Children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) across the county are set to benefit from a further £5,872,368 of government investment to help mainstream schools become more inclusive and improve support for families.
Nottinghamshire has been awarded the funding through the Inclusive Mainstream Fund, part of a £500 million national programme to help schools, colleges and early years settings strengthen support for children and young people with SEND.
The announcement is the latest in a series of government investments in Nottinghamshire’s SEND system. Earlier this year, the county received £16 million in High Needs Capital Allocation funding to expand specialist SEND capacity and create additional places, alongside more than £6 million to establish the “Experts at Hand” service, improving access to specialist support.
The £5.9 million funding comes with new national guidance designed to help schools become more inclusive, including a commitment that every secondary school will have an inclusion base – a dedicated space providing targeted teaching and specialist support for pupils who need it.
The announcement follows the publication earlier this year of Rushcliffe MP James Naish’s report on SEND, which drew on evidence from three round tables with parents, carers, teachers and education professionals from across the constituency. The report highlighted concerns that support is too often difficult to access, inconsistent between areas, and only available once children reach crisis point.
James said: “Parents, carers and teachers across Rushcliffe told me clearly that too many families are having to fight for support, often waiting a long time to get the help their children need. These changes will start the process of schools providing more support closer to home and creating learning environments where every child feels they belong.
“However, I am very clear that more inclusive services won’t suit every child with SEND, so the fight for stronger specialist and alternative provision continues. There isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to SEND.”
The funding and guidance have been welcomed by various stakeholder groups, including Annamarie Hassall MBE, Chief Executive Officer of the National Association for Special Educational Needs, who said: “This guidance reflects the strong practice already happening across many schools, where dedicated staff are finding creative and effective ways to support children and young people with SEND to feel included and succeed. Importantly, the guidance has been developed with the sector, for the sector, includes examples of current practice set out as six principles, and provides clearer, shared language. We welcome the guidance in helping to create greater consistency and understanding across the system so that every learner can truly achieve and thrive.”
For the first time, the government has published guidance setting out what families should expect from inclusive provision in schools and colleges. The guidance states that inclusion bases must never be used as a sanction, must be led by qualified teachers, and should support pupils to access a broad and ambitious curriculum while remaining fully involved in school life.
Alongside this, new inclusive estates guidance will help schools adapt buildings and learning environments around the needs of children and young people with SEND. This could include creating quieter spaces, improving lighting and acoustics, and making buildings easier to navigate.
The changes are intended to help reduce the postcode lottery in SEND provision and ensure more children can access the support they need in their local school.
