Portage Service
- Portage Home Visiting Service
- Working with children
- Supporting parents
- Collaborating with schools and settings
- Eligibility for Portage Service
- Referral process
- Contact
Portage Home Visiting Service
The Portage Team comprises skilled play specialists who assist families with children under 5 having special educational needs or disabilities (SEND).
Our goal is to enhance child development through everyday practical play approaches.
Working with children
Our Portage Visitors:
- maintain a caseload of children, visiting them weekly or fortnightly
- collaborate closely with parents and professionals to identify the child's developmental stage and family aspirations
- facilitate progress by modelling play ideas, lending toys, and suggesting activities while incorporating specialist advice into daily play
Additionally, we partner with the Specialist Health Visiting and Vision Support teams to host the Huddle – a supportive playgroup for kids under 5 with SEND.
Here, families access guidance on various aspects like toileting, sleep, behaviour, learning, play, resources, and transitioning to nursery – all while having fun!
Supporting parents
Portage Visitors work alongside parents, helping them navigate the early years and SEND systems. We aid in recording the child's progress and effective strategies, which fosters smooth transitions to educational settings.
Moreover, we assist parents in engaging with community activities, resources, and available funding to ensure comprehensive community involvement.
Collaborating with Schools and Settings
Our team assists parents in finding a nursery or school for their child. They then work closely with the school, family and other professionals to ensure the proper support is in place to help the child settle quickly and progress.
Eligibility for Portage Service
Children who meet the following criteria will be considered for Portage:
- The child is under 5 and lives in the London Borough of Haringey
- The child is not attending an early-year setting
- The child has complex health needs or a disability from one of the following groups:
- Neurodisability (for example, cerebral palsy, chromosomal and genetic conditions, and syndromes)
- Neurodevelopment disorders (for example, autism)
- severe physical and/or learning difficulties/developmental delay
- profound and multiple disabilities
- severe sensory impairment (blindness or deafness)
- a degenerative illness or complex and severe health problems that are life-limiting
- the child receives or has been referred for multi-agency input from 3 or more specialist agencies
- children with significant social communication difficulties, but who are not accessing multi-agency input from 3 or more agencies may be eligible for Portage
Referral process
Referrals can be made by parents or professionals by emailing portage@haringey.gov.uk
- please include evidence of the child meeting the criteria, listed above in the eligibility section
- a referral will only be considered if the parents/carers have consented
- Portage cycles last 3 months and are subject to review
Contact
For further details, please contact the Portage team:
Email:
portage@haringey.gov.uk
Tel:
020 8489 5039