Pam Fry - Chair
2024 Elected as Chair
2021 Elected as Vice Chair
Pam has a vast career of working across all Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Pam believes wholeheartedly in the Portage principles and working in partnership with parents and carers and extended family members.
In pursuit of her desire to ensure all families within Sutton access the right support that fits their family, she developed her non-profit company, 'PlayWise Learning CIC', working with children up to the age of 8 years - with the Portage principles and ethos at the heart of the service.
In March 2022 Pam was awarded an MBE - for 'Services to Disabled children and young People'. She is highly passionate about all things Portage and SEND and thrives for equality for children with SEND and their families.
Email - chair@portage.org.uk
Glenys Creese, Vice Chair
2025 Elected as Vice Chair
Glenys has worked in early years since 2010, first working for West Sussex local authority in Children and Family Centre and then moving into the charity sector in 2017 as Head of Service for the Dame Vera Lynn Children's Charity, as Head of Service Glenys completed her Portage training and gained the Stamp of approval for the Charity and in 2024 Dame Vera Lynn Children's Charity became a Portage service in its own right. In 2020 Glenys was made CEO of the Charity and has supported the charity to grow both the number of services offered to families, and the number of families it supports each week.
Glenys is passionate about equality and inclusion and the delivery of the highest level of services to families, striving to ensure that families who most need services receive the very best.
Email - vice.chair@portage.org.uk
Juliet Davies - Quality Assurance & Development Trustee
2021 Co-opted to Board
2022 Elected as Quality Assrance & Development Trustee
Juliet’s professional heritage is firmly based within the Early Years sector, initially completing NNEB training and latterly M. A, ed with a dissertation focussing on the assessment of children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND).
Through the setting up and managing of a Children’s Centre nursery Juliet worked with children that often have complex SEND/SEMH needs. As the designated SENCO Juliet became Portage trained in 2009, delivering Portage as outreach and sharing the Portage principles through courses that were delivered to parents. Juliet currently works as a Children’s Centre Coordinator for SEND and has developed a Portage service which she continues to manage and develop.
Juliet is immensely proud to be a trustee of the National Portage Association as the Portage ethos echoes her views that a participatory model of learning between the child, parents and professional delivers the best outcomes.
Most importantly Juliet has close personal experience of neurodiversity and celebrates the unique way this has opened her eyes to the highs and lows of living with additional needs.
Email - quality.assurance@portage.org.uk
Margje Nouwens - Treasurer
2021 Elected as Treasurer
Margje has studied Social Work (BA) and Childhood and Youth (MA) and has work experience in the Special Needs arena for over ten years. She currently works for KIDS, a national charity for children and young people with disabilities and developmental delays. Margje is the service manager for the Portage service in the London Borough of Southwark.
Margje enjoys being on the board of trustees and contributing to the running of the National Portage Association. She has an interest in numbers and having the opportunity to extend her knowledge and experience by being the NPA Treasurer is very valuable to her.
Email - treasurer@portage.org.uk
Rachel Deacon - Members Trustee
2021 Co-opted to NPA Board
2022 Elected as Members Trustee
Rachel has been working as an early year’s educator since 2012, starting out at a nursery assistant, she also has experience managing tuition centres, supporting children aged 5-18. She spent 4 years volunteering in orphanages in Malaysia teaching English and maths. She graduated University with a Masters in Global Criminology in 2015, focusing her studies on crimes affecting children, particularly disabled children.
Rachel began working for KIDS in 2016 as a short breaks worker and then joining the Southwark Home Learning Portage team in 2018 and becoming a qualified Portage practitioner. Having a family member with disabilities has provided Rachel with first-hand experience on the highs and lows of living with additional needs and the pressures on a family. This has enabled her to practice Portage with a passion and strive to create inclusive society for our young people living with disabilities. She is greatly proud to represent the hardworking and dedicated members of the National Portage Association.
Email - members@portage.org.uk
Jenny Chapman - Services Trustee
2021 Co-opted to NPA Board
2022 Elected as Services Trustee
Jenny formally began her interest in Early Years when her youngest son started preschool. He struggled to settle so she stayed with him for a few sessions and enjoyed it so much she never left! She worked in an amazing private preschool for 7 years learning and gaining experience and qualifications in Early Years. She then moved to Slough Nurseries where she worked in their Children Centre. She has always had an internal draw to children with additional needs, inclusion and equality for all and comes from a large and diverse family. A relocation to near Reading, Berkshire in 2015 led to her joining the Local Portage team and she has been working for them ever since.
She has a personal interest in supporting children with additional needs having herself a son who is diagnosed autistic, and she truly believes in what a valuable and fantastic service Portage Home Visiting provides. Jenny has always believed parents are children's first and foremost educators and feels privileged to work as a Portage Home Visitor together with them and to support others through its principles and beliefs. She is empowered to support families and does so with the mantra of being the person she needed when her own son was younger.
Jenny is currently completing a degree is Autism and is a trained and experienced Intensive Interaction Coordinator.
After attending the NPA Development Day in 2021, Jenny felt what a valuable and exciting opportunity it would be to join the Board and support the Portage Association and she is enjoying it so far and looking forward sharing the Portage message far and wide and supporting Services to offer the best home visiting service they can.
Email - services@portage.org.uk
Vina Mistry - Vice Chair of Training
2024 Co-opted to NPA Board
2024 Elected as Vice Chair of Training
Email - vicechair.training@portage.org.uk
Vina started her journey in the world of SEND in her 20’s working for Social Care and working with adults with SEND and their families.
Then in 1986 her manager put her forward for a Portage Training Workshop, which literally changed her life. Children and Early Years then became her Passion. She believes in Early Intervention in making a difference to the children and families we all work with.
She became a Portage Home Visitor, and since this time has worked for 3 Local authorities over the past 39 years, as a Portage Home Visitor, a SEN Co-Ordinator for Early years managing both an Area SENCO Team and then an Early Support Key worker team.
In 1997 she became an accredited trainer for the NPA- and has provided Portage training workshops to nurseries, special schools, Early years Teams, and Early Years Practitioners.
Vina wants to continue to promote and strengthen the importance of training practitioners and spreading the knowledge and Value of Portage Principles and embedding it in our Practice with children, parents, families and practitioners we are privileged to work with.
After years of thinking about joining the NPA Board she applied for the Role of Vice Chair of Training and is wanting to make a positive difference to the work and Ethos of our National Portage Association and all the Principles we are promoting in our Portage Services around the country.
Lauren Williams - Parent Rep
2024 Elected as Parent Rep
Lauren has over a decade of experience working in education, and now works with her local Portage team as an Early Support Coordinator. As the parent of a disabled child, Lauren has a personal understanding of the challenges faced by families of children with additional needs and disabilities. This experience has fuelled a passion for representing the voices of other parent carers and advocating for inclusive education for all children.
Lauren is excited to bring her perspective as both a professional and a parent carer to the Board of the NPA, with the goal of ensuring that the voices of families are integral to shaping the future of Portage and other support services.
Email - parents@portage.org.uk
Sarah Worlidge - Social Media Trustee
2024 Elected as Social Media Trustee
Sarah has worked in child development for over 25 years. She began her career in nursery and pre-school and continued her studies to obtain a BA(hons) degree in Early Childhood and Youth Studies. During her time in early years, she found a real passion for working with children with SEND and continued this further by securing a job at a school for children with complex needs, where she worked for over 12 years before having her own children.
On returning to work Sarah worked in the Sure Start Children’s Centres as a family practitioner and discovered a real interest in working with families. It was here she was introduced to Portage and completed the workshop and core competencies while delivering Portage in partnership with Norfolk Portage Service. Once a permanent post on the core team at Norfolk Portage became available, she obviously jumped at the chance and has never left! She is now the Senior Portage Practitioner for East Norfolk and an accredited Portage Trainer and enjoys delivering workshops to help others discover their love for Portage and the ‘small steps approach’
Sarah loves the ethos and principles behind Portage and continues to enjoy delivering these messages to families and settings every day. She is extremely grateful to be able to join the NPA board as social media trustee and is looking forward to reaching more people online to spread Portage awareness and share all the wonderful work our Portage practitioners do every day!
Email - social.media@portage.org.uk
Sarah Moore - Members Support Trustee
2025 Elected as Members Support Trustee
Sarah Moore is an experienced early years practitioner with over 15 years of dedicated service supporting children and families. Her journey into early years began after the birth of her two sons, initially volunteering as a committee member for her local pre-school. She later became a Home-Start volunteer, providing support to families with young children in the home for four years.
In 2015, Sarah achieved a BA in Childhood and Youth Studies, which paved the way for her role in a local pre-school, where she developed a strong interest in special educational needs, a passion inspired by her eldest son’s diagnosis of Auditory Processing Disorder.
In 2021, Sarah joined Torbay Council as a Portage Home Visitor, contributing to the team’s success in achieving five-star accreditation from the National Portage Association (NPA). She is committed to continuous professional development, having completed her Level 3 Award in Portage and currently working towards accredited trainer status for Portage workshop delivery.
Sarah is passionate about empowering children, families, and practitioners through inclusive and supportive practices. She is excited to begin her role as a Trustee for the NPA, where she looks forward to championing the vital work of this charity and service.
Kim Hannay-Young - Services Support Trustee
2025 Elected as Serices Support Trustee