Therapeutic Team

Lakeside School provides specialist on-site therapy, employing a part-time Educational Psychologist, a part-time Occupational Therapist, a part-time Speech and Language Therapist and a full time Speech and Language Therapy Assistant.

Therapeutic Input

Our initial aim, when a pupil is first admitted to Lakeside School, is to help them feel welcome, help them settle into the school routines, and to ensure that their pastoral needs are met, enabling them to access the curriculum within their class. We believe that if a child feels emotionally secure and safe, they are more likely to participate in learning activities. Pupils are informally assessed, as part of their admission interview, by the Deputy Head and Head of Pastoral Care, firstly to determine if the school can meet the needs of this child, secondly to determine the likely level of therapeutic support that they will require.

During a pupil’s six week post-admission period, formal assessments are undertaken, including speech and language therapy assessment, occupational therapy assessment and behavioural assessment. This provides those concerned with a baseline picture of the pupil’s abilities and subsequent needs, and ensures that the appropriate intervention and support programme can be put in place for the pupil.

Environment

Lakeside School is a therapeutic, nurturing environment where pupils are assisted in developing a positive self image, compassionate outlook and responsible attitudes towards their physical and social development.  Any therapeutic input is designed to help foster resilience within all pupils, encouraging pupils to develop self-esteem, self-confidence, a sense of humour, coping skills and strategies, and a healthy lifestyle.

Care Staff

The Pastoral Care staff work together with pupils to develop the skills required to; take responsibility for their own actions, accept the consequences of their behaviour, develop strategies to manage their own behaviour and emotions, and successfully interact in social settings.  Our daily, whole-school assemblies are planned to teach the importance of values of such as tolerance, love, respect, responsibility, patience, and integrity. All teaching staff support the attitudes and skills highlighted in the assemblies; the children learn about three core values each term.

Ongoing training ensures that staff continue to develop their knowledge and understanding of therapeutic interventions, and of how best to support each pupil.

"People understand me more than my teachers did at my last school. I didn’t have as many friends in my last school. I’ve made more friends here than I did in my other schools." Pupil

Individual Support

Lakeside School provides pupils, where necessary and appropriate, with individual speech and language therapy, social communication skills group therapy, and with communication skills activities within class lessons. The teaching staff are made aware of each pupil’s specific speech and language needs, and work with the speech and language therapist to deliver set programmes.  Targets are set for children which might include; learning to turn-take, sustaining concentration, improving narrative skills, developing sentence or word level work etc. 

"The school places a strong emphasis on the development of communication skills...the pupils have regular access to speech and language therapy that meets their specific needs. Where appropriate, pupils may also work with an occupational therapist in order to create the correct physical conditions to enable improved access to the curriculum." Ofsted

Lakeside School provides pupils with a very high level of teaching support. Special Support Assistants (SSAs) are allocated to support pupils, with particular regard for the needs of pupils, as stated on their Statement of Special Educational Needs. For some pupils this will entail having 1:1 support in class throughout the day, in order to access the curriculum, for other pupils this takes the form of support, as and when required, and some additional support is given out of class, for example, in 1:1 literacy or numeracy support sessions.