COPC hosts a record attendance at Moving Forward 2026

City of Portsmouth College hosted the city’s largest event for young people with special educational needs last week, Moving Forward – with more than 500 people attending.

The event, which is designed to help families and professionals navigate the next steps after education, featured almost 50 exhibitors, including colleges, community groups and charities, health and social care services, housing and financial advice, parent and family groups, day services, and employment and training providers.

Cllr Nick Dorrington, Cabinet Member for Children, Families and Education at Portsmouth City Council, said: “For many families of children and young people with SEND, it can be difficult to find clear and reliable information about the services that can support them or what options are out there. Moving Forward helps bring everything together in one place and highlights the range of help and opportunities available for life after education.”/p>

Now in its fourth year, the Moving Forward event took place at COPC’s Sixth Form Campus for the first time. The campus provided a fully accessible space including a dedicated ‘breakout corner’ and outside space which accommodated the growing numbers at this event.

COPC worked closely with the council to plan and deliver the event, with COPC students playing an important role, supporting the event on the day and helping with a promotional photoshoot and video.

Sarah Hume, SEND transitional coach at COPC, said “We were so proud to be hosting this fantastic event for the first time and we hope all visitors had a great experience. We want to thank Portsmouth City Council for choosing us, and look forward to working with them again in future.”