Laleham Gap is a Unicef Rights Respecting School. Children are always at the heart of our decisions. It is the wellbeing of our children and our staff that underpins our ethos and our approach. We want both our children and our staff, to feel safe, secure, and supported in their identities, relationships and endeavours so that we can all Learn, Grow and Succeed together.

We are focused on meeting the needs and interests of the individual child to ensure that they enjoy their rights and progress is made in all areas, including personally, socially and academically. This means that we are accepting of children from where they are when they join us and how they develop.

We are committed to developing our staff personally and professionally because we want all of our colleagues to feel valued, skilled, and motivated. In turn, they will demonstrate an unyielding positive regard for our children and will work with them to develop the tools they need to reach their full potential.

We want to work together, look after ourselves, support each other and change the way that we think about wellbeing. We want to redirect our thinking away from what may have gone wrong, to thinking about what we can do to make it right.

Our ethos is to be brave, be inspirational and drive positive and sustainable change for ourselves, others and the world around us.

We are committed to developing a whole school culture where diversity, inclusion and belonging are recognised and celebrated. We want everyone to own and value the wellbeing of themselves and every other member of our community. We want to support ourselves and the whole of our school community to make lifestyle changes that empower us to experience the best lives we can live. It is vital we enable ourselves and others to develop and champion the attitudes, knowledge and skills that make a real difference to our day-to-day lives and our future.

Our values, practices and interventions take us closer to our vision day by day.

Values

Being supportive:

• Dedicated to helping others
• Committed to being the best we can be
• We enjoy our work and show compassion to those around us
• We look after ourselves and aim to achieve a positive work-life balance

Take responsibility:

• To have the courage to make professional choices
• To ask more of ourselves and others
• To be open to support and alternative routes
• Be proud of who we are
• Be brave and challenge things that do not align with our values

Work together:

• We enjoy working together
• We support each other and celebrate personal and shared successes
• We support a no blame approach
• We seek to better understand ourselves and others

Be honest:

• Say what you mean, be clear and supportive
• Lead by example but be brave and ask for help when it is needed
• Be the best that you can be and value feedback
• We can all make mistakes and our wellbeing will only grow when we accept this

The Government White Paper – Opportunity for All (March 2022) highlights that physical and mental wellbeing is a key enabler for children to benefit from time in school. Children’s attainment, behaviour and attendance both drives, and is impacted by, their wellbeing.

At Laleham Gap, we recognise the importance of a committed and consistent whole-school approach to mental health and wellbeing as an integral part of education. We share the Governments ambition to build mental health resilience across the population.

A top priority for us is to prevent mental health issues from developing and escalating. As a communication and interaction school, where over 90% of are children have a diagnosis of ASD, we recognise how important it is to promote positive mental health. We also recognise that our children are more vulnerable and we must work to help prevent risk factors that cause increased anxiety and poor mental health.