The Bridge Integrated Learning Space

The ILS is a unique school offering bespoke education for each and every one of the young people who attend. We are often described as a “Special” Special school which perhaps signifies our young people require a more tailored learning environment and helps to explain our small size and unique offer.

Each student and family’s story is crucial to our work and partnership. We recognise that it is only by working in a truly holistic way that we can achieve fantastic outcomes for our young people and their families. This requires genuine multi-agency collaboration and investment. We look forward to hearing from you in the future.Our students can really be themselves at the ILS – all ways of learning are celebrated. We believe in unconditional positive regard, and we are always available. We keep our students safe and we let them grow.

For us, communication is everything: we listen and we offer opportunities for our students to engage at their pace and in their own way. We make ourselves openly available now.

The Integrated Learning Space (ILS) is set up to provide education for 25 students with autism and different learning profiles. These students were previously at schools that were not in a position to provide the intense support and provision the ILS can provide. Theyhave come to the ILS to benefit from a wholly student-centred approach to the way they learn.

At the ILS, there is an unequivocal commitment to a holistic multi-agency team approach around each individual student, which has at its core the principal of ‘unconditional positive regard’. Working from this student-centric position, we prioritise sensory and emotional regulation and developing alternative forms of communication and social competence skills as these are well recognised in research as being key to the best long-term positive outcomes.

For many of our students, active participation and being present in their local community is a crucial part of their time at the ILS and will always be an important part of lifelong learning. The opportunities we offer are therefore located both in school and also outside in the community.

Students at the ILS will generally have a profile that includes a combination of

• Sensory Processing Differences – how we take in information, how we process and respond to it;
• Emotional Regulation Differences – how we manage our emotions, how we react to our feelings, and how we understand others;
• Differences in Communication and Interaction – how we understand communication and express, how we articulate who we are and interact with the world around us.

We have developed a unique and innovative approach which seeks to truly integrate the work of all the people who care and support our students. We work collaboratively with different agencies and disciplines to get the best outcomes for our students. We support their parents and families and help them engage with their children to keep them safe at home and within their communities.

At the ILS, there is an unequivocal commitment to a holistic multi-agency team approach around each individual student, which has at its core the principal of ‘unconditional positive regard’. Working from this student-centric position, we prioritise sensory and emotional regulation and developing alternative forms of communication and social competence skills as these are well recognised in research as being key to the best long-term positive outcomes.

For many of our students, active participation and being present in their local community is a crucial part of their time at the ILS and will always be an important part of lifelong learning. The opportunities we offer are therefore located both in school and also outside in the community.