is to further her education by studying for a full teaching degree. She enjoys travelling and experiencing different cultures and at some stage further down the line hopes that she would be in a position to travel and see more of the world.

Philip Hurd, Head of ICS and Life Skills

Philip has spent 20 years in International Education and developed a passion for creating and developing opportunities within the field of Special Education Needs. He believes in facilitating exciting educational journeys for all students and staff which challenge, stimulate and exceed expectations. Out of a passionate commitment to inclusion and diversity Philip has set up a comprehensive Special Education Needs department for the International Community School in London, has founded SITE charitable trust, set up a Travel and Learn programme that has taken SEN students up the Amazon and into the Arctic and co-created the College of Life Skills.

Mr. Alan Andrew
Acting Assistant Director of Student Support at ICS

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.