Early support team

The Early Support service provides services for children (aged up to five years) with complex and/or multiple special educational needs who may require help with the following issues:

significant development impairment or delays - such as difficulty with walking, talking, hearing, seeing, playing or coping with the world around them
the child has a condition which has a high probability of resulting in a developmental delay

Portage service

Portage is a step-by-step teaching approach for children with special needs and is used as part of a home teaching service.

Portage home visitors provide support and advice to enable parents to teach their children effectively. Families receiving Portage can meet together every month at the Portage Family Groups. These are held each fortnight at different Children's Centres across the borough to ensure that parents without transport have some access to group activities.

The Early Support Nursery

The Early Support Nursery is for children with complex and/or multiple special educational needs. Children can attend from aged two, if places are available. The nursery is registered with Ofsted and follows the Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum.

The nursery offers assessment of a child's needs and the nursery education is then focused upon those specific needs.

There are several nursery groups, each staffed by a teacher and at least one nursery nurse. Physiotherapists along with speech and language therapists also see children within the nursery. Nursery staff help to implement therapy programmes.

Educational psychologists also work with staff, parents and children to provide advice, guidance and support with assessments.

Outreach

Many of the children who receive support from the Early Support team move on to other places such as; their local school nursery, a day nursery or a playgroup. Staff from the Early Support team are able to carry out outreach work to these settings. Outreach provided involves giving advice and support to staff at settings, making home visits and attending planning/review meetings.

Please contact the Early Support team for additional information on any of these services on(01642) 527815.