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Children with disabilities and special educational needs

Peterborough’s Families Information Service (FIS) can work with parents and carers to find suitable childcare options, as well as support and leisure activities, for children and young people with disabilities and additional needs.

How the Families Information Service can help

Childcare providers in Peterborough all aim to offer fully inclusive practice. Peterborough’s Families Information Service (FIS) can work with parents and carers to find suitable childcare options, as well as support and leisure activities, for children and young people with disabilities and additional needs. By understanding the needs of individual families, the FIS can search for and contact childcare providers on behalf of families to find the most suitable options for each family, including short breaks for carers.

The FIS hold a full range of information about registered and unregistered childcare services that run all year round, including school holidays, and can provide clear advice about your choices and opportunities, as well as financial support you may be entitled to.

Contact Peterborough’s Families Information Service:
Freephone helpline: 0800 29 89 121 (with voicemail out of hours) between 8.30am to 5.30pm, Monday to Friday.
Telephone: (01733) 864446
Email: FIS@peterborough.gov.uk  

The Voluntary Disability Register

The FIS maintains the Voluntary Disability Register for Peterborough. By registering your child, you will be made aware of specific support and leisure activities available in your local area. The register providers a quick and easy way for us to ensure parents have the most up to date information. Opportunities may arise for you to have your say about the services in your local area. The register will also support Peterborough City Council plan future services.

The document below appears in Adobe® Acrobat® (PDF) format. In order to view it you will need to have Acrobat Reader installed. (Those with visual impairments may wish to investigate Access Adobe, which provides tools and information to help make PDF files more accessible). 

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PDF file icon  Disability Register Form
  (136KB, 7 pages)

Peterborough’s Portage Service

The Portage service is a home visiting educational service for pre-school children with disabilities, additional support needs or developmental delay and their families. It aims to support the development of young children’s play, communications, relationships and full participation in day to day life within the family and community.

Support offered through Portage is based on the principle that parents are the key figure in the care and development of their child, and Portage aims to help parents to be confident in this role whatever their child’s needs may be.

The service offers an open referral system, which means parents and professionals can refer children to the service.

Families are visited weekly or fortnightly at home by their Portage Home Visitor. Parents share with their home visitor their understanding of their child’s abilities and support needs. The emphasis is on the positive, finding out and building on what a child can do through play based activity grounded in everyday situations.

If you would like further information about the Portage service or would like to refer your pre-school aged child, please contact Sarah Barnard, the Portage Coordinator by:
Telephone: 01733 333735
Email: sarah.bernard@peterborough.gov.uk