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If you have information to be included in the next issue of the PEP bulletin, please send your text, image and link by Tuesday at 12pm to pep@portsmouthcc.gov.uk.
Inclusion
Updates from Portsmouth Mental Health Support Team (MHST) |
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Mental Health Forum
All educational settings are invited to this year's first instalment of the Mental Health Forum on Tuesday 11 November 2025, 3.30pm - 5pm at Admiral Lord Nelson School. The forum offers a unique opportunity for education professionals to come together to explore mental health best practices. It also gives time to discuss shared challenges.
Book your place via Eventbrite.
Education newsletter
The first edition of the MHST newsletter for this academic year is now available. The newsletter showcases some of the work the team have been doing and events attended over the summer break. It also considers how to celebrate upcoming key dates.
Change to email address
From 20 October 2025, the generic MHST email address will change to hiowh.camhsmhst-portsmouth@nhs.net. This will be for referrals and all other general enquiries.
Largest Local Offer Live ever set to connect families and SEND services in Portsmouth |
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Portsmouth SEND Local Offer Live is returning on Thursday 6 November 2025, and this year’s event is set to be the biggest yet. Held at the John Pounds Centre from 10am to 2.30pm, the event is free to attend and welcomes families, carers, and professionals who support children and young people with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).
Local Offer Live brings together a wide range of services, organisations, and community groups from across Portsmouth, all under one roof. It’s a unique opportunity to discover what support is available locally, speak directly with service providers, and gather information tailored to your needs. Whether you're seeking advice, exploring new opportunities, or simply want to connect with others in the SEND community, this event is designed to help.
In addition to exhibitor stands, this year’s event will feature informative talks from the Portsmouth Neurodiversity Team and the Mental Health Support Team (MHST), offering insights into the support available for children and young people in education and beyond.
To view the full schedule and list of exhibitors, please visit the Portsmouth SEND Local Offer website. You can download a poster to help promote the event here.
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School improvement
Teach Portsmouth webinar inspires future educators to explore training routes |
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 Aspiring educators joined Teach Portsmouth’s Love to Teach webinar on Wednesday 15 October 2025 to learn more about pathways into teacher training. The online event featured four local training providers who shared details about their programmes, alongside early career teachers who offered personal insights to help attendees take their next steps.
Designed to be accessible to everyone, regardless of where they are in their teaching journey, the webinar was hosted by James Doherty, principal at UTC Portsmouth. Over 45 people attended, with many taking part in a live Q&A session at the end.
To mark the opening of applications for teacher training and to promote the webinar, a flag was raised in celebration of Portsmouth’s teaching community. A recording of the webinar is available to watch on the Teach Portsmouth website.
Free online maths event for primary schools |
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This school year the Heilbronn Institute is celebrating Black mathematicians with Big Ideas. The series kicks off this November with the intriguing story of eighteenth century mathematician, Francis Williams, Jamaican mathematician, scholar, astronomer and poet.
Primary schools are invited to join a fun, free, 50 minute digital workshop on Wednesday 19 November 2025 for students aged 8 - 11. Workshops start at 10am and 2pm.
Let's Go Zero |
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Let’s Go Zero is the national campaign uniting teachers, pupils, parents and their schools as they work together to be zero carbon by 2030. Together we’re harnessing the power of schools and young people to drive change and spark climate action in communities, cutting emissions, increasing biodiversity and safeguarding our planet for future generations.
When your school signs up for free Let's Go Zero Climate Action Advisor support, you’ll get support with setting your zero carbon targets, developing roadmaps for delivery and influence discussions with politicians.
Get help to:
- Work out your school’s current emissions
- Create greener journeys to and from school
- Develop delicious low carbon menus
- Access local and national funding
- Lower energy, waste and water bills
- Create sensory gardens and vegetable patches
- Discover free, inspiring curriculum resources
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Fostering |
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People who've worked in professions in the education sector develop vital experience through their careers which prove invaluable when fostering. This includes respite carers who provide care for a child on a one-off or regular basis in order to give their foster carer or parents a regular break. This might be a regular weekday, weekend or overnight commitment for a child with additional needs who lives at home with their family as part of a support package, or it might be on a one-off or regular basis for a child in a long-term foster family. Short break and respite care provides families with much deserved downtime, as well as allowing children to enjoy new experiences and build trusting relationships with other adults and children.
Foster carer Steve shared: “I get a great sense of satisfaction knowing that I’m helping maintain the main fostering arrangement for the young man that I have. Without the respite, that arrangement may not be able to continue. I also get to do lots of fun things with him!”
Many of the children or young people in the care of Foster Portsmouth, Portsmouth City Council's fostering service, have had life experiences which require the care of someone who has relevant skills and expertise, or they may have learning and physical disabilities or complex health needs which need additional support.
However, we know that many teachers and support staff are unaware that the skills and expertise they've built up through their career make them ideal foster carers, particularly for those children who may need a little additional support.
To find out more:
Have your say on the future of public transport in Portsmouth |
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Whether you take the bus, trains, taxis or ferries regularly or not, have your say to help us develop a strategy that works for everyone.
We're developing a new Public Transport Strategy, setting out a 10-year vision to improve buses, trains, ferries and taxis in the city - making travel faster, greener and more accessible for all.
This survey is open until midnight on Sunday 16 November 2025.
You can share your views online or at local pop-up events.
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