Carer centres and services Southampton Portage Service
Contact us
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Address
1st Floor North Block
Civic Centre
Southampton
Hampshire
SO14 7LY
About
Southampton Portage is a home teaching service for young children with special educational needs aged 0-3 years who are delayed in at least two areas of development.
Southampton Portage is an internationally recognised home teaching programme which offers support, help and advice to families in identifying learning strategies for their child with special needs.
The service consists of:
Portage – After an initial visit the child will be place onto the waiting list, until we offer further support this could be by monthly contact either in the home or via telephone call, Portage teaching groups or Portage home teaching. Portage can offer advice on teaching strategies, benefits and grants and link families to other services.
This may include:
- Assessment of the child’s strengths and the areas that they find difficult
- An individualised learning programme.
- learning through play in partnership with a parent/career
- advice on pre-schools/early years settings and on the support that the child may need when they start at a setting
- signposting to other services
Opening times
Monday to Friday 9am - 5pm (term-time only).
Access
- this is a home-visiting service
Catchment area
Southampton
Target group
We support children and families in Southampton who meet the following eligibility criteria:
- The family live in the Southampton local authority area.
- The child is aged 0– 3 years
- The child’s development is delayed by at least 6 months in two or more areas of development.
- Parental consent has been obtained.
- The child’s parent/carer must be available to meet the Portage teacher on a regular basis.
Further information
Requests for Portage involvement can be made for children aged from birth to 3 years who have/are expected to have a delay of at least 6 months in two or more areas of development. The Portage service has an open referral system; therefore anyone can refer to the service so long as they have the parent’s permission, including the family themselves. Upon receipt of a referral a Portage Home Teacher will contact the family to arrange an initial home visit. If a Portage service is felt to be appropriate then this information will be communicated to the family during the initial home visit and followed up with a letter to the referrer. Referral forms can be obtained from the downloads box on this webpage. All Portage teachers have: · ·Foundation degree level qualifications in child development · ·Significant experience of working within Early Years · ·Significant experience of Special Educational Needs · ·Significant experience of working with families · ·Completed Portage Workshop Staff receive on-going training through the National Portage Development training program, as well as through Southampton City Council’s workforce development program. When necessary, we seek and provide additional training based on needs identified by Portage teachers, relating to working with children with specific special educational needs and disabilities. If you would like more information about our service please call 023 8083 4375. You can find out more about the portage home teaching program by going to the national Portage website.
Referral method
Self-referral or referral by other professionals involved.
This information was supplied by Serco Global Services on 1 April 2025.