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Children's Services - providing excellent services for disabled children
About the Centre
Children & Young People
Adult & Community Support
Fundraising

Our Services
Therapy Services
The Nursery
Out-of-school Activities
Little Stars
Family Link Scheme
Leisure Breaks at Treetops
Domiciliary
Face to Face
Supporting Other Providers
Special Interest Workshops
Training for Families

Useful Links
Training at WLC
Staff Page

Quality Audits
ChYPS Quality Audit 2007

Our Philosophy
It is widely accepted that children can flourish and achieve when they are comfortable, settled and enjoying themselves. Through the provision of a holistic range of services, White Lodge works closely with disabled children, young people and their families to maximise their potential and develop confidence and independence.

The needs of young people participating in the activities on offer are diverse and include those with autistic spectrum disorders, physical and learning disabilities and those who require specific procedures to meet their health care needs. In addition to planned activities, White Lodge is also able to respond to emergency situations.

Activities take place at White Lodge Centre and other suitable locations. All services are registered with either the Commission for Social Care Inspection or Ofsted whilst also striving to achieve the relevant quality assurance schemes. Inspection reports are available on request.


Therapy Services
Children are referred to the service through health, education or directly by parents. A system is in place to ensure early intervention wherever possible, which means that some of our children are seen within a few months of their birth up until the age of five.

The needs of each child are assessed and the team of professionals at White Lodge, including the parents or guardians, work together to devise an individual programme for the child. The therapy services combine elements of various techniques including the Bobath approach and Halliwick hydrotherapy in preparing the child’s programme. Progress is reviewed regularly so that we continue to meet the child’s changing needs.

A variety of specialist clinics are offered by White Lodge. For example, medical reviews, Botox, Orthotics, Audiology and orthopaedic clinics are all held at the Centre, reducing the necessity for the family to travel to various locations for appointments and, at the same time, ensuring that all current up-to-date information about the child is shared among the professionals who need to know.

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The Nursery
Play and fun is fundamental in encouraging children to achieve and develop socially, physically and intellectually. The nursery day is from 9.30am to 3.30pm and follows the National Curriculum Foundation Stage and Birth to Three Matters Guidance. Additional activities such as horse riding, hydrotherapy and gym club are included within the programme.

The nursery staff work closely with the other professionals at White Lodge to ensure they know what is required of them to assist the child’s developing physical abilities and social and self-help skills, and to develop an effective communication system alongside the acquisition of early learning skills. We are an accredited Preschool Learning Alliance nursery, highly evaluated by Ofsted.

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Out-of-school Activities
White Lodge runs a number of play and youth schemes specifically for disabled children and young people at venues in Runnymede, Spelthorne and Elmbridge. Most schemes run during the Easter and summer holidays with some Saturday provision.

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Little Stars
Little Stars was started in response to requests from parents of young disabled children for a place where they could drop in for coffee and meet informally with others in similar situations. It has become an extremely popular group for parents, grandparents, childminders and their children (including siblings).

It meets every Tuesday during term time from 10.00am to 1.00pm. Children have the opportunity to try out a range of specialist toys, join in with singing, story time and messy play, participating in baby massage sessions and use of the sensory room and hydrotherapy pool. Parents can take some time to meet with others, relax a little and enjoy the activities. All families are welcome to come along.

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Family Link Scheme
The Family Link Scheme operates in the boroughs of Runnymede, Spelthorne and Woking and matches families who have a disabled child with a local family or person who volunteers to help share the care of their child. This gives the child leisure and play opportunities with new friends, whilst enabling the family to have a break from caring.

The duration and frequency of the link depends on the individual child, the family and the volunteer: it might be a teatime visit once a week, outings with a befriender, or a monthly overnight stay. Volunteers, who can be single, couples or families, are carefully assessed, trained and supported in their role. They find the link enjoyable, rewarding and sometimes challenging.

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Leisure Breaks at Treetops
Treetops is a brand new purpose-built activity centre for children up to 12 years of age. The facilities include six single bedrooms, soft play area, a large activity space and decking leading to a large landscaped sensory garden. The most recent inspection of the building rated it as exceeding the required standards. The building design takes into account the needs of children with complex physical disabilities as well as those with autistic spectrum disorders.

Children may come for tea, spend a day at Treetops or stay for up to two weeks and a wide variety of on-site activities are offered as well as outings at weekends and during holidays. Recent trips include visits to the Bluebell Railway, the London Eye, Bocketts Farm and the seaside.

Click here to go to the Treetops home page

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Domiciliary
Some children find group activities overwhelming and need time to experience the world at their own pace. The domiciliary service can facilitate this by enabling the young person to access leisure opportunities on an individual basis supported by staff.

In addition families may benefit from a member of the team visiting them at home and helping with daily routines, for example getting up and ready for school or at bath time.

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Face to Face
If you are the parent of a child with special needs, Face to Face is here to help. Face to Face is a group of parents who have a child with a disability. They have formed a network of befrienders who offer friendship and support for other parents of newly-diagnosed children. All our befrienders are trained to enable them to give the best possible support to other parents. They can remember how they wanted to talk to someone who could understand what they were feeling at the time. The following is a quote from someone who has used the Face to Face service: “When we met our befriender, it was clear she’d been through something very similar. We suddenly felt here’s someone who understands.”

The White Lodge Face to Face service is informal, flexible and free. To find out more please call Miriam Wichmann at White Lodge Centre on 01932 567131.

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Supporting Other Providers
White Lodge is able to support local organisations to enable children to successfully access their groups and projects. Included within this are local Borough Councils with whom we work closely so that children are able to access their holiday schemes, nurseries, after school clubs and other community groups.

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Special Interest Workshops
All young people have their own specific interests or hobbies and our special interest workshops enable participants to explore these in greater depth. Workshops in the past have included ‘Just for Girls’, enabling young people to explore makeup, relationships and healthy lifestyles amongst other things, and ‘Rock DJ’, which offers the chance to delve into the world of digital music and create a music CD.

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Training for Families
We provide a number of training opportunities for families including Makaton sign language, autism, managing behaviour positively, and cerebral palsy. Full details of forthcoming training can be found by clicking here.

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