Portsmouth Inclusion Centres

The difference between an Inclusion Centre and a special school is the level of need required by the child and the curriculum they can access. The child in an Inclusion Centre will generally have less needs than those in special school, as those in the Inclusion Centre are hopefully slowly reintroduced into mainstream over time, with the ability of accessing the national curriculum. Those attending special school are provided a more specialised curriculum which will meet their needs on a more individual basis.

An Inclusion Centre could be sometimes regarded as a ‘halfway’ house, between mainstream and special school, with the best of both worlds! It allows for some special educational needs to be catered for, but set within a centre where they can still access elements of a mainstream education, dipping in and out to suit their needs.  Sometimes a child finds being in a mainstream classroom with up to 30 children too stressful, and either their physical, emotional, social and/or cognitive needs are too great and a smaller group of children with more adults to cater for their needs is what is required. The larger mainstream class can either be a distraction from their learning or their needs may become a distraction for others learning.

Yes. Inclusion Centres have an entry criterion, as do special schools. An Inclusion Centre will have specific types and level of needs it caters for. The child will also need to have an Education Health and Care Plan awarded stating those specific needs and the child will need to show potential for reintegration back into mainstream. However, each year reintegration will be reviewed and the appropriateness will be determined depending on the child’s needs.

If you child is about to start school then your child’s nursery SENCO or the Educational Psychologist who helped with your EHCP application will be able to advise you and request the referral to the Portsmouth SEND team. If your child is already at school and needs a transfer to an Inclusion Centre then the school SENCO is who will need to make the referral to the SEND team for you, after an annual review of the EHCP has been completed. There is a specified timetable for this, so please ask the SENCO for details in order for the deadlines to be met.

You are welcome to visit the Inclusion Centres to discuss your child’s needs prior to application, who will also be able to advise you on the process and criteria for entry. The application needs to be made to the SEND Team who will put it forward to the Inclusion Support panel (ISP). Once a place has been allocated by the SEND team, the Inclusion Centre will contact you directly to arrange a transition meeting or visit, later in the summer term.

The Specialist Inclusion Support panel is made up of professionals from across the city who work in Education and Health. They meet up to discuss each case individually to decide if the child’s needs meet the criteria for either Inclusion Centres or Specialist School provision. Once it has been decided that the criteria have been met and all those are shortlisted, another panel is convened to decide on the priority and severity of need, then the children are ranked in high to low priority. Places are then allocated determined by how many are available at that time. For those that aren’t allocated a space, alternatives will be looked into and occasionally mainstream places are allocated with additional support until a space becomes available.

To find out more about each centre click one of the links below.

• Penhale Infant School & Nursery Inclusion Centre – known as The Rainbow Fish Centre

• Victory Primary School Inclusion Centre – Communication and Interaction

• Trafalgar Inclusion Centre – Communication and Interaction

• St Edmunds School Inclusion Centre – Sensory Impairment

• Southsea Inclusion Centre – Communication and Interaction

• Portsdown Primary School Inclusion Centre – Communication and Interaction

• Northern Parade School Inclusion Centre – Sensory Impairment

• Milton Park Inclusion Centre – Communication and Interaction

• Flying Bull Academy Inclusion Centre – Social, Emotional, Mental Health

• Devonshire Inclusion Centre – Communication and Interaction

• The Harbour School