Our local SEND offer
What does City of Portsmouth College do?
We are a large general further education establishment that provides a full range of vocational and academic courses and student support services including additional learning support for students with learning, emotional, behavioural, personal and mental health difficulties.
Who do we provide for?
We provide education to young people with a wide range of behavioural emotional and learning disabilities. Students may be working at pre-entry level right the way up to Level 6 (degree equivalent) in a wide range of subject areas.
How can I find out more?
Contact us to discuss a visit and to learn more about what we can offer. A placement at City of Portsmouth College will usually start in September but we do take students throughout the year.
How are decisions made about who can come here?
The decision about a placement at City of Portsmouth College is usually made via a Support Review which includes parents, carers, City of Portsmouth College staff and relevant outside agencies. Applicants are invited to the meeting to discuss their SEND needs.
How do we know if students need more support and what should I do if I think my young person needs extra help?
The learning support team undertake regular reviews. Some of these are more formal than others. Parents/carers and other people who support the student have lots of opportunities to meet the team. Any change in needs is identified as part of this process and we work to implement additional measures where possible.
Regular review
We have a number of ways in which we formally and informally review student progress throughout the year. These include:
- annual review meetings
- parents' evenings
- Personal Learning Plans (PLPs)
- Educational Health & Care Plans.
The SEND team can be contacted at any time throughout the year at SEN@copc.ac.uk
How will the curriculum be matched to the student’s needs?
We enable SEND students to access the curriculum by providing fully accessible facilities and equipment, adjusting the timetable and lessons to meet learning and care needs and by providing the appropriate technology and adaptations to encourage independence, including:
- sensory rooms
- Read & Write Gold 10
- dictaphones
- laptops
- iPads
- coloured overlays
- dictionaries
- zoomtext keyboards
- braille labellers & sense note takers
- magnifiers
- JAWS software.
How will both you and I know how the student is doing and how will you help me to support my young person’s learning?
At City of Portsmouth College every student will have an individually agreed programme which integrates their education, independence skills and other support. These will be delivered holistically for each individual student.
Each student’s programme is broken down into a system of aims, objectives and targets, which are all recorded.
In addition to the normal system of annual reports and reviews we are able to provide information on a young person’s curriculum progress and achievements to parents/carers at parents' evenings. We operate an open door policy for parents/carers to discuss their young person’s needs at all times.
We encourage parents/carers to get involved in a young person’s education where relevant.
What support will there be for my young person’s wellbeing?
Each member of our staff has the student’s wellbeing at the centre of their role. Students are supported by a multi-disciplinary team of professionals on site.
Our multi-disciplinary team consists of the following:
- teachers
- learning support assistants
- emotional support team
- health & wellbeing team
- SEND team
- dyslexia support
- speech & language support
- emotional literacy support.
In addition many students will be involved with other specialist staff such as:
- careers advisors
- job coaches
- specialist tutors
- visual impairment advisors
- assistive technologists
- educational psychologists.
What training have the staff supporting SEND students had or are having?
A full programme of mandatory training is in place for all staff covering all the essential skills for their roles. Teaching staff are qualified and hold a range of specialist qualifications.
All our care and class support staff have an appropriate Level 2 or 3 qualification or are working towards achieving this. All have Level 2 maths & English and some have a Dyslexia Action, SEND Level 5 Specialist Educator qualification, Level 7 Certificate in Psychometric Testing, Assessment and Access Arrangements, Emotional Literacy Support Assistant Training, SEMH - Lego® Based Therapy and Speech and Language Support for Post 16s at ELKLAN.
There is also an extensive programme of specialist qualifications and training available which enables all staff to be more effective in working in the student centred manner.
How accessible is our environment?
Much of the College is accessible to people with disabilities, and wherever possible, we use accessible rooms for groups which include a student or students with disabilities.
How will we prepare and support my young person to transfer to the next stage of life?
We work closely with both feeder schools, families and external agencies to ensure that students are supported to take their next steps. As students approach transition points we work closely with Student Central.
Who can I contact for further information?
For a College prospectus, application form or to schedule a visit, please contact our Advice & Guidance team on 023 9238 3131 or email info@copc.ac.uk
More details can be found on Portsmouth City Council's Local SEND offer webpage here
