Portage

What is Portage

Gloucestershire Portage is a home-teaching scheme for pre-school children with special educational needs and their families.

To support young children in developing skills that they will use in daily life.
To support families in taking a lead role as educators in the early years.

Portage home visits are available from approximately 1 year old.
Families may be offered a place at an Early Start group from birth.
Early Start offers drop-ins to babies up to 1 year old with complex needs. Early Start is based at Nigel Hunter Nursery, Battledown Centre for Children & Families and other settings, and provides opportunities for play, future peer and professional support.

Portage is flexible and adaptable, recognising the individuality of each child and family.
Portage respects parents as the key figures in the care and development of their child and aims to help parents to be confident in this role.
The emphasis is positive, working on what the child can do.
Parents work with the Portage Home Visitor planning their goals ensuring that Portage support is relevant to the needs of their child and family.

Portage was developed in the USA. There are now 140 services registered with the National Portage Association in Britain.

The Portage team visit families of pre-school children who are experiencing difficulty in at least two areas of development, or children with a recognised syndrome.
Portage services are committed to securing inclusion in the wider community for all children and families in their own right.
We work in partnership with parents/carers to develop a structured play-based teaching programme for their child.

In order to do this the Portage Home Visitor works alongside parents offering practical help and ideas to:

Portage worker and parent together will assess what the child can do, and plan goals.
These goals will form the basis of an Individual Education Plan (IEP).
The IEP will be shared with other professionals with your permission.
Each visit, an activity is decided upon based on play.
Each activity is designed to provide fun and success for the child.
Each activity may represent a small step towards one of the family’s planned goals.
Families practise activities between visits.
Each visit lasts about an hour.
An Educational Psychologist may help with aspects of development, or transition to the next setting.

Early Start drop-ins are offered to babies up to 1 year at Nigel Hunter Nursery, Battledown Centre for Children & Families and other settings.
In the summer holidays Portage offers drop-in sessions at selected Children’s Centres.
Gloucestershire Portage offers a Lead Professional to some families through Early Support.
We hold National Portage Association Basic Training Courses (accredited) in Gloucestershire. On each Course there are two free parents’ places available.

Referral to the Portage Service is done by completing a ‘green form’ SEN/EY1 which you can obtain from health visitors, paediatricians, GPs or direct from the Portage office.
The ‘green form’ should then be sent to the Early Years Notification Panel who allocate which placement or service will best meet the child’s needs.
Once referred to the service the Portage team will contact the parent/carer as soon as they have a vacancy
Two members of the team will then visit the family at home to talk to them about Portage.
If everyone agrees that the service is what is required the Portage Home Visitor allocated to the family will arrange a regular time each week (or occasionally fortnightly) to visit them, or offer drop-in sessions as part of Early Start.
An educational psychologist will also be allocated to your child and may work with the Portage Home Visitor when requested.

When a child moves into another setting Portage sessions will reduce.
By the time s/he is attending three or four sessions a week Portage will finish.
Before a child moves to a pre-school placement, the Portage Home Visitor and the educational psychologist can support the family in finding the appropriate placement for their child.
Portage will be discontinued if the child is achieving his/her age appropriate developmental milestones.
Portage will also be discontinued if the parent or carer is unavailable to work with Portage, despite reasonable efforts to engage with them.