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You are now on the Laleham Gap Wellbeing and Therapies Site.
Learn . Grow . Succeed
At Laleham Gap School, we truly believe in our motto, 'learn, grow and succeed' and understand that the education of the students in our care is about much more than just academic progress.
As an outstanding special school, we recognise that the wellbeing of the children, young people, their families and staff within our community should be at the forefront of what we strive to achieve.
Because of our vision, we invest heavily in therapeutic and wellbeing support.
Universal, Targeted and Specialist Support
Universal, Targeted and Specialist Support
Laleham Gap School has been recognised as a 'Centre of Excellence' under 'The Balanced System' framework.
This approach helps us to ensure that we deliver the right support, at the right time, with the correct level of resources. This helps to foster the very best outcomes for the children and young people in our community.
Universal
Universal
At Laleham Gap, we aim to support all of our children using our universal strategies, which we proudly call 'Laleham Gap Approaches'.
These strategies and class-based support are delivered by our teaching staff.
Targeted
Targeted
When children need additional support, we have a range of intentions and strategies that can help.
When the need for targeted support is identifies, this usually results in a referral to our weekly Wellbeing Meeting where our therapists help the Wellbeing Team identify appropriate interventions.
Specialist
Specialist
When Universal and Targeted support isn't quite deep enough, our therapists may be able to deliver some specialist support. We will always consider if this can be addressed in school first, before helping children and families refer into professionals from our partner agencies.
Any form tutor can refer children into our weekly Wellbeing Meeting where all key professionals are invited to explore and plan for a child's needs. This is to ensure there is robust thinking and planning around every decision regarding targeted or specialist intervention.
To find our more about any of these therapies, please click the relevant button below. You can also explore our Interventions or the respective therapies page.
Interventions (Targeted Support)
Interventions (Targeted Support)
For children who require additional help, which cannot be met through our universal strategies, we offer targeted interventions with school based staff. Below are some of the things we offer. For a full list, please visit our interventions page.
Thrive is a trauma sensitive approach to support children with their emotional developmental gaps.
It is not uncommon for children to require additional input around their emotional development.
Hamish and Milo is a therapeutic approach to emotional wellbeing. It was developed by a clinical psychologist and is support by the University of Bath.
See our Parent Page to find out more.
We are proud to offer Forest School experiences both on-site and off-site forest school experiences to our children. This gives the the opportunity to explore nature, build confidence and develop important life skills.
Therapies at Laleham Gap (Specialist Support)
Therapies at Laleham Gap (Specialist Support)
Speech and Language Therapy supports children who have difficulties with communication, understanding language, or speaking clearly. Therapists work with children to improve their speech sounds, vocabulary, listening skills, and social communication.
The goal is to help children communicate more confidently and effectively in everyday life.
Occupational Therapy helps children develop the skills or make adaptions they need for everyday activities like dressing, writing, playing, and concentrating in class.
Therapists can support fine motor skills, sensory processing, and coordination. OT is especially helpful for children who find daily tasks challenging due to developmental delays, physical difficulties, or sensory needs.
Play Therapy allows children to explore their emotions and experiences through play, which is their natural way of communicating. Our trained therapist uses toys, games, and storytelling to help children express themselves, process difficult feelings, and develop coping skills.
It’s especially helpful for children who have experienced trauma, anxiety, or behavioural challenges.
Art Therapy uses creative activities like drawing, painting, and sculpting to help children express their thoughts and feelings. It’s especially helpful for children who find it hard to talk about their emotions.
Our trained art therapist guides the sessions, helping children explore their inner world in a safe and supportive space. Art therapy uses creativity to heal, grow, and build emotional resilience.
We have trained dogs who visit school regularly. Ned is our main companion and is very gentle in nature.
Pets as Therapy animals support the children on wellbeing walks and when they just need someone to listen to them without judgement.
Leading Parent Partnership Award
Leading Parent Partnership Award
At Laleham Gap, we believe that thriving students often begin with supported families. That is why we do not just work with children and young people, but with their parents and carers too. With this in mind, we are proud to be working towards the Leading Parent Partnership Award (LPPA). This award supports schools in strengthening communication and collaboration with all parents and carers.
Schools that achieve LPPA typically see increased parental involvement in their children’s learning, which often leads to improved attendance, punctuality, behaviour and academic progress. By engaging with this award, we aim to develop a welcoming environment, offer clear guidance to support you, involve parents meaningfully in school life, and build strong home–school connections. We look forward to embedding these principles at Laleham Gap and further improving our partnership with every family.
We currently offer support to families through regular meetings linked to your child’s Education, Health and Care Plan, inviting parent and coffee mornings, and have successfully delivered and hosted at Laleham Gap. We also liaise with a range of partner agencies such as Children's Services, the Child Centred Policing Team and Independent Organisations to offer help when it is most needed. These opportunities are designed to help families feel supported and fully included in our community.
This Wellbeing and Therapies website is one of the ways we are acting on feedback from parents as part of our LPPA journey.
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