Five signs your early years setting is moving from reactive SEND support to proactive inclusion

The Inclusive Early Years Fund (IEYF) is prompting many nursery leaders to review how effectively their provision supports children with emerging and additional needs.

But whether your setting receives funding or not, inclusion is becoming an increasingly important focus across the early years sector. Settings are being challenged to think beyond individual interventions and consider how their environments, relationships and everyday practice enable every child to participate, engage and feel a sense of belonging.

Recent research highlights that just 13% of parents surveyed said they feel they have enough support for their child's mental health and wellbeing, underlining the growing importance of nurturing, inclusive provision in the early years.

The reflective questions in this blog are inspired by the areas of reflection explored in Thrive's Inclusive Early Years Fund Planning Tool for PVI Settings. They are designed to help leaders, managers, SENCos and practitioners pause and consider:

Is our inclusion practice proactive, or are we still responding once challenges have already emerged?

    

1. You're reviewing the environment before focusing on the child

When a child is finding parts of the nursery day difficult, it's natural to focus on their needs first. However, proactive inclusive practice also considers the role of the environment.

Questions worth exploring include:

• Are routines predictable and clearly understood?
• Are there opportunities for children to regulate when they feel overwhelmed?
• Does the environment support independence?
• Are there sensory demands that may be creating barriers to participation?
• Can all children easily access and engage with provision?

Inclusive environments are intentionally designed to reduce barriers and help children feel safe, successful and ready to learn.

   

   

      

2. Relationships are helping you identify needs early

Strong relationships sit at the heart of effective early years practice.

For many children, emerging needs first become visible through day-to-day interactions with trusted adults who notice subtle changes in behaviour, play, communication and emotional presentation.

In inclusive settings, relationships are not viewed separately from SEND support. They are often the foundation of early identification.

Practitioners know:

• what motivates individual children
• how children communicate their needs
• when something feels different
• what helps children feel safe and connected

When relationships are strong, children are more likely to experience a sense of belonging, and adults are better placed to respond quickly when additional support may be needed.

    

      

    

3. Staff respond consistently across the setting

One of the biggest barriers to inclusion is often inconsistency.

Even in settings with strong intentions, children can experience uncertainty if adults respond differently to the same behaviours, emotions or learning needs.

Proactive inclusive settings work hard to develop shared understanding across the team.

This means having agreed approaches to:

• supporting regulation
• responding to distress
• adapting communication
• scaffolding participation
• building independence

When adults share common principles, children experience greater predictability and psychological safety. Consistency doesn't mean every interaction is identical. It means children know that whichever adult is supporting them, they will receive a response that is relational, respectful and developmentally informed.

   

    

  

4. Behaviour is understood as communication

One of the most significant shifts towards proactive inclusion is moving away from asking:
"How do we manage this behaviour?"
and towards asking:
"What might this behaviour be communicating?"

Children communicate their experiences and needs in many different ways.

This may be through:

• their play
• their interactions
• their emotional responses
• their engagement with activities
• their behaviour during transitions

When practitioners become curious about what sits beneath behaviour, they can begin to identify potential barriers affecting a child's participation and wellbeing.

Rather than focusing on the behaviour itself, the focus becomes understanding the need.

For some children, behaviour may reflect communication difficulties. For others, it may be linked to sensory processing, emotional regulation, anxiety, uncertainty or unmet developmental needs.

Understanding behaviour as communication allows responses to become more supportive, relational and inclusive.

   

      

  

5. Support starts before diagnosis

Inclusive settings do not wait for a diagnosis before making adaptations. Instead, they use professional curiosity, observations and practitioner knowledge to identify emerging needs and respond early.

This may involve:

• adapting routines
• modifying communication approaches
• introducing visual supports
• strengthening key person support
• working closely with families
• monitoring the impact of interventions

The goal is not to label children earlier. The goal is to remove barriers earlier.

Early support can make a significant difference to children's engagement, confidence, wellbeing and participation. It also helps settings build a culture where support is viewed as part of everyday practice rather than something that begins when a child enters a formal process.