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Counselling in schools · London
We are a small team of experienced therapists working in London’s independent schools. We see pupils one to one, run wellbeing groups for the 11+ year and for older pupils, support pastoral staff and work with parents, in a way that fits how each school already cares for its children.
The film
What we do in schools and for families, how we work with the adults around a child, what stays private, and what schools and pupils have said about the work. The film plays only when you press it.
Piano music plays throughout.
On screen: Navy. A gold line is drawn slowly across the screen. Beneath it, a small gold circle appears, and a square is drawn down round it; the line draws back to become the square’s top: the mark of Kensington Square Therapy.
Some children manage the demands of school well on the surface, while feeling stretched underneath.
On screen: The mark takes its place beside the practice’s name: Kensington Square Therapy. Counselling in schools, London.
Kensington Square Therapy is a small team of registered therapists who have spent years working inside London’s independent schools.
On screen: For schools. A therapist in your school, and a practice behind them. A second square is drawn behind the first.
A therapist in your school, and a practice behind them.
On screen: Three cards. Counselling for pupils: weekly, in school; 30 to 50 minutes; led by the child. Wellbeing groups: groups of six; Year 5 to the sixth form; timed to your calendar. Support for staff: reflective consultation; clinical supervision; cover during absence.
We shape the service around your school, and keep the paperwork on our side of the line.
On screen: The card for staff comes forward, its gold rule drawn across it.
We support your staff too, with reflective consultation that helps them in the hard work of supporting their pupils.
On screen: The screen turns cream. For families. Support for your child, and for you. The square and the gold circle, drawn in a deeper gold. Therapy for children and young people from the age of four. Consultations for parents who want to think something through. Online therapy for students and young adults up to 25.
With the youngest children, much of the work happens through play, and no one is pressed to talk before they are ready.
On screen: Navy again. Four rings move round a gold circle, each at its own pace, then settle evenly round it. The words are set on screen as they are said.
Children tend to find things easier when the adults around them are in step with one another.
On screen: The rings open, one at a time, into the four sides of a square round the circle, and each is named on screen, without narration: the school, the therapist, the family, other professionals. The circle settles into its own place in the square: the child.
So we work as a team around the child.
On screen: Each side is drawn heavier in turn. The sides do not quite meet at the corners until, together, they do.
Each of us holds one side, and together we hold the child.
On screen: What stays private. The square stays closed round the child. As a safeguarding concern is mentioned, the school’s side is drawn heavier; as parents are mentioned, the family’s.
What a child says in their sessions stays private, unless a safeguarding concern means it has to be passed on. For children and younger teenagers, parents hear about the work in broad terms, without the detail.
On screen: Without narration, a card is held on screen: safeguarding and governance. Therapists registered with the BACP, the NCPS or an equivalent body. Enhanced DBS checks. Regular clinical supervision. Safeguarding in line with KCSIE.
On screen: In schools now. Counselling for children and young people, inside the school day.
Today, we work week by week in London independent schools.
On screen: 11+ groups. The 11+ year, held carefully. Then what pupils said, in three figures: 93% of pupils would recommend the groups to others; 86% would choose to join another group; 8/10, the average rating pupils gave for how helpful the groups were. Beneath them, where the figures come from: the whole of Year 6 at an independent prep school, more than 40 pupils, completed an anonymous feedback survey at the end of their group sessions.
Our 11+ groups are not preparation for the papers. They are for the child who has to live inside the year while it happens.
On screen: Three quotations. “I would recommend KST without hesitation.” A Designated Safeguarding Lead, independent prep school, London. “It felt like a safe space where everyone was heard.” A Year 6 pupil, after an 11+ wellbeing group. “This is a very helpful programme.” A principal, London prep school.
This is what schools, and pupils, have said about the difference it makes.
On screen: The screen turns cream. From our library: The Parent Book. Its chapters, each with an engraving, and three of its sheets to print are laid down one by one: ‘When feelings get big: our plan’, ‘The friendship map’ and ‘What to say: when feelings run high’. Parents subscribe for all of it. Schools read it free, and send a chapter to the parent who needs it. theparentbook.com.
The same therapists write The Parent Book, our library for parents.
On screen: Navy again. The mark is drawn again, a side at a time. Begin with a conversation, and beneath it, contact@kst.ltd. Then the mark takes its place beside the practice’s name, as the film began, above www.kst.ltd and contact@kst.ltd.
If your school is thinking about counselling or 11+ groups, or you are a parent wondering where to start, begin with a conversation.
How we can help
Most of our work happens in school, during the school day, with pupils from Reception to the sixth form. We also work online with students and young adults up to 25, and talk with parents and staff, so that the support carries on at home and in class.
Weekly counselling for pupils, wellbeing groups for a whole year group, and a place to think for the staff who carry the pastoral load. Funded by the school, by parents, or a mixture of the two.
Therapy for children and young people from the age of four, consultations for parents who want to think something through, and online therapy for students and young adults up to 25.
In school
No two schools are set up the same way, so each partnership is shaped around the school. The path is the same; this is it in outline.
With the head, the DSL or a pastoral lead, about your pupils, what is already in place and what would help.
Which days, what we will provide, and how it is funded, settled together with your pastoral team.
Safeguarding, consent, data sharing and confidentiality set down, and aligned with your DSL.
The school or a parent makes the referral. For pupils under 16, a parent gives written consent before counselling begins.
Weekly sessions of 30 to 50 minutes in a private room in school, with termly reviews that keep the school informed without sharing what a child says.
What schools say
I would recommend KST without hesitation. In recent years, it has been one of our most impactful pastoral strategies, significantly enhancing the wellbeing of both staff and pupils across the school.
KST has not only provided invaluable therapeutic support for individual pupils, but has also strengthened staff welfare practice across the school, offering colleagues expert guidance, reassurance, and a reflective space to discuss challenges.
Who we are
Our therapists have spent years working inside London’s independent schools, alongside heads, DSLs and pastoral teams. That experience shapes how we listen to a child, how we fit around the care a school already gives, and how we keep parents close to the work.
We work where children are: inside the school day, alongside the staff who know them, and with their parents. Whether a pupil is four or eighteen, we want the same thing for them: to be properly heard, and to have the adults around them pulling in the same direction.
Wellbeing groups
Small wellbeing groups for Year 5 and Year 6 pupils, run in school to help with the stress and anxiety the 11+ year can bring. Children learn how worry works in the mind and body, practise a few ways to steady themselves, and find the relief of discovering they are not the only one. The groups are therapeutically informed. They are not therapy, and they never become tutoring.
I felt less stressed knowing that other people think the same things as me.
Alongside the 11+, we shape groups with schools for older pupils: the move to senior school, the GCSE years and the sixth form.
From an anonymous feedback survey at the end of the group sessions. The whole of Year 6 at one independent prep school took part, more than 40 pupils.
From our library
The Parent Book is our library for parents: short, careful chapters on the questions that come up most often in our work, from sleep and friendships to the 11+ year and the conversations parents tend to put off. Alongside its 36 chapters are 265 quick tips, 62 sheets to print and 59 activities to do together, across 45 subjects. What the library holds.
Schools read it free of charge: every member of staff with a school email address can open the teachers’ shelf and send a parent the chapter that fits the moment. The parent reads that chapter in full, with nothing to sign up to. Parents who want the whole library subscribe for £129 a year.
Now reading: Volume I · Autumn I 2026/27
The film in words, on the page about The Parent Book.
Begin
Tell us a little about your school or your child. We read every message personally and aim to reply within one working day. The first conversation costs nothing and commits you to nothing.
