Source: City of Portsmouth
Portsmouth City Council’s annual Inclusion Conference was held on 17 October and was attended by 38 Portsmouth schools, from nursery to secondary schools.
The 11th annual conference, which was fully booked, celebrated and promoted inclusive practice in the city and aimed to develop practitioners’ knowledge and skills to help understand and meet schoolchildren’s needs.
The event included eight workshops, on various subjects including neurodiversity, and attendance and wellbeing, as well as information from organisations including Solent NHS, Portsmouth Parent Voice, Parent Carer Board, Oarsome Change, Simon Says and Early Help.
Councillor Suzy Horton, Cabinet Member for Children, Families and Education, said: “As a former schoolteacher, I’m proud that we hold these events to continue to develop our teachers and practitioners in all areas of inclusion, and put children at the heart of everything that we do.”
Rachel Osborne, Head of Primary at Mayfield School, said: “Because of changes that we’ve seen in recent times in education, we have to rethink and refine our focus to support our pupils with different needs. It’s great to attend this type of event to gain a common understanding and approach in order to improve outcomes and life chances for our young people in the city.”