14 February 2025 

 

Dear Parents and Carers   

 

I hope that this letter finds you, your friends and family in good health.  

 

Many thanks to all those who attended the coffee morning yesterday. It was great to see so many of you there. Our next one is at 9:15 on Wednesday 19 March. 

 

We covered a range of topics including Therapies, our offer and future activity. This included a talk led by Ms Bober regarding Thrive and Family Thrive for parents and carers. The Thrive approach is an evidence-based approach to support pupil’s social and emotional development. There will be a separate letter soon inviting you to be part of this activity. 

 

I discussed the latest planning application for our area. This time I am broadly pleased by the proposals for having Paddle board courts constructed close to the school. Please see the application below, for more details. 

https://planning.thanet.gov.uk/online-applications 

F/TH/25/0003 

 

We also talked about the proposed redesignation of Laleham Gap school. KCC are proposing to change our designation from a Communication & Interaction (C&I) school to a Neurodivergent with Learning Difficulties (NLD) school. Laleham Gap school recognises the need for change and welcomes greater inclusion of pupils with more complex learning difficulties to our inclusive, learning community. 

 

We would like the focus to remain on pupil need, not on labelling children. I would like the new designation to be worded as: 

Communication and Interaction. Admission guidance:  

Pupils are neurodiverse and may have a diagnosis of autism, ADHD, learning difficulties or other conditions. Pupils have severe social communication difficulties, and may have social, emotional mental health needs associated with neurodiversity, including severe social anxiety. 

 

We are awaiting a notice for a 28-day public consultation regarding these proposals. When I receive this, I will write and let you know. At that time, I will be seeking your support and attendance at the public consultation meeting to support the future of our school. 

A quick reminder to all parents of year 8 pupils, the expectations for pupil phone use will, from next term be the same as year 7 and primary pupils. Children may have their phones for their journeys to and from school but, will hand them in at Reception until the end of the day. 

 

I would like to thank all involved staff and pupils for their hard work, perseverance and talent with our performance, Shrek the Musical. Both nights were sold out and good fun was had by all. I would particularly like to thanks Mr Clements and Mrs Short for all their time. 

 

I wish you all an enjoyable half term break. I look forward to seeing you all on the 24/2/25. 

 

Best wishes 

Les Milton  

Headteacher