Inclusion Strategy
Our Inclusion Strategy
At Shobnall Primary & Nursery School, we believe that every child should be able to participate, belong, achieve and thrive. Children have different starting points, experiences, strengths and needs, and some may experience additional barriers to learning or participation.
Our Inclusion Strategy sets out how we will identify those barriers early and develop our provision so that all pupils, including those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), can flourish within our school community.
Inclusion Strategy 2026-2027
A New National Approach to Inclusion
During 2026, the Government set out its ambition to develop an education system that is increasingly inclusive by design, with mainstream schools better equipped to identify and meet children’s needs at an earlier stage.
As part of these reforms, the Department for Education has introduced the Inclusive Mainstream Fund (IMF) for 2026–2027. This is a significant new national investment designed to help mainstream schools strengthen their inclusive provision and remove commonly occurring barriers to learning and participation.
Importantly, the Government’s ambition is to enable schools to provide earlier support directly to children, without always needing to wait for a diagnosis or statutory process before appropriate help can begin.
The funding is intended to be used alongside schools’ existing core funding, including the notional SEN budget, to strengthen two important areas:
- Inclusive universal provision – improving everyday teaching, environments and approaches so that they work effectively for a wider range of pupils from the outset.
- Early, evidence-based targeted support – identifying additional needs quickly and providing appropriate intervention before difficulties become more significant.
What does this mean at Shobnall Primary & Nursery School?
The principles behind the Inclusive Mainstream Fund closely reflect our existing approach.
At Shobnall, we do not see inclusion as being solely about SEND or about providing additional interventions for individual children. Instead, our aim is to create a school that is inclusive by design, where high-quality teaching, appropriate adaptations, strong relationships and accessible environments enable as many children as possible to succeed alongside their peers.
Our Inclusion Strategy therefore brings together our work around SEND, disadvantage, attendance, safeguarding, behaviour, communication and language, emotional wellbeing and family support.
Through our Barriers to Learning processes, we consider the whole child and ask what may be preventing them from fully accessing learning or school life and, crucially, what we can do to reduce or remove that barrier.
High-Quality Teaching
Our first response is always high-quality, adaptive and inclusive teaching.
We want all pupils to access an ambitious curriculum alongside their peers wherever possible. This includes developing effective scaffolding, appropriate classroom adaptations, accessible learning environments, strong communication approaches and the effective deployment of adults.
The Inclusive Mainstream Fund will support us in continuing to strengthen this universal offer so that good inclusive practice becomes part of everyday classroom provision rather than something that is only introduced once a child has been identified as having an additional need.
Early Identification & Support
Some children will require additional support at different points in their school journey.
A central principle of our Inclusion Strategy is therefore to identify need and respond early. We use assessment, observation, pupil and parent voice and professional dialogue to understand the barriers a child may be experiencing.
Where additional support is required, this may include targeted academic intervention, speech and language provision, SEND support, attendance intervention, pastoral support or work to develop social, emotional and communication skills.
Where specialist advice is necessary, we will continue to work closely with external professionals and other agencies.
Supporting Social & Emotional Development
Children learn most effectively when they feel safe, understood, connected and ready to learn. Social and emotional development is therefore an important part of our inclusive offer.
As part of our developing strategy, we are embedding the Thrive Approach to strengthen our understanding of children’s social and emotional development.
Thrive-informed practice will help staff to understand the needs underlying children’s presentation and behaviour and identify appropriate strategies and activities to support their development. This complements our relational approach to behaviour, pastoral provision and commitment to creating safe, calm and predictable learning environments.
Inclusion Beyond the Classroom
Being included means much more than accessing lessons.
We want every child to experience the full richness of school life. Our Inclusion Strategy therefore considers children’s access to trips, residentials, clubs, music, sport, OPAL, Forest School, pupil leadership and wider enrichment opportunities.
Where financial, physical, social or emotional barriers might prevent a pupil from participating, we will consider how these can be reduced or removed.
Working with Families
Parents and carers are essential partners in understanding and supporting children’s needs.
We will continue to work collaboratively with families, listening to their experiences and involving them in decisions about their child’s support. Where appropriate, we will also work with external professionals and agencies to ensure that children and families receive coordinated support.
Impact
We will continually evaluate the impact of our Inclusion Strategy and the additional provision supported through the Inclusive Mainstream Fund.
We will consider a broad range of evidence, including attainment, progress, attendance, behaviour, engagement, participation, wellbeing, independence and pupil and parent voice.
We will also evaluate whether changes to our universal provision are reducing the need for individual adaptations and enabling more pupils to participate successfully in everyday classroom learning.
Our ambition is simple:
We do not lower our expectations because a child experiences a barrier. We identify the barrier and consider what we can do differently to help remove it.
Through our Inclusion Strategy and the opportunities provided by the Government’s Inclusive Mainstream Fund, we will continue to develop Shobnall as a school where every child feels that they belong, are valued and are given the opportunity and support they need to achieve and thrive.