The Inclusion Centre is a resourced provision for students who have an Education and Health Care Plan (EHCP) or are currently undergoing assessment and are awarded placement by the Inclusion Support Panel (ISP), which is run by Portsmouth City Council’s Special Education Needs (SEN) Team. The students will work towards being able to integrate into mainstream education for some learning, with support from the team to meet their specific needs.
Our curriculum centres on each student as an individual, looking at their starting points and next steps. We do not directly follow the national curriculum. Instead we use each student’s EHCP outcomes to plan a highly bespoke curriculum with a strong link to the Preparing for Adulthood outcomes. We work closely with the mainstream part of The Portsmouth Academy to ensure that there are meaningful opportunities for children to integrate and learn where appropriate.
To ensure that our curriculum is student-centred, we work with a range of other professionals, including speech and language therapists, educational psychologists, physiotherapists, and occupational therapists, to ensure that each child’s holistic needs are being met as part of our curriculum.
Our topics are closely linked to the mainstream part of the school to support integration. Where appropriate, we offer a ‘shadow curriculum’ which mirrors main school topics or units of learning but is adapted to best suit the needs of the students we support. However, these topics are a vehicle for individualising learning for students within the inclusion centre; as their learning will be highly personalised.
The Bridge Inclusion Centre currently has two class teachers and four student engagement workers, led and managed by our Head of Inclusive Provision.
We aim to foster strong relationships and work closely with parents and carers. We have regular contact with parents and carers using whichever method is best – in person, via telephone, or via email so that parents are kept informed about their child’s progress. We hold parent/caregiver progress evenings once a term to discuss the student's next steps.
If you would like more information about our inclusion unit or would like a tour, please call The Portsmouth Academy’s main office at the number found here.
