New Inclusion Bases Guidance: What Every School Leader Needs to Know

The government has finally published its long-awaited guidance on inclusion bases, a cornerstone of the SEND reforms designed to make mainstream schools more inclusive. If you're a SENCO, headteacher, or trust leader, this guidance will shape how your school delivers targeted and specialist SEND support for years to come.

Ministers have pledged that every secondary school will eventually have an inclusion base. So whether your school already runs one or is starting from scratch, here's what's changed, and how to get ahead of it.

What is an Inclusion Base?

"Inclusion base" is the new umbrella term replacing SEN units, resourced provision, and pupil support units. Under the reforms, pupils receiving support through the new targeted plus or specialist tiers of SEND support will access this through inclusion bases.

There are two models:

• Support bases - funded by individual schools, trusts, or groups of schools, typically delivering targeted plus support

• Specialist bases - funded by local councils, delivering specialist support

Some pupils will use a base temporarily as they transition into full mainstream participation. Others may need ongoing support, sometimes accessing the base flexibly throughout the day.

The Non-Negotiables

The guidance is clear on several principles school leaders can't afford to overlook:

• A qualified teacher must lead the base. Day-to-day responsibility "should lie with a teacher," and pupils should have no less access to a qualified teacher than their mainstream peers. Senior leaders should also maintain a visible presence, with one holding overall strategic responsibility.

• Bases must never be used as a sanction. Removing a child to a base for behavioural or pastoral reasons is explicitly ruled out, access should never function as a punishment or a way to clear a pupil from the classroom.

• Inclusion, not isolation, is the goal. Schools should prioritise moving pupils towards spending more time in mainstream classes wherever appropriate.

• Parents and pupils must be involved. No child should be placed in a base without their family's input, and families should be kept regularly informed about intended outcomes and what their child is learning.

The Inclusion Continuum

Rather than a one-size-fits-all model, the guidance describes a continuum, from bases where children spend most of their time in mainstream lessons, to those providing the majority of education separately. Schools are expected to review where their existing base currently sits on this continuum and, where appropriate, prioritise movement towards models that support children to spend more time alongside mainstream peers.

Importantly, the guidance also acknowledges that for some pupils, long-term provision within a base may be the most appropriate outcome. But before setting up a base at all, schools are expected to focus first on building a strong, inclusive universal offer across the whole school.

Building a Culture of Belonging

Guidance alone doesn't create inclusion, culture does. The DfE is explicit that schools should guard against making pupils using a base "feel, or seem… less valued" than their mainstream peers. Instead, schools should actively celebrate and promote the base and the children accessing it.

Practical approaches include:

• Reverse integration - inviting pupils not formally using the base to spend time there

• Buddy schemes pairing base pupils with mainstream peers

• Full inclusion in school life - school council, plays, trips, and wider activities

• Whole-school understanding - for example, if a base supports children using a specific communication method, the whole school might be encouraged to learn it too

Curriculum and Timetabling

The curriculum delivered in inclusion bases should be evidence-informed, regularly reviewed, and able to evolve as a cohort's needs change, while creating as many opportunities as possible for inclusion with mainstream peers, including covering the same topics and key texts.

This also means mainstream lessons need to be designed with the same intent. Mainstream and base teachers are expected to work together, aligning timetables, holding maths at the same time across the school, for instance, so pupils can move between base and mainstream classes without disruption. Schools should also look at exporting effective, evidence informed interventions from the base into wider mainstream practice.

Designing The Physical Space

A separate 55-page DfE document sets out further non-statutory guidance on inclusive school estates. It's a useful reminder that inclusive design "does not always require high-cost adaptations." Ten core elements are highlighted, including sanitary provision, furniture and fittings, access to nature, and accessibility and movement.

On location, the guidance recommends prioritising a base close to mainstream classes and shared spaces, playgrounds, sports halls, ideally within the same building, with spaces flexible enough to serve the whole school, not just base pupils.

Why This Matters Now

The DfE's own research shows the stakes clearly. In a survey of 960 parents whose children have attended SEND bases in mainstream schools:

• 41% described their child's experience as entirely positive, 17% as somewhat positive

• 17% found it entirely negative, 8% somewhat negative - largely because the base "was not able to meet the needs of their child"

• 55% felt their child was at least somewhat part of the wider school life, but 36% disagreed

• Just 64% felt the base had made even a somewhat positive impact on their child's progress and attainment

Further research is being commissioned to inform future updates to the guidance, but schools are expected to act now, not wait for the next iteration.

Funding, Accountability, and Union Concerns

The guidance lands alongside new conditions of grant for the £1.6 billion Inclusive Mainstream Fund (IMF), aimed at strengthening schools' inclusive offer. Schools must maintain records of income and expenditure, including evidence of how funds are used, and governors and trustees are expected to scrutinise each school's new inclusion strategy, due by the end of the year, including how IMF funding was spent and what outcomes it achieved.

Unions have raised concerns. NASUWT general secretary Matt Wrack argued the guidance "passes the buck" to overstretched schools and teachers, calling for government to audit whether the school estate can actually deliver the changes required and at what cost. NAHT general secretary Paul Whiteman stressed that inclusion bases "must be supported by the investment needed," and flagged leader frustration at additional reporting requirements, noting there is "already significant oversight and accountability" around school budgets.

Turning Guidance Into Practice

Reading the guidance is one thing. Embedding it is another, training staff to lead inclusive classrooms, designing a curriculum that flexes between base and mainstream, aligning timetables across departments, and building a whole school culture where inclusion bases are celebrated rather than sidelined.

This is exactly where SEND and inclusion CPD makes the difference. The schools that will thrive under these reforms are the ones investing now in staff who understand not just the what of inclusion bases, but the how: how to run one, how to align it with mainstream teaching, how to keep families and pupils at the centre of every decision, and how to evidence impact against the new reporting requirements.

Get Your Team Ready

Prospero Learning's SEND and inclusion training gives school leaders, SENCOs, and teaching staff the practical skills to implement this guidance with confidence, from qualified-teacher-led base models to inclusive curriculum design, timetabling strategies, and effective parent engagement.

Explore our SEND and inclusion CPD courses and give your school the tools to turn this guidance into genuinely inclusive practice.

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