In this section:
OVERVIEW OF SERVICES
The table below provides a quick overview of the services in the SEMH partnership and the age ranges they support. For full details about each service, scroll down to the one minute guides section at the bottom of this page.
| Service | Summary | Age range |
| Early Help and Prevention | Early Help and Prevention offers a targeted response via MASH. In addition, support is offered around:
|
All |
| Educational Psychology Team | Free to all schools: support following critical incidents, attachments aware schools, support for CYP from armed forces families.
Traded: consultation and assessment, INSET, specialist interventions, staff supervision and bespoke support. |
All schools
Traded schools |
| Inclusion Outreach Service | Inclusion Outreach promotes good outcomes for children and young people with SEND in the city. It is available to all mainstream schools, delivered by a range of professionals from a partnership of services including; MABS, Solent Academies Trust, Children’s Therapy Service, and experienced Outreach SENCos from mainstream schools in the city. | All schools |
| Kooth | Kooth is an anonymous online emotional health/wellbeing service for 11-25 year olds which helps children and young people to feel safe and confident in exploring their concerns and seeking professional support. Kooth is a website rather than an app. | 11-25 year olds |
| LA Education Link Coordinators | Local Authority Education Link Coordinators provide oversight, advice and guidance to early years, schools, and colleges to ensure they are aware of their vulnerable children, and they are being supported effectively.
Fortnightly calls take place with each school to discuss all children who are identified as being vulnerable. Conversations take place in a restorative way, to explore the right support available for each child. |
All schools, colleges, and nurseries |
| Multi-Agency Behaviour Support (MABS) | MABS is a fully traded SEMH Outreach Service, consisting of a team of experienced Lead Teacher Advisors (working with school staff) and Pupil and Family Practitioners (working with pupils and families) and the Outreach Manager. | Traded schools |
| Mental Health Support Teams (MHST) | MHST work with education settings to provide mental health interventions, advice, and liaison with external specialist service to help children and young people to get the right support. | All schools |
| My Happy Mind | My Happy Mind is a programme for schools and nurseries that teaches children preventative habits that supports positive mental health, resilience and self-esteem. All of the concepts taught are based on science and research and grounded in neuroscience and positive psychology. | Some nurseries, infant and junior schools (see One Minute Guide below) |
| Neurodiversity in Schools Programme | The project has allowed us to provide schools with free support, including a review of the school environment and classroom practice, leading to action plans that will support improvements and improve inclusivity within the education settings. | Some schools |
| Neurodiversity Multi-Disciplinary Team | The team has been developed to support the city’s new neurodiversity pathway which aims to improve early identification of neurodiversity and offer increased support for families and professionals, meaning children and young people may not need to go through the lengthy assessment process to get their needs met. | All schools, colleges and settings |
| PSCP safeguarding children training and learning for DSLs | Portsmouth Safeguarding Children Partnership is committed to supporting those in Portsmouth schools to develop their knowledge and skills to effectively safeguarding children. The training offer for DSLs and their deputies is free of charge. The training offer is a mixture of face to face, virtual and recorded opportunities to ensure accessibility. | All schools, colleges, and settings |
| Restorative and Relational Practice | A whole-school approach, providing a framework for creating and sustaining a school climate where teaching and learning can take place effectively and where students and adults can thrive as they learn from each other. | Some schools (find out more) |
| School Nursing Service | Support and intervention to improve health outcomes and reduce health inequalities across all tiers of need for children and young people aged 4-16 years. | Primary and secondary |
| The Virtual School | To follow |
ONE MINUTE GUIDES
Early Help and Prevention
Overview:
Targeted support for tier 3 families who are experiencing multiple complex needs.
Family Support workers use the Family Support Plan to enable families to improve the outcomes of the children. Visits take place over six months and can include all members of the family.
Support is offered from the most appropriate team – Children with Disabilities, Wellbeing in Education , Young Carers , LGBTQ+ or the wider team with access to specialists.
After six months families are encouraged to continue to work on their plan with the support of wider Early Help partners as needed.
Training and support available for staff:
Where schools are working with families they can access:
- Parenting programmes – including parenting advice sessions, workshops and courses.
- Team Around the Worker specialist support from the LGBTQ+ and Young Carers team and parenting specialists.
- MAT meetings – virtual monthly meetings offered in each locality providing access to community information, training and networking opportunities.
Young carers: offer training, assemblies, resources, half-termly network meetings and the opportunity for a specialist to go in and discuss a school’s current offer and how it can be developed. As a whole service we also offer TAW for staff supporting individual young people – and YC advocacy for meetings.
LGBTQ+ team can offer support to Portsmouth schools. Please contact the team using the email provided below and they will be able to share further information about the current offer.
Support and interventions with children and young people:
Young carers:
- For 8-14 year olds: there is a group every Saturday morning at the John Pounds Centre (Queen Street, Portsea, PO1 3HN).
- For 8-18 year olds: there is a group every Wednesday evening at the Paulsgrove Family Hub (Cheltenham Road, Paulsgrove, PO6 3PL).
- For 14-18 year olds: there is a group every Monday evening at the Carers Centre (117 Orchard Road, Southsea, PO4 0AD).
- For 18-25 year olds: there is a group every Thursday evening at the Carers Centre (117 Orchard Road, Southsea, PO4 0AD).
LGBTQ+:
- For 13-19 year-olds: there is 4U Youth Group. Tuesdays 6pm – 9pm.
- For 18-25 year-olds: there is the 4Me Youth Group. Thursdays 7pm – 9pm.
- For under 13s and parents and carers: there is the 4Us Group. Alternate Mondays 5pm – 7.30pm. This is an alternated learning and peer support group, with a facilitated youth group for under 13s once a month.
Support and interventions for parents and carers:
Triple P Discussion Groups (5-16)
A focused program of sessions designed to support school-aged children (5-16), taking place at the Family Hubs across the city at a range of times, including some evening sessions.
Non-Violent Resistance (NVR)
‘Overcoming a child’s or young person’s violent, aggressive, harmful, self-destructive or risk-taking behaviour using Non-Violent Resistance’ (10-week course).
Non-Violent Resistance (NVR) – where a child is being exploited (10-week course).
Rebuilding Relationships (RR)
‘Creating new possibilities using NVR approaches, that defiance, aggression and conflict has taken away’ (3-week course).
Parenting surgeries
For families who do not have a lead professional, they can book a one-to-one session to look at behaviour management strategies.
Find out more:
- Young carers – Portsmouth City Council
- LGBTQ+ young people and their families – Portsmouth City Council
- Behaviour management – Portsmouth City Council
Contact details:
Young carers:
- Phone: 02392 821 816
- Email: [email protected]
LGBTQ+:
- Email: [email protected]
Parenting:
- Email: [email protected]
- Phone: 02392 821816, or text the texting line on 07823 687838
Educational Psychology Team
Overview:
Traded service to schools to provide:
- Consultation and assessment – to help understand the needs of children/young people and identify the best way forward to support them.
- INSET and training – across a wide range of specialist knowledge areas.
- Specialist interventions – including therapeutic interventions, nurture group training and support, emotion coaching training etc.
- Staff supervision – structured supervision for individuals and/or groups of school staff.
- Systems and development – working with schools on policy development, training and support.
- Emotional Literacy Support Assistants (ELSA) project – initial training and group supervision.
Free to schools:
- Support following critical incidents, loss and bereavement.
- Attachment Aware Schools Project.
- Support, advice and training to support children and young people from Armed Forces Families.
Support available for a whole school approach to SEMH:
Through traded service, EPs work at a systemic level in schools to support SEMH e.g. through consultation and advice, training and development work, providing staff support and supervision etc.
Training and support available for staff:
Training across a range of specialist knowledge areas available to schools via traded service. Can include training to better understand and support all aspects of SEMH e.g. attachment, relational approaches, neurodiversity, emotionally based school avoidance, loss and bereavement etc.
Support and interventions with children and young people:
- EPs work with children from 0-25 years.
- Through traded service EPs can work with individual and/or groups of pupils.
Support and interventions for parents and carers:
When working with children and young people, EPs do so with the informed consent and involvement of parents/carers.
Find out more:
Educational Psychology Service > Portsmouth Local Offer
Contact details:
For general enquiries, please email [email protected]
Inclusion Outreach Service
Overview:
Inclusion Outreach promotes good outcomes for children and young people with SEND in the city. It is available to all mainstream schools, delivered by a range of professionals from a partnership of services including; MABS, Solent Academies Trust, Children’s Therapy Service, and experienced Outreach SENCos from mainstream schools in the city.
The support available includes:
- Needs led flexible support
- Specialist advice and support for school staff (thinking about individual/groups of CYP)
- Professional development – central and bespoke (just email with any requests)
- Support for staff while awaiting a specialist placement or transitioning back to mainstream
- Peer support from experienced mainstream Outreach SENCos (this can be for new and existing SENCos)
- Team around the school – multi-agency support, working in partnership with a school senior leadership team to implement interventions at a systemic level
- Action learning sets / staff team development / supervision (his can be for SLT, specific groups of staff, year leads etc.)
- Support for loss and bereavement champions
- Specialist advice from the Children’s Therapy Service (to create SLCN / Sensory friendly environments within mainstream settings and any related specific training. They can’t support with individual CYP as this has to go through their direct referral pathway)
- Phone or email for general advice and enquiries (if we don’t know we’ll aim to find someone who does)
Support is free to schools and can be accessed by contacting the Service Coordinator (Lisa Caine) either via phone: 023 92606060, or email: [email protected] / [email protected]
Outcomes:
97% of mainstream schools had contact with the service in the academic year 2021-22.
“Improved support for our children. Increased support for our staff, leading to improved understanding of needs and how to support them.”
“Excellent service and always responds to changing needs in terms of support it offers.”
Support available for a whole school approach to SEMH:
- Staff development – developmental trauma and PACE training (see others below)
Training and support available for staff:
All training can be accessed through the central training programme or by contacting the Inclusion Outreach Service Coordinator directly and bespoke requests are accommodated wherever possible.
Training includes: Makaton, Sensory circuits and regulation, Zones of regulation, De-escalation & Emotion Coaching, Behaviour as Communication, PACE+ webinars, Developmental Trauma and PACE, Autism in Action for the Primary classroom, Sensory Regulation within the mainstream classroom, Sensory integration and therapeutic support within the mainstream classroom context, Communication through Symbols, Attention Portsmouth (Bucket), Stories for Social Understanding.
Find out more:
Inclusion Outreach Service – Portsmouth SEND Local Offer
Contact details (for schools and professionals only):
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 023 9260 6060
Kooth Digital Mental Health Platform
Overview:
Kooth is an anonymous online emotional health/wellbeing service for 11-25 year olds which helps children and young people to feel safe and confident in exploring their concerns and seeking professional support. Kooth is a website rather than an app.
Access to Kooth is immediate, just visit kooth.com. There is no need for a referral, no waiting lists and the service is available 24/7 with counselling available 12pm–10pm weekdays and 6pm–10pm on weekends.
Aims:
- Provide an early response to, and identification of emotional wellbeing and mental health problems, leading to improved wellbeing, prevention of symptom escalation and provision of the right care at the right time.
- Improve CYP participation in service development.
- Encourage the use of self-care tools and resources intended to build resilience and self-help.
- Remove barriers for more vulnerable/disadvantaged/harder-to-reach individuals.
- Promote and improve integrated partnership and collaborative care across agencies, to reduce the demand on specialist children’s services, particularly CAMHS and social care.
- Improve the knowledge and capacity of schools to identify and address emotional wellbeing and mental health problems through good engagement and promoting a whole-school approach.
Key service data, Apr – Oct 2022:
- Average monthly registrations – 85 young people
- 64% were female
- 28% were male
- 8% were gender fluid/agender
- 20% were BME
- Main ages of new registrations are 11 years old (13.3%), 13 years old (13.3%) and 16 (13.3%)
- The top 3 presenting issues are anxiety/stress (40.5%) suicidal thoughts (23.8%) self harm (20.2%)
- On average 22% (19) of young people accessed counselling
- On average 68% of young people achieve their identified goals (service uses goal based outcomes)
- 67% of log ins occur out of hours (office hours are weekday 9am – 5pm)
- The main place young people have heard of Kooth is through their school or college (33%)
Support and interventions with children and young people:
- Live chat function for a CYP to converse with a qualified counsellor
- Messaging function for the CYP to contact the service, these are monitored and managed by counsellors and emotional wellbeing practitioners
- Static and live topic-focused forums; forums encourage the development of a peer-supported community online
- An online magazine containing a wealth of topic specific resources, from mental health specific topics to more general subjects such as holidays, family, and relationships. Over 50% of content is contributed by service users, all of which is moderated before being published
- Crisis information, and self-help resources
Find out more:
Visit the Kooth website.
Young people can be signposted and sign up themselves at www.kooth.com.
LA Education Link Coordinators
Who is the support for?
DSL’s and pastoral teams within school, college or early years setting.
Overview:
Local Authority Education Link Coordinators provide oversight, advice and guidance to early years, schools, and colleges to ensure they are aware of their vulnerable children, and they are being supported effectively.
Fortnightly calls take place with each school to discuss all children who are identified as being vulnerable. Conversations take place in a restorative way, to explore the right support available for each child.
Support available for a whole school approach to SEMH:
- Advice on the local SEMH offer
- Exploratory conversations to help identify the best options available for a child
- Promoting the use of a ‘Family Support Plan’ for children where additional support needs are identified
- Resources and information on local services available
Contact details (for professionals only):
| Fran Shaul | Supporting Families Manager | [email protected] |
| Kath Turner | North Locality – Link Coordinator | [email protected] |
| Karen Monteith | Central Locality – Link Coordinator | [email protected] |
| Lizzie Norland | South Locality – Link Coordinator | [email protected] |
| Clare Montague | Special Schools – Link Coordinator | [email protected] |
| Wendy Winter | Early Years and Colleges Link Coordinator | [email protected] |
Mental Health Support Team
Overview:
The Mental Health Support Team (MHST) is an NHS service that has been introduced as part of the national plans to expand mental health services for children, young people, and their families within an education setting. We work with education settings to provide mental health interventions, advice, and liaison with external specialist service to help children and young people to get the right support.
Mental Health Support Teams (MHST) partner with schools and colleges in Portsmouth to support mental health and emotional wellbeing. Our focus is on early intervention, prevention, and promotion; for young people who are thriving, coping or would benefit from getting help.
Support available for a whole school approach to SEMH:
All our referrals come through the school or college link. We work with the whole school or college community; for example, delivering workshops and coffee mornings for parents and carers, assemblies and pupil voice groups for young people, and training and consultation for staff.
Whole class intervention: we provide whole class, year group and group interventions in line with identified school needs.
A range of options: we offer a wide range of interventions because we acknowledge that guided self-help might not always be the right fit.
Signposting to other services: we work with schools and families to think about ways of supporting the child or young persons including signposting to other services or activities.
Support for school staff: we support schools and colleges to develop and deliver their whole school approach to mental health and wellbeing.
Training and support available for staff:
We offer training and support, and this can be accessed through your MHST school link:
- Low mood: sadness, low motivation
- Mild to moderate anxiety: worries, irrational fears, and concerns
- Behaviours that challenge
- Difficulty adjusting to change and transition
Support and interventions with children and young people:
We work individually and in groups young people if they are accessing a local education setting.
Some of the things we help with are:
- Low mood: sadness, low motivation
- Mild to moderate anxiety: worries, irrational fears, and concerns
- Difficulty adjusting to change and transition
- Difficulty regulating emotions
- School absences or at risk of exclusion
Support and interventions for parents and carers:
We work individually and in groups with parents, carers with a young person attending a local education setting.
Multi-Agency Behaviour Support (MABS)
Overview:
MABS is a fully traded SEMH Outreach Service, consisting of a team of experienced Lead Teacher Advisors (working with school staff) and Pupil and Family Practitioners (working with pupils and families), supporting children, young people, families and schools with Social Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH) needs.
As a fully traded service MABS offers a range of needs led support, both with individual commissioning school’s and citywide through the Local Authority and the Virtual School.
Direct school commissions:
- Range of Lead Teacher Advisor and Pupil and Family Practitioner support dependent on the individual school’s needs.
- 39 schools from September 2022 (32 infant/junior/primary, 7 secondary).
Any mainstream school can request a MABS commission by contacting the Service Manager – Lisa Caine, [email protected]
Citywide commissions providing support to:
- Children Looked After requested by the Virtual School within Portsmouth and beyond for Portsmouth children looked after with low attendance and SEMH needs (Pupil and Family Practitioner support).
- Children and young people moving between mainstream schools that go through the Fair Access Process (Pupil and Family Practitioner reintegration support to children, families and schools) – allocated through ISP.
- School staff supporting children and young people with complex needs through the Inclusion Outreach Service alongside other specialist partners from Solent Academies Trust, Children’s Therapy Service, Educational Psychology Service and Outreach SENCos (provided by MABS Lead Teacher Advisors).
MABS uses a trauma informed relationship-based approach to promote and develop SEMH so that all children and young people can flourish in our school communities. Relationships are at the heart of everything we do and we see our purpose to support communities and individuals to understand behaviour as communication and build healthy approaches to meeting needs and solving problems.
Outputs and feedback for 2021-22 included:
- 282 children / families supported
- 100% satisfaction with the overall impact of MABS support
- Improved relationships (pupils/staff/parents)
- Increased staff confidence
- Improved social, emotional & resilience skills
- Improved attendance
- Increased time in class
- Improved emotional wellbeing and mental health
- Improved learning behaviour
- Reduced suspensions
- “Thank you to the whole team for their flexibility, understanding and support this year!”
- “It’s a very efficient and supportive service.”
- “We have been really grateful for all this support this year in its many forms.”
Support available for a whole school approach to SEMH:
With schools that have a commission including Lead Teacher Advisory support, MABS can support across all areas of the whole school approach and we aim to agree MABS work as part of the school’s development plan.
Training and support available for staff:
Support from Lead Teacher Advisors can include: training/coaching/mentoring/supervision; drop-ins/consultation – across all areas of SEMH including the ND profile; advice, assessment and understanding of SEMH needs to develop plans, clear intervention strategies and modelling, resources and staff development.
Training includes: sensory circuits and regulation, zones of regulation, de-escalation and emotion coaching, behaviour as communication, developmental trauma and PACE, collaborative problem solving, EBSA, understanding ADHD as part of neurodiversity.
Support and training can be accessed through individual school commissions, or for more complex needs or wider staff development through Inclusion Outreach via direct request to: [email protected]
Support and interventions with children and young people:
Pupil and Family Practitioners work across all school age ranges and needs under the umbrella of SEMH with children of commissioning schools, or across the city in terms of reintegration support/Virtual School requests for Portsmouth children.
Support can be provided both 1:1 or in groups for example: loss and bereavement; exam worries; understanding myself; mentoring and coaching; developing social and emotional skills (self-awareness, social skills, self-regulation, empathy, motivation); barriers to attendance; emotional first aid/worry warriors.
Support and interventions for parents and carers:
Pupil and Family Practitioners work across all school age ranges and needs under the umbrella of SEMH with families of commissioning schools, or across the city in terms of reintegration support/Virtual School requests for Portsmouth children. Lead Teacher Advisors also work collaboratively with parents as part of their support for school staff.
Support can be provided both 1:1 (within the home or in school drop ins) or in groups for example: PACE (1:1 and workshops); NVR (1:1 or workshops); bespoke relational Triple P (workshops and 1:1); understanding behaviour as communication; developing social and emotional skills; restorative practice, Up2U Family Practice, DDP (1:1).
Contact details:
Email: [email protected]
Lisa Caine, Manager of Outreach: [email protected]
My Happy Mind
Overview:
My Happy Mind is a program for schools and nurseries that teaches children preventative habits that supports positive mental health, resilience and self-esteem. All of the concepts taught are based on science and research and grounded in neuroscience and positive psychology.
The computer based program is delivered via an innovative technology platform making learning easy, convenient and fun. It’s delivered by class teachers across five modules, all designed to develop critical knowledge and habits that support children’s mental health.
We have been piloting the My Happy Mind Programme from October 2022 as part of a joint commissioning arrangement between the NHS and the following nurseries and schools.
| Nurseries | Primary Schools |
| 1. Fledging Preschool
2. Twinkle Cottage Day Nursery 3. Highbury Primary School 4. Little Bears Forest Preschool 5. Little Sunbeams 6. Wind in the Willows 7. Bramble Infant school and Nursery 8. Honeypot Nursery 9. Top Tots Day Nursery 10. Top Tots Day Nursery 11. Top Tots Day Nursery 12. Top Tots Day Nursery 13. Milton Park Pre school 14. St Jude’s Church Nursery 15. St Pauls Primary and Nursery School 16. Drayton Daisy Chain Pre-school 17. Little Learners 18. Leapfrog Nursery Villers Road 20. Leapfrog Nursery Yarborough Road 21. Portsdown Nursery 22. Little Stars Pre School 23. Puffins Pre School 24. Peacock Pre School 25. Brunel Meredith Pre-School 26. Ark Ayton Nursery |
1. Ark Ayrton Primary Academy
2. Ark Dickens Primary Academy 3. Bramble Infant School 4. Craneswater Junior School 5. Gatcombe Park Primary School 6. Highbury Primary School 7. Mayfield Primary 8. Southsea Infant School 9. St George’s Beneficial CE Primary School 10. Westover Primary School 11. Copnor Primary School 12. Kings Academy Northern Parade 13. St Swithun’s Primary School 14. The Harbour School 15. Mary Rose Academy School 16. Cliffdale Primary Academy School 17. Redwood Park Academy School 18. Cumberland Infants School 19. St Jude’s Primary School 20. Fernhurst Primary School |
A sample of recent feedback received from primary schools:
“Our children love it! They really enjoy the Happy Breathing and it has helped some of our more anxious children to understand the reason they feel this way is because of their amygdala.”
“The staff and children have been really positive about using the resources so far. The children have been really engaged and are talking about their brains a lot!”
“The children always look forward to the sessions and it has been great to see children begin to recognise more of their own strengths as well as strengths in others. We have particularly made good use of the celebrate module to promote kindness and self esteem which has been a particular challenge in our current cohort.”
One of the key aims of the programme is about developing and encouraging positive relationships and teaching children the importance of those relationships.
Support and interventions with children and young people:
My Happy Mind is taught across five modules and each introduces a new set of content and habits to help children build resilience, self-esteem and confidence.
Meet your brain
Understanding how your brain works and how to ensure we look after it so that we can manage our emotions and be at our best. Growth mindset is a key part of this too.
Celebrate
Understanding your unique character strengths and learning to celebrate them. This is a fantastic module for building self esteem.
Appreciate
Understanding why gratitude matters and how you can develop gratitude as a habit.
Relate
Understanding why positive relationships matter and how to build them. We’re focussed on the building blocks of good relationships and friendships.
Engage
Understanding how to set meaningful goals that matter and how to keep resilient in times of challenge. This module is all about building self esteem and resilience too.
Support and interventions for parents and carers:
Included in the package is support for parents by providing them with a free app to continue the learning at home.
Find out more:
Visit the My Happy Mind website.
Neurodiversity in Schools Programme
Overview:
Research shows that children with neurodiverse needs, with or without a diagnosis of autism, are at increased risk of poor learning outcomes, exclusion or anxiety and mental health problems. Since 2021, Portsmouth have been working with a small number of schools in partnership with a variety of agencies to develop school practice and transform support for children who have a level of neurodiversity that was impacting on their engagement and enjoyment in school.
The project has allowed us to provide schools with free support, including a review of the school environment and classroom practice, leading to action plans that will support improvements and improve inclusivity within the education settings.
The project has been developed in coproduction with school leaders, young people, parent forum representatives and partnership agencies and focusses on whole-school change. This is achieved through:
- Training for the whole school and wider workforce including governors including ‘Understanding Myself‘ training to be delivered to children and young people to help them understand their neurodiverse needs.
- Developing policies and practice to support cultural change, from the senior leadership team down.
- Setting up parent hubs to support parent carers in understanding their child and developing their knowledge through support and training and increasing communication with education settings.
- Access to an innovative Neurodiversity Digital Platform that provides families and, professionals access to a range of resources and tools with up to date information.
There are currently 15 schools taking part in the project, with more expected to sign up in the next year. These include:
| Beacon View Primary Academy | Solent Junior School |
| Castle View Academy | Springfield School |
| Manor Infant and Nursery School | St George’s Beneficial C of E Primary School |
| Mayfield School | St John’s Cathedral Catholic Primary School |
| Miltoncross Academy | The Flying Bull Academy |
| Priory School | The Portsmouth Academy |
| Portsdown Primary School | The Victory Primary School |
| Solent Infant School |
Support available for a whole school approach to SEMH:
Provide education settings with training and support to understand neurodiversity and developing skills to support children and young people to manage their neurodiverse needs, which could, if left unsupported, develop into more complex SEMH needs.
Training and support available for staff:
The project offers bespoke training and support based on the needs of the whole school including emotion coaching, sensory needs, behaviour communication and inclusive classroom practice. Other training may also be available on request or if a need is identified.
This is provided by the Neurodiversity Multidisciplinary team and the Multi-Agency Behaviour Support team and will support the whole school/workforce to develop their understanding and practice for supporting their pupils with neurodiverse needs helping to create consistent messaging and support for children and young people.
Schools can access training to deliver ‘Understanding Myself’ which supports children to better understand their own needs and how to meet them. Schools will receive a free ‘resource box’ which will have tools and information to support their learning.
Support and interventions with children and young people:
Once trained, schools will be supported to deliver the six-week (one hour per week) ‘Understanding Myself’ sessions to their pupils. This programme supports children to better understand their own needs and how to meet them.
Support and interventions for parents and carers:
Creation of parent hubs with schools and parents/carers, supported by the parent carer forum. We use the skills, knowledge, strategic influence, and relationships in the hubs to look at ways of expanding parent and carer input and feedback with each of the school clusters.
Parents/carers will also receive the same messaging as schools, and training if requested to help create the consistency of messaging and delivery of strategies across education and home.
Creation of an innovative digital platform that provides families and practitioners access to a range of resources and tools, up to date information and interactive functions.
Find out more:
Please contact the Neurodiversity Multidisciplinary 0-19 Team for more information or to join the project.
Contact details:
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 02392 606051
Neurodiversity platform – Family Assist (click on the neurodiversity tab)
Neurodiversity Multidisciplinary Team
Overview:
Portsmouth’s Neurodiversity Team (0-19) consists of family support workers, child and adolescent clinicians, an educational psychologist, speech and language therapy, occupational therapy and service lead.
The team has been developed to support the city’s new neurodiversity pathway which aims to improve early identification of neurodiversity and offer increased support for families and professionals, meaning children and young people may not need to go through the lengthy assessment process to get their needs met.
The Neurodiversity Team will provide:
- A single point of access for parents/carers and professionals who require additional support and/or training to meet a child or young person’s needs
- Universal and consistent support for families, children and young people
- An extended offer for more complex cases which may include assessments, diagnoses, and focused support, but this is dependent on each case
Please get in touch with the team if you have any queries or questions about the new pathway.
Contact details:
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 02392 606051
Neurodiversity platform – Family Assist (click on the neurodiversity tab)
Relational and Restorative Practice in Education
Visit the Restorative and Relational Practice in Education webpage for more information.
School Nursing Service
What is the School Nursing Service offer?
- Support and intervention to improve health outcomes and reduce health inequalities across all tiers of need for children and young people aged 4-16 years.
- School health clinics to local authority and academy schools within Portsmouth city, appointments at Family Hubs and home visits.
- Provide knowledge to schools for health care plans to ensure that the child/young person has their health needs met in school.
- Receive referrals from school, parents/carers, self-referral from young people, other health professionals for example- CAMHS, Health Visitors, Community Paediatric medical service (CPMS), GP and practice staff, Paediatric Consultants (QAH), Community Specialist Nurses, Allied Health Professionals, Childrens Social Care and our local authority colleagues within the 0-19 service.
Why is it important?
The nurses within the service have specialist knowledge and training regarding the health and development of school aged children. Through completing a health needs assessment, they can identify any unmet health needs, work closely with families to ensure the child/young person’s health needs are being met, identify ways to support this if required and work in partnership with schools to ensure these are met whilst accessing education.
The school nurses have additional Public Health qualifications at BSc/MSc level and can provide leadership in delivering the Health Child Programme, supervision and direction of staff and work across all tiers of need.
How do we do it?
- Delivering key Public Health messages to support the health and emotional wellbeing of school aged children through face to face and group contacts.
- Screening health needs through the school entry and year 7 questionnaires and the National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP) in schools to year R and year 6 children.
- Following care pathways for: sleep (and complex sleep), continence (day and night wetting and soiling), healthy weight, fussy eating, emotional wellbeing, healthy relationships, sexual health.
- Offering school health clinics for parent/carers and young people to access.
- Delivering mainstream school staff anaphylaxis and asthma awareness.
- Supporting the delivery of school aged immunisation programmes.
Find out more:
Parents/carers, children and young people can ask their school to contact their specific school nurse on their behalf.
Family Assist
Contact details:
0-19 HV & SN Early Help & Prevention Service
Floor 2 Core 2 Civic Offices,
Guildhall Square, Portsmouth PO1 2GJ
Phone: 0300 123 6629
Email: [email protected]