Belong School Gloucestershire is an independent special school for students with an Education Health and Care Plan for Social Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH) needs. Starting from the student, we combine high-quality teaching from subject specialists with a wide range of interventions to ensure that we give our students the best possible opportunities to learn, grow and thrive.  

A student’s Education Health and Care Plan provides us with the starting point for developing each bespoke provision. A dedicated pastoral team works with each student and their family to craft a successful transition to full time education, acting as pastoral link, advocate and home-school liaison. A team of highly skilled learning coaches will be involved with the delivery of a student’s provision alongside our subject-specific teaching staff, providing a consistent and trusted group of adults from day one.

Placing the student at the centre of the decisions about their learning doesn’t mean that ours is a school without boundaries or structures; it means that we are focussed upon the learning and development we want to achieve by working with our students. Our students frequently begin their time at our school after a number of episodes of challenge and difficulty at previous educational placements, often causing feelings of rejection and resentment. Our first mission is to build positive perceptions and attitudes through the hard work of our highly-dedicated and skilled staff team.

Our commitment to belonging is not limited to our work with students; a close, trusting and honest relationship with parents, carers and family serves to hold and maintain a student’s provision. We are in very regular contact using a range of forms of contact, so that we can best ensure that all can be involved in the student developments we are working towards as a community.

We provide a specialist learning environment that to the child feels and looks informal, but which is carefully and precisely crafted.

Each child has a bespoke curriculum consisting of our core offer (maths, English & usually science), and a selection of GCSE, vocational or accredited subjects alongside our bespoke Character Education curriculum, and a wide range of activities and experiences both on and off site.

Formal timetabled lessons take place for all students accessing on site, 1:1 in small groups, in the community or home based learning.

In addition to our broad academic curriculum and character education curriculum, we offer a range of interventions, including both targeted responses to specific needs specific interventions to support the development of reading, literacy and maths and preventative interventions to support ongoing wellbeing. 

As a school catering for students with Social, Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH) needs, our pastoral team plays a key role in developing and targeting our interventions. Our onsite outdoor space is used for Forest School and outdoor interventions, supporting students to develop resilience, self-confidence and emotional wellbeing. Additionally, we are able to offer a range of specialist interventions including boxing clever, enhanced physical education, and, where appropriate, we follow the advice and guidance of specialist therapists to deliver ongoing therapeutic support.