Inclusion base guidance: What schools need to know

Much-anticipated guidance lays out how inclusion bases will look under SEND reforms

Lydia Chantler-Hicks

1. Two models of inclusion base

The term ‘inclusion bases’ replaces SEN unit, resourced provision, and pupil support unit.

Some children will use them temporarily as they transition to full participation in mainstream classes, while others may require ongoing support. Sometimes bases will be “used flexibly throughout the day”.

There are two models – support bases, funded by individual schools, trusts, or groups of schools, and specialist bases, funded by councils.

Support bases will typically deliver targeted plus support, while specialist bases will deliver specialist support.

2. Inclusion bases must be run by a teacher

Day-to-day responsibility “should lie with a teacher”.

Curriculum delivery and interventions should be led by qualified teachers, while pupils “should not have less access to a qualified teacher” than mainstream peers.

Senior leaders should also “maintain a positive, visible presence” in bases, with one holding strategic responsibility.

3. Bases should try to offer access to mainstream classes

The guidance describes a “continuum”, from bases where children spent most time in mainstream lessons, to those providing most education separately.

Schools must review where existing bases currently sit on this continuum, and where appropriate, “prioritise movement towards models that support children… to spend more time in mainstream classes”.

The guidance acknowledged that for some pupils, long-term provision within a base may be most appropriate.

But before setting up an inclusion base, schools should focus on developing a strong, inclusive universal offer across the whole school.

4. Never a sanction

Access to an inclusion base, including for behavioural or pastoral support, “should never be used as a sanction or for removal from the classroom”.

Children should also be given information about a base before joining it.

5. ‘Celebrate’ children using base

Schools should guard against making pupils using an inclusion base “feel, or seem… less valued than their mainstream peers”.

“Schools should celebrate and promote the base” and children accessing it, it added.

It also said schools should maximise opportunities for pupils using a base to spend in mainstream classes and school activities.

6. Promote understanding across school

Pupils across the school, and their families, should “understand the purpose of the base and the strengths and needs of those accessing it”.

For example, if a base supports children with speech and language needs who are using a specific method of communication, “the whole school might be encouraged to learn to use this”.

Children using a base, and their families, should be able to share their views on the provision, which should help inform decision-making.

Schools should also not place children in a base without involving their parents or carers in this decision, the guidance stated.

Families should also be kept regularly informed about their child’s intended outcomes, and what they’re learning.

7. Buddy schemes

The guidance promotes approaches aimed at boosting belonging and inclusion of pupils using bases.

These include “reverse integration” – allowing children not formally accessing the base to spend time there – buddying up pupils with mainstream peers, and including them in the school council, plays and trips.

8. Keep curriculum aligned

Although some pupils may require significant adaptations, the curriculum in inclusion bases should be “evidence-informed and regularly reviewed”, and able to “evolve” as a cohort’s strengths and needs change.

It should “create as many opportunities as possible for inclusion with mainstream peers”.

This includes covering the same topics and key texts.

9. Plan mainstream teaching carefully

Meanwhile, mainstream lessons should be designed to break down barriers to children with SEND. Mainstream and base teachers should work together on this.

Timetables should also be aligned where possible to support movement between inclusion bases and mainstream classes, such as by holding maths classes at the same time in each.

Schools should also consider using effective evidence-informed interventions from the base across the wider school.

10. Design bases carefully

Schools “should prioritise locating the base close to mainstream classes and shared spaces such as playgrounds and sports halls, ideally within the same building”.

Spaces should support specialist teaching, while remaining flexible enough to support children “across the whole school”.

also newly published by the DfE lays out further non-statutory guidance on making school estates more inclusive.

It states creating an inclusive environment “does not always require high-cost adaptations”, and lays out 10 “core elements of inclusive design”, such as sanitary provision, furniture and fittings, access to nature, and accessibility and movement.

11. Current experiences are mixed

The DfE whose have attended SEND bases in mainstream schools.

Forty-one per cent described their child’s experience as entirely positive, and 17 per cent somewhat positive.

A further 17 per cent found it entirely negative, and eight per cent somewhat negative. Negative experiences appeared largely due to feeling the base “was not able to meet the needs of their child”.

Just over half (55 per cent) said their child felt at least somewhat part of the wider school, but more 36 per cent disagreed.

Just 64 per cent felt the base had made an at least somewhat positive impact on their child’s progress and attainment.

The DfE says further research into effective practice is being commissioned, and which will inform future updates to the inclusion bases guidance.

12. Frustration over reporting requirements

NAHT said leaders were “frustrated” about additional reporting requirements on the £1.6 billion inclusive mainstream fund. This is aimed at strengthening schools inclusive offer.

In conditions of grant, , DfE said schools are required to maintain and keep record of income and expenditure in relation to the grant, “including evidence of the use of funds”.

Governors and trustees should “scrutinise” the schools’ new inclusion strategy, to be completed before the end of the year, including on how they used IMF funding and the outcomes achieved.

Whiteman added: “There is already significant oversight and accountability when it comes to the use of budgets in schools and constant additional layers are unnecessary.”