Amani’s story
We moved back to the UK from the United Arab Emirates in July last year due to COVID-19 travel restrictions.
My husband and I were not satisfied with the level of care Amani was receiving in terms of therapy and medical treatment and decided to come back to London to compare the two.
Our Specialist Health Visitor had strongly recommended we enrol Amani at the Portman Centre, as she explained it’s a mainstream nursery where Amani would receive care from trained staff who had vast experience and knowledge of caring for children with additional and special needs. That recommendation was the solid most valuable piece of advice I have had since Amani was born. Amani who has Down syndrome has had three surgeries including open heart surgery as well as several medical conditions and Global Developmental Delay that require her to have regular physio, occupational, SALT, and feeding therapy to improve her overall developmental skills.
Amani has been attending the Portman nursery for only three months and had enjoyed the Drop-In Centre sessions before starting in the 2’s room. Already I can see huge improvements in her mobility and communication skills, as well as her interest and social engagement with other children and the staff. I am comforted in the fact that the staff genuinely have a passion to support the needs of all the children they care for, and that their dedicated efforts have such a remarkable impact on the children that will no doubt implant a strong seed of self-confidence and self-value generating a powerful basis for them to start their educational paths.
The staff of Portman may feel they are just “doing their job”, but I have witnessed time and time again that they all by far exceed the expectations of “the job” to create an atmosphere teaching children of all backgrounds, abilities and faiths that playing, learning and respecting each other are the basic principles of life and such an important lesson for all our children to learn. The fact the staff do what they do out of passion, desire, and genuine love in seeing the children grow and develop in a truly inclusive, safe, and thriving environment is the reason I left my career and life in the UAE to return to London giving Amani the opportunity to blossom with the team at The Portman. Although it’s been a very hard and life-changing decision, I’m confident I have made the right choice when a see her smile with excitement and joy every time I pick her up from nursery.
A genuine heartfelt thank you to you all at the fabulous Portman Centre! I’m sure I speak on behalf of many parents when I say that I greatly appreciate all you do for our precious children.
Sara, Amani’s mum.
Elijah’s story
My son started at Portman at the end of January 2022. The settling in process was very gradual, which not only gave him time to adjust and feel comfortable but give the staff time to understand him better and attentively address his needs. Elijah settled very quickly and began forming attachments to staff and allowing other children to share his space. This is something we have never seen from him.
Being non-verbal, it is difficult for him to express his needs and he was unfortunately labelled as ‘aggressive’. In the short time at Portman, there has been a massive change. Elijah is so happy to go to nursery and very comfortable with all the staff. He communicates well with gestures and no longer bites out of frustration. He is actively playing with other children and participates in activities, again this is something he wasn’t doing before. The staff are extremely kind, gentle and patient with him, especially his family worker.
This has been very re-assuring as parents and we feel comfortable and confident leaving our son with all the staff at Portman, knowing he is safe and happy.
