Latest News
Keep up to date with all the latest news happening in school at the moment.
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Children in Need - Non Uniform Day
Wed 19 Nov 2025Dear Parents and Carers,
Due to a number of national events, mock examinations, and school activities that coincided last week, we decided to postpone celebrating Children in Need. However, some children and families have contacted us to ask about making a donation.We have therefore arranged to mark Children in Need this week with a non-uniform day on Friday 21 November.
All children are invited to wear their own clothing for the day. There is an optional donation of £1, which will go directly to the Children in Need charity.
Thank you for your continued support.
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Headteacher Letter
Fri 17 Oct 202517 October 2025
Dear Parents and Carers
I hope that this letter finds you, your friends and family in good health.
Last Friday the school held our Hello Yellow and Mental Health Awareness Wellbeing Day. Pupils paid £1 to join in on a non-uniform day and were encouraged to wear their favourite item of yellow clothing. We raised £75 for the Hello Yellow charity. We also held a cake sale to raise funds for the Still Water charity and raised £245.
Our next Parent Coffee morning will be on Wednesday 12 November from 9am in the Wave building. It will be an opportunity to catch up, but there will be some updates from appropriate staff regarding the Leading Parent Partnership Award around changes that have been implemented based on parent feedback. We also have a member of the Child Centred Policing Team coming in to explain more about their partnership with local school and some of the ways in which they will be able to support staff and children.
Term 2 for pupils starts back on Wednesday 29 October. There will be staff training on Monday 27 and Tuesday 28 October.
I wish you all a peaceful and restful half term.
Best Wishes
Les Milton
Headteacher
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Child Centred Policing Team Collaboration
Tue 16 Sep 2025Dear Parents and Carers,
I hope you have had a good start to the school year and that your children have returned to school successfully and have begun to settle.
I am writing to let you know that last week, Laleham Gap welcomed a visit from the Child Centred Policing Team to discuss collaborative work and support for children and families. Some pupils may have seen officers or their vehicles around the school, but please be assured this was a planned and positive visit, marking the beginning of a closer working relationship with Kent Police.
The Team work closely with schools and will be visiting us regularly. Their aim is to help children and families understand the supportive role of the police, in a safe and educational way. Their visits will be starting from this week. Among other things, they will:
- Support the delivery of lessons from the Police Education (PolEd) curriculum;
- Attend parent events such as Question and Answer sessions or coffee mornings; • Support education days where the officers will talk to children about their roles, uniform, equipment and vehicles;
- Arrange bike security marking schemes to help in the event of a lost or stolen bicycle.
You will see officers visiting the school over the coming weeks, including at drop-off and pick-up times. We are also exploring suitable dates for a parent coffee morning with the team. If you see them, please feel free to say hello and help reassure your children that this is a positive partnership - no one is in trouble.
This initiative expands the relationship that we already have with Kent Police as an Operation Encompass School.
If you’d like to learn more about how schools and agencies work together to support families, please refer to the Working Together to Safeguard Children guidance. A short explanatory video is also available on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?
These links will be active in the digital version of this letter, which will be uploaded to the school website this week.
Please also note that we continue to work towards achieving the Leading Parent Partnership Award, and we are always looking for new ways to support and engage with you.
I look forward to meeting with you at our next parent centred event to answer any questions or listen to ideas you may have, or, simply catch up. Please look out for further details soon.
Kind regards,
Mr Payne
Assistant Headteacher
(Safeguarding and Wellbeing
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Headteacher Letter
Wed 03 Sep 20253 September 2025
Dear Parents and Carers
I trust that this letter finds you, your friends and family in good health. I hope you have had a restful Summer. It has been great to welcome your children back to school. We acknowledge how difficult this time is for some of your children, and we appreciate the anxiety that you and your child may be feeling. Please contact us if there is anything we can do to support you further.
I wish to congratulate our students who sat exams this Summer. There were many excellent results, and we wish all our leavers every success and happiness.
Following a few incidents with metal water bottle we are now requesting that pupils bring in plastic bottles. These should be no bigger than 500ml as any bigger as they will not fit under the water fountains.
Parent pick up – The Thanet Inclusion Support Service (TISS) no longer operates from our site. These two rooms will be developed this year to increase the offer and capacity of our school. The building will be renamed WAVE (Wellbeing And Value-based Education/We All Value Everyone). In future correspondence I will refer to the building and car park as WAVE. If you collect your child at the end of the day from the WAVE car park, from tonight pupils will exit from the new exit gate 10 metres from the existing one.
Pupil photographs – Our school photographer will be on site on Tuesday 9 September to take pupil photos. If you would like sibling photographs taken, can you please contact us at Secretary@lgs.kent.sch.uk. A letter with permission slip will be sent to all parents this week.
Best wishes
Les Milton
Headteacher
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Headteacher Letter
Fri 27 Jun 202526 June 2025
Dear Parents and Carers
I hope that this letter finds you, your friends and family in good health.
Thank you to all parents and carers who attended our annual cheese and wine evening on Wednesday 18 June. It is always good to meet with you all over a glass of wine. It is also a good opportunity to mingle with parents/carers. We will let you know at the beginning of next term when the next coffee morning will be. If you have topics that you would like us to discuss, please let me know via the email below.
An amazing 80% of parents have now signed up to the Arbor Parent App. Please ensure you have signed up in time for 2025-26 as school dinner money will only be payable via the app in September. If you are having any problems, please contact the school office on 01843 570598 or email secretary@lgs.kent.sch.uk.
As always, our summer term is busy with lots of events for pupils. This week we have had trips to Thorpe Park Quex and Sandwich Bay bird observatory.
Dates for your diary:
Monday 30 June – Year 7 parents evening
Thursday 3 July – GCSE Art, Craft and Design Exhibition
Friday 11 July – Primary Summer Fair
Wednesday 16 July – Secondary Sports Day and Summer Fair
Please remember term ends on Friday 18 July with pupils returning on Tuesday 2 September.
Best Wishes
Les Milton
Headteacher
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Headteacher Letter
Thu 15 May 202515 May 2025
Dear Parents and Carers
I hope that this letter finds you, your friends and family in good health.
We have a new minibus. Mr Milton collected the minibus from St Georges Golf Club in Weybridge at Easter. The bus was mainly sponsored by Richard Keel from Keel Toys. This was in conjunction with the Variety Club and School Sponsorship.
We now run Family Thrive programmes using the Thrive Approach to help parents and carers understand how these strategies can make a positive difference to the wellbeing of your children - and therefore the whole family. It helps families to understand why their children may behave in the way they do. Family Thrive offers you some strategies and activities that help build positive relationships in your family unit, for the wellbeing of each of you. If you are interested in taking part, please contact Lindsay Kelly at lindsay.kelly@lgs.kent.sch.uk.
Parent App – We will be launching a Parent App next Friday 23 May. We will be sending an introduction email with instructions on this date. Once logged in, you will be able you to access your child’s school account, look at attendance, leave a message and pay for lunches, trips and clubs.
Travel update - Haine Road and Star Link Road 4-way traffic lights whilst they put in Gas supply. Click on the link below for full details:
We have received a request for help from parents/carers to partake in a voluntary questionnaire. This is a research study that will be conducted by Laura Cullen who is currently studying at Canterbury Christ Church University (CCCU) on Early Childhood Studies with Special Educational Needs. She is conducting this study on the Impacts of having a child with SEND, and the effects it has within a family.
Please access the questionnaire by clicking on the following link:
This year’s Cheese and Wine evening will take place on Wednesday 18 June, at 6pm in the TISS building. You are all welcome and we look forward to seeing you there.
This term ends on Friday 23 May 2025 and term six starts on Monday 2 June 2025. Term six will be busy, with the usual Summer Fairs and Sports days. Please check the calendar on our website. Please be assured we will write again next term reminding you of key dates.
Best Wishes
Les Milton
Headteacher
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Special School Review Letter
Mon 31 Mar 202531 March 2025
Dear Parent/Carer
I hope that this letter finds you, your friends and family in good health
This is an update regarding the special school review.
On the 5th December 2024, I shared with you the actions of myself and other Kent Special Educational Needs Trust (KsENT) Headteachers and some families. I shared with you our decision to instruct legal representation to bring a claim in judicial review regarding the Special School Review. This was against the decision of Kent County Council (KCC) to proceed with the redesignation of 7 special schools in Kent, including Laleham Gap. We also instructed legal representation to review the process by which this was achieved as we felt the process had been lacking in detail, evidence and true collaboration.
After considerable work by Headteachers, families and Legal counsel, a Pre Action letter was issued to KCC on the 14th February 2025. This decision was not taken lightly. However, our intention was to place children’s interests at the heart of all decision making.
On 27th March 2025, we received formal confirmation from KCC’s legal representative that the planned redesignation of the 7 identified special schools, would not be implemented. KCC is considering the matter afresh and has not decided what any future decision will be.
As Headteachers of Kent’s special schools we continue to recognise the need for change, and we welcome the opportunity to work collaboratively. We are optimistic that we can co-produce the systematic changes that clearly need to happen, ensuring they make the system better for all children with SEND.
Please be assured our highest priority will always be ensuring the very best education and outcomes for our children and we hope this action will allow time for true collaboration and planning in the interests of your child/children.
Yours sincerely
Les Milton
Headteacher
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Headteacher Letter
Mon 03 Mar 20253 March 2025
Dear Parents and Carers
I hope that this letter finds you, your friends and family in good health and that you had an enjoyable half term.
At the end of last term our wonderful pupils entertained us with this year’s drama club production of Shrek the Musical. Pupils worked very hard in rehearsals and our very own Mr Clements actor/director extraordinaire worked his magic to direct the show. A big thank you to Mrs Short, Ms Sanders and Ms Price who helped each week with drama club rehearsals. We hope you enjoyed.
World Book Day (WBD) is nearly here! We shall be having our WBD on Friday 7th March (which is a day after the National WBD). Your child is encouraged to dress as their favourite book character for the day if they should wish. We would encourage parents to use clothes they have and be creative with them, rather than spending money on costumes they might not wear again. If your child wishes to dress up and is due out on a trip for part of that day, please ensure they have a suitable change of clothes with them.
I have not received any more information regarding when the public consultation for our redesignation to a Neurodivergent and Learning Difficulties school. Please be assured as soon as I have more information, I will share it with you immediately.
Kent County Council have made the decision that the Specialist Teaching and Learning Service (STLS) will be taken back in-house. For those who don’t know, we have held a service level agreement with KCC for the last 12 years running this service for the district of Thanet. I am disappointed that we will no longer be employing those staff but fully understand KCC’s decision. We wish all the staff and the service the very best for the future after they leave us on 31 August 2025.
This year’s Music Showcase takes place on Wednesday 26 March at 6pm in the Drama Hall. This is a celebration of musical talent from across the school that includes both Primary and Secondary students. Students have been invited to participate songs of their choice both live but also sharing music made using technology. We currently have over 20 students signed up to perform. Tickets will be available (free) by contacting Mrs Short on alia.short@lgs.kent.sch.uk . Please note, performers do not need a ticket.
Dates for your diary:
Year 8 Parents Evening Monday 17 March at 4.00pm
Parent Coffee Morning Wednesday 19 March at 9.00am
Best wishes
Les Milton
Headteacher
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World Book Day
Thu 27 Feb 2025February 2025
Dear Parents/Carers,
World Book Day (WBD) is nearly here! We shall be having our WBD on Friday 7 thMarch (which is a day after the National WBD).
Your child is encouraged to dress as their favourite book character for the day if they should wish. We would encourage parents to use clothes they have and be creative with them, rather than spending money on costumes they might not wear again. If your child wishes to dress up and is due out on a trip for part of that day, please ensure they have a suitable change of clothes with them.
We are also running a whole school ‘Book swap shop’ to celebrate our World Book Day this year. We would welcome pupils to bring in a book(s) they would like to donate to the ‘swap shop’ and in return they will be able to choose a book from the swap shop in the afternoon of our WBD.
The day will also include activities such as:
- Bring in a favourite book to share an extract with the class in class time/tutor group time
- A range of art and craft, writing and reading activities relating to World Book Day
- Book themed obstacle course
- Where’s Wally competition
- Guess the character/ author and book quizzes
- And much more.
Thank you for your support.
Kind regards,
Fran Eastwood/Mandy Kirke-Laird / Andrew Bourton English Lead/Primary Lead
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Headteacher Letter
Fri 14 Feb 202514 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
