By 31 December 2026, every mainstream school in England receiving the Inclusive Mainstream Fund must publish an Inclusion Strategy on its website.
This is the first time schools have been asked to produce a strategy like this, and the DfE describes developing it as an ongoing process rather than a single task.
The DfE’s guidance sets out five steps for doing it. Right now, publishing the strategy is a condition of the grant rather than a legal duty, although the DfE has proposed making it a formal requirement in future years as part of its wider SEND reform plans.
Our latest guide is a practical resource designed to help school leaders work through those five steps with confidence.
What’s Inside
This downloadable PDF works through the DfE’s five steps in order, including how to:
- Identify the barriers to learning and participation across your whole cohort
- Use evidence to choose a small number of well-evidenced approaches
- Develop a strategy with clear, realistic, and measurable outcomes
- Deliver and monitor your approaches while keeping teacher workload manageable
- Evaluate and sustain your strategy so it keeps improving over time
Who Should Read This Guide?
This guide is for anyone involved in shaping a school’s Inclusion Strategy, from the first conversation to the final review. Whether you are leading a single school or a trust, it offers a practical route through the requirement this autumn.
