Getting Inclusion Plans right: lessons from our expert panel
Schools are being asked to think differently about inclusion. With Inclusion Plans bringing that work into sharper focus, the challenge is to turn national reform into something meaningful for pupils, families, and staff in each setting.
That was the focus of our recent webinar, Inclusion Plans: Everything Your School Needs to Know, which brought together Margaret Mulholland, SEND and Inclusion Specialist at ASCL; Amy Husband, Executive Head at Academy21; and Mo Varley, Head of Student Welfare at Academy21.
One message came through clearly during the session: schools do not need to start from scratch. Much of the expertise needed to build a strong Inclusion Plan already exists within their teams, classrooms and relationships with families. The task now is to bring that work together, examine where barriers remain and decide where changes will have the greatest impact. So, what should schools take from the conversation?
Watch the webinar recording on demand
Start with strategy, not the document
For Margaret, the shift from the existing SEND information report towards an Inclusion Plan represents a much broader change in thinking. The SEND information report has primarily communicated information to families and partners. An Inclusion Plan asks schools to look across their provision, identify barriers and make deliberate decisions about what needs to change, putting inclusion much closer to the heart of school improvement.
“We’re going from information sharing to strategic thinking. So we’ve got a real shift in the way in which we look at inclusion and particularly SEND when we talk about inclusion," shares Margaret Mulholland, SEND and Inclusion Specialist at ASCL
That also means responsibility cannot sit with the SENCO alone. Leaders should bring inclusion into conversations around curriculum, teaching and learning, staffing, governance, partnerships and wider school development.
And it all starts with the practice schools already have. That could include work on the universal offer, deploying teaching assistants, SENCO leadership, or relationships with external partners. Evidence and data can then help leaders establish which approaches are working, where pupils still face barriers and where investment could make the greatest difference.
An Inclusion Plan becomes useful when it reflects those conversations and decisions, so it’s important to gather the relevant leaders and make it a living document that incorporates wider school improvement planning.
Strengthen what every pupil can access
A substantial part of the webinar focused on the universal offer and the opportunity to remove barriers before pupils require more intensive support.
Mo shared examples from secondary schools where relatively small changes to everyday practice can make learning more accessible, ranging from lower-arousal classroom environments and dyslexia-friendly resources to thinking differently about transitions between lessons. Schools can look at the barriers particular pupils experience and consider whether changing the wider environment could remove the same barrier for others.
An early pass between lessons illustrates the issue. Allowing a neurodivergent pupil to leave five minutes before everyone else may reduce the sensory pressure of a crowded corridor, but across a six-lesson day those minutes quickly become lost curriculum time. A school that examines the corridor environment itself may find a solution that supports the pupil without repeatedly taking them out of lessons.
Margaret described this as “stretching the universal”: learning from support that works for individuals or smaller groups and considering where it can strengthen provision across the school.
“If you stretch the universal, what you’re really doing is enabling more children to access more of the time," Margaret shares
The need for targeted or specialist provision remains, but schools gain a stronger foundation from which those additional layers of support can operate.
Treat inclusion bases as a bridge
The role of inclusion bases generated considerable discussion, particularly as schools consider how physical spaces fit within their wider plans. Margaret cautioned against seeing an inclusion base as a separate destination within the school.
“An inclusion base is not a place. It is actually an extension of the school’s offer, and it is a bridge to accessibility for all children.”
That principle changes how schools might judge whether an inclusion base is working. Alongside questions about staffing and resources, leaders can consider whether pupils retain access to curriculum, relationships and enrichment, and how the provision supports movement back into other areas of school life where appropriate.
The same thinking applies when schools decide how to use the Inclusive Mainstream Fund. Instead of starting with a list of things to purchase, Margaret encouraged schools to start with purpose. Depending on the setting, investment might support collaboration between staff, stronger parental engagement, work with local partners or improvements to an existing inclusion base.
Schools also need to think beyond the immediate funding period. Inclusion Plans are intended to support sustained development, so decisions made now need to fit into a longer-term approach.
Keep the child at the centre of decisions
When the conversation moved to emotionally based school non-attendance (EBSNA), Amy drew on Academy21’s work with schools across the UK. There is no standard pathway through EBSNA because the barriers behind it vary considerably. Effective support therefore depends on schools, families and other professionals building a detailed picture of the individual child.
“It’s about truly working with families and holding the child at the centre of any of these conversations and these decisions,” says Amy Husband, Executive Headteacher at Academy21
For pupils with complex needs, Amy recommended breaking the situation down barrier by barrier instead of trying to resolve everything at once. Schools can decide what they are addressing, put appropriate support in place and use the familiar Assess, Plan, Do, Review cycle to establish whether it is helping.
That process also needs the pupil’s voice wherever possible and genuine input from families. As Amy noted later in the webinar, children can present very differently at home and at school. Parents and carers may therefore hold information that changes how a school understands a barrier or judges the next step.
Collaboration does not require immediate agreement. Where views differ, schools can explain the evidence behind a proposed approach, including what they hope it will achieve and how they will review its impact.
Build flexibility into the pathway
For some pupils, the route through an Inclusion Plan will involve targeted provision, an inclusion base or a period of learning outside their usual classroom.
Online education plays an important role within this mix, particularly for pupils experiencing anxiety, medical needs or other barriers to physical attendance.
Margaret highlighted both curriculum continuity and relationships when discussing online provision. According to her, it’s not just the technology that’s valuable, but the relational practice that it supports.
At Academy21, we describe our role as an intervention and a partner, not a destination. Online provision can sit within universal, targeted or more specialist support depending on the pupil and the school’s wider plan. A pupil might access subject-specialist teaching, use online provision when physical attendance is difficult, or combine it with an inclusion base and a phased reintegration programme.
Amy stressed that reintegration should follow the pupil’s needs, and never an arbitrary timetable. For a young person who has become disconnected from school, rebuilding confidence and self-esteem may form part of the route back.
The flexibility to move between different levels of support matters here. An Inclusion Plan needs enough structure to create accountability, while still allowing schools to change provision as pupils’ needs change.
Use evidence to decide what happens next
Evidence was a focal point of the conversation. Margaret encouraged schools to clarify where their decision-making evidence comes from, while Amy returned to the importance of reviewing interventions. The discussion around Individual Support Plans also focused on creating records that teachers can use and update, not just documents that hold information without influencing practice.
Schools review processes from the beginning, looking at attendance, engagement, academic progress and other relevant measures, alongside the experiences of pupils, families and staff. The useful question is whether the support has removed or reduced the barrier it was intended to address. If it has not, the response can change. This also gives schools room to learn from their own practice.
Keep the plan focused on the pupils in front of you
“Don’t try to tackle everything at once. Those leaders who are feeling overwhelmed or looking at templates that are up to 30 pages long, stop. Don’t do that,” advises Margaret. Instead, she encouraged leaders to start with the experience of children already in their setting: what school is like when learning, communication, attendance, or emotional regulation becomes difficult, and where the barriers appear at those moments.
Documents create focus and accountability, but their value will ultimately be found in what changes for pupils: whether they can access more of their education and receive timely support.
Watch the full webinar, Inclusion Plans: Everything Your School Needs to Know, to hear the complete discussion with Margaret Mulholland, Amy Husband and Mo Varley.
If you are considering how online alternative provision could fit within your Inclusion Plan, inclusion base or reintegration pathways, speak to the Academy21 team about the support available for your school and pupils.
