Redefining education
We don't just educate; we nurture support and propel our pupils towards a future where their potential knows no bounds. Join us on a transformative journey, where education extends beyond textbooks, therapy nurtures resilience, and futures are shaped with purpose and promise.
Love of learning
At Lavender Lodge School, our bespoke curriculum allows us to deliver learning that is accessible, engaging, and packed with adventure and discovery through educational visits and field trips to support and enhance learning experiences.
Our commitment to a well-rounded education includes a focus on social development. Through enrichment activities that promote collaboration, friendship, social interaction, and teamwork, pupils build interpersonal skills, empowering them to navigate relationships, contribute meaningfully to their communities, and succeed in diverse environments. We take pride in focusing on friendships and a strong sense of community. By doing so, children and young people learn to appreciate diverse perspectives and support one another, contributing to a positive and inclusive learning environment.
Our outstanding offer
The multimodal approach is used to support communication at our school. Using a mixture of signs, symbols and speech, pupils can access and develop their communication skills. The daily use of Pragmatic Organisation Dynamic Display (PODD), supports the signs and symbols element, helping pupils to communicate a wide range of topics eventually leading to pupils using a larger vocabulary of words.
This is markedly due to the support of staff, who are trained in teaching and supporting pupils with autism, and who continue to learn and extend their knowledge to meet the needs of our children. This has helped us to cultivate a culture of support and has proved to provide pupils with a safe environment and a real sense of belonging, resulting in them making strides in progress.
We actively encourage our pupils to take part in meaningful opportunities for them to share views, hopes and their experiences through Pupil Voice. Each class votes in a class rep, who meet each term, where they also represent the voice of their peers. By actively participating in conversations, they develop their social skills so that they confidently contribute to the school community by entering conversations with the school’s Senior Leadership Team, where they discuss, negotiate, and even manage budgets.
As a school, we are all too aware of our environmental footprint which has resulted in the formation of Eco Warriors, a group of pupils who meet each term to take action and save the planet. The team are often found maintaining the school grounds by picking up rubbish. They have also planted herbs and have an ongoing campaign of encouraging everyone to switch off lights and turn taps off.
Our diverse community, made up of pupils and staff, is the perfect backdrop to introduce and learn about different cultures from one another and feel comfortable and safe while exploring the topic. We also experience different cultures through food and field trips, allowing pupils to be more aware and respectful of others and recognise that we are all different.
To make pupils more socially aware and, in turn, more accepting of the people they live and learn alongside the school community comes together to celebrate awareness days, religious and cultural events, fundraise for charities and welcome visitors.
Our small community of girls come together to attend Girls Club. The weekly club offers pupils the opportunity to develop friendships while taking part in pupil-led activities, such as coding, hosting parties, and anything they would like to experience. The time together is also an opportunity to discuss growing up and puberty; permission from parents and carers is sought for the topic. Additionally, the sessions are data-led, highlighting the developmental needs of pupils which teachers consider when facilitating activities to close the gap in learning through play.
Therapy
Our on-site Clinical Team provide pupils with unrivalled levels of therapeutic support, in terms of the level of expertise, the ratio of qualified therapists and clinicians to children and young people, and the range of therapies offered. Pupils have the support of our Psychiatrists, Psychologists, Therapists, Speech and Language Therapists, Occupational Therapists and other specialists as required.
We believe that unless a child or young person is able to feel emotionally safe and secure, they are less likely to fulfil their personal, social and educational potential. Our unique approach to supporting young people through our Wave Model enables them to go on to realise a future filled with aspiration and achievement.
Lavender Lodge School's Clinical Team complete thorough and skilled assessments that support a shared understanding of the complex needs we see in our children and young people. This enables us to put purposeful and appropriate interventions in place and assess our effectiveness through the tracking of outcomes and impact.
Futures
At Lavender Lodge School we are dedicated to raising the aspirations of our pupils, while also equipping them with the skills and confidence to realise outstanding outcomes. The Futures programme inspires and connects pupils with their next steps beyond education, utilising a growing network of over 350 employer partnerships, including the likes of Microsoft, Mercedes and John Lewis, to provide outstanding experiences of the workplace and ongoing opportunities and support. Our Futures sessions provide practical guidance on job applications, confidence-building, networking, and workplace expectations, giving children and young people the tools to navigate their career paths with clarity. Complementing this, our Futures curriculum enriches academic growth while developing personal development and career readiness, ensuring they are prepared for their chosen paths. With no upper age limit on support, the programme boasts a 100% success rate in transitioning students into education, employment, or training.