FOR nine-year-old Parker Hull, the new inclusion centre at St George’s CofE Primary School in Portsea is literally life-changing.

At his previous school, he lacked concentration, found it hard to learn, and wasn’t making friends. And his mum Danielle Balchin could be called into school several times each day because he wasn’t coping. She had thought about home-schooling.

Now he has a place at The Quay at St George’s, a specialist centre providing support for children with special educational needs and disabilities. The therapeutic-style classrooms, small class sizes and specialist support is making a real difference.

“The main thing is that he is actually willing to go into school, and I’m not being rung five or six times each day,” said Danielle. “The centre is fully equipped, the teachers are trained to cope with his needs, and the rooms are really calm and help him to focus.

“In his previous school, he was always separate from the rest of his class having one-to-one with an assistant, because of his special needs. Here he is part of a small class, which really makes him feel part of things.

“He has read more books since September than the past three years combined. He is learning so much academically and socially. And he is communicating with us more – telling us at home what he is learning at school. I’m hoping we can push forward and he’ll reach his full potential here.”

Headteacher Izzy Lewis contacted the city council in 2025 because the former nursery and children’s centre wasn’t being used. The building was refurbished to provide five specialist classrooms, two sensory spaces, a hall and office space. It has its own reception and a dedicated playground, and is also linked to the main school building.

The 32-pupil centre was officially opened in October. Depending on their specific needs, children from the Quay can join in with some lessons alongside those in the mainstream. And those in mainstream classes can also access specialist support in The Quay, such as speech and language therapy and art therapy.

Niko Hadjigeorgiou, aged five, is another child who is already benefitting from the centre. He has a speech and language disorder and struggles to learn language. He was already a pupil at St George’s Beneficial CofE Primary School last year, enjoying a smaller class size in Year R. But the specialist provision in The Quay has helped him too.

Mum Sarah, who is also a teacher in the school, said: “It is making such a difference to have everything tailored to his specific needs, and having the space to be able to do that. There is a ‘dark tent’ in his classroom in The Quay, where he can go if he feels he needs to – which is not as easy in a mainstream class. It’s also not as loud and it there is more specialist support.

“The fact that he can develop his language skills in a safe place is life-changing. They can plan everything in these classrooms around the specific children they have, and each child has slightly different interests and skills, and develops relationships in a slightly different way.”