Preparing for SEND reform: Building an inclusive system
Designing an inclusion strategy: Schools must prove they can meet every child’s needs by the end of the year
As part of the Government’s special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) reforms, every school and 16-19 academy in England must publish their inclusion strategy by 31st December, 2026.
The Department for Education (DfE)’s SEND reform white paper marks a major shift towards an “inclusive by design” education system. It asks school leaders to shift from historically reactive interventions to creating a setting where every child belongs. It requires school leaders to present a clear, evidence-based roadmap for how core budgets, funding, and Inclusive Mainstream Fund (IMF) allocations will be used to foster a more inclusive school environment.
This guide outlines what headteachers, SENCOs, trust leaders, and governors need to do to transform their inclusion strategy into a true catalyst for school improvement.
What does your inclusion strategy need to include?
The strategy should include prioritising high-quality, adaptive teaching and identifying where schools can build on existing inclusive practice to strengthen their inclusive offer for all pupils, particularly those with SEND. It must also set out how funding will be used to remove barriers to learning and participation. Every activity funded in whole or in part by the IMF must meet the government’s 7 principles of inclusion:
Ambitious leadership and governance that embeds inclusion.
Evidence-based support prioritising early intervention.
High-quality adaptive teaching with curriculum designed for all learners.
Enriching provision beyond the classroom that all children can access.
A safe and respectful culture fostering belonging, attendance, and participation in learning.
Strong partnerships with families and wider services.
Inclusive environments with continuous improvements to accessibility.
How to deliver an effective inclusion strategy
Writing an Inclusion Strategy should involve a 5-step approach — an ongoing process similar to the one used for a pupil premium strategy — to help develop and refine the inclusion strategy.
1. Identifying and understanding the commonly occurring barriers to learning and participation pupils face:
Look for the predictable, commonly occurring barriers to learning across the whole school. Gather attainment and progress data alongside attendance, suspensions, part-time timetables, and feedback from pupils and parents. Examine how teaching assistants’ time is currently allocated and used.
2. Using evidence to consider inclusive practice:
At the heart of the DfE framework is a robust universal offer. The goal is to meet more pupils' needs within the mainstream classroom before moving on to targeted interventions. Most of the first-year IMF investment should be directed toward building this foundation. Schools should concentrate on high-quality adaptive teaching and scaffolding. In addition, they should provide whole-staff training on common learning barriers and create inclusive physical and sensory environments, such as Cubbie.
3. Developing an effective strategy:
Ensure the strategy reflects existing inclusive practices, identifies the recurring barriers to learning and participation and prioritises activities that will have the greatest impact on pupils. Set clear, realistic and measurable outcomes when considering the extent to which inclusion has already been strengthened within the school.
4. Delivering and monitoring the strategy:
Ensure all staff understand inclusion and are committed to removing barriers to learning and participation for all, particularly for those with SEND. Use the IMF to plan, prepare and implement inclusive practices ahead of reforms. Make the strategy realistic with a clear delivery approach and a role for any specialist interventions. Monitor pupil outcomes.
5. Evaluating and sustaining the strategy:
Set realistic first-year targets and build on them over time. Measure success against SEND pupil outcomes: attendance, attainment, progress, wellbeing, participation, engagement, and behaviour by using a strong evaluation framework. Treat evaluation as ongoing: what works one year may not work the next.
How to publish the inclusion strategy
When publishing the strategy on the school website — whether using your own format or the DfE template — it should include:
Header and governance: Include a cover page with review dates. An annual review is required for multi-year strategies.
School cohort profile & barrier statement: Provide a summary of the key barriers to learning identified in your cohort.
The universal offer: Explain how everyday classroom practice, environment, and culture reflect the 7 principles.
Targeted and specialist provision: Outline early interventions offered without waiting for a formal diagnosis or a statutory education, health and care plan (EHCP) process.
Budget allocation table: Present itemised spending across the core SEN budget and IMF allocation, linked to specific impact measures.
Evaluation and review plan: Describe how leaders and governors will monitor classroom implementation and pupil progress throughout the academic year.
Cubbie is the key to whole-school inclusion
Cubbie is the only OT-embedded sensory-regulation platform designed to work across universal, targeted, targeted plus, and specialist provision — giving schools a practical, measurable way to support regulation, inclusion, and access to learning across the full continuum of need.
Unlike a traditional sensory room, Cubbie combines the physical environment, personalised OT-designed sensory programmes, staff training and usage data into one system that can be implemented quickly, safely and consistently. It integrates directly into existing classrooms and whole-school inclusive practice, giving staff, teachers, SENCOs, pastoral teams and therapists one evidence-informed way to support pupils before, during and after dysregulation. Pupils are typically regulated and back to learning within around 10 minutes.
An early-intervention and whole-school approach to wellbeing and inclusive practice
By reaching more pupils earlier, Cubbie reduces disruption and keeps children in class, offering a safe, structured regulation tool that scales from whole-school wellbeing to complex SEND need. It responds proactively, before pupils reach crisis point, and supports recovery and reintegration afterwards.
Together, this positions Cubbie as the optimum solution to help schools meet the Government's seven principles of inclusion — supporting compliance with the conditions of the Inclusive Mainstream Fund.
The benefits of Cubbie extend beyond the classroom with parents of children using Cubbie at school reporting calmer evenings, less conflict and smoother transitions at pick-up time.
Cubbie also builds the evidence base that inspectors and review panels increasingly expect. With Cubbie, schools, trusts, and local authorities are able to measure:
Number of regulation sessions accessed
Frequency of use
Emotional state before regulation
Emotional state after regulation
Percentage of sessions resulting in improved regulation
Individual pupil trends over time
This data provides evidenced-based reporting on the success of the SEND solution and can be used for Ofsted reporting.
A local authority introduced Cubbie across five schools to test a consistent way of identifying and responding to sensory and regulation needs before they escalated. The results: a 40% reduction in exclusions, hundreds of learning hours recovered, and 16 SEND pupils successfully reintegrated into mainstream schooling.
To find out how Cubbie can help break down barriers to participation and create an environment where every child belongs, get in touch.
