How Thrive Aligns with the Aims of the Inclusive Early Years Fund

Supporting inclusive early years practice through early intervention, relationships and emotionally safe environments

The Department for Education’s new Inclusive Early Years Fund (IEYF) reflects a growing recognition that inclusion begins long before children enter school.

The guidance places strong emphasis on helping early years settings create environments that are “inclusive by design” - where children’s needs are understood and supported earlier, barriers to participation are reduced, and inclusion becomes part of everyday practice across the whole setting.

For many nurseries, preschools and early years providers, the challenge is not commitment to inclusion, but ensuring that support is consistent, relational and sustainable across the environment.

This is where Thrive’s approach aligns strongly with the aims of the IEYF.

Rather than acting as a bolt-on intervention, Thrive provides a whole-setting approach that helps practitioners understand children’s social and emotional development, identify needs earlier and create emotionally safe environments where children feel connected, supported and ready to learn.

Through staff training, relational practice and developmental understanding, Thrive supports many of the priorities highlighted throughout the IEYF guidance.

  

Early identification of need

A central aim of the Inclusive Early Years Fund is to help settings identify and respond to children’s needs earlier - without waiting for difficulties to escalate or for formal diagnosis.

Thrive supports this by helping practitioners understand children’s behaviour, emotional presentation and communication through a developmental and relational lens.

Rather than focusing only on behaviour itself, Thrive encourages adults to consider:

• what a child may be communicating
• what barriers may be affecting participation
• what support or adaptations may help the child feel safe and able to engage

This supports earlier understanding of emerging social, emotional and developmental needs, helping settings respond proactively and reduce the risk of difficulties becoming more entrenched over time.

 

Supporting whole-setting inclusive practice

The IEYF guidance reflects the importance of inclusion being embedded throughout the whole setting, rather than delivered through isolated interventions.
Thrive supports this by helping settings develop:

• shared understanding across staff teams
• consistent relational approaches
• emotionally supportive routines and environments
• joined-up approaches to wellbeing, behaviour and SEND support

This helps create greater consistency for children throughout the day - across play, transitions, routines and relationships.

By strengthening whole-setting practice, Thrive helps inclusion become part of everyday experiences rather than something separate or additional.

   

Workforce development and staff confidence

The guidance also places strong emphasis on workforce development and improving staff confidence in supporting children with SEND and emerging needs.

Through training and professional development, Thrive helps practitioners build confidence in:

• understanding social and emotional development
• responding relationally to behaviour and distress
• supporting emotional regulation
• creating emotionally safe environments
• identifying and responding to need earlier

This can be particularly important at a time when many early years settings are supporting increasingly complex needs within mainstream provision.

Many settings find that developing a shared language and relational understanding across staff teams helps improve consistency, confidence and communication throughout the setting.

   

Creating emotionally supportive environments

The IEYF guidance highlights the importance of inclusive environments that reduce barriers to participation and help children feel safe, connected and able to engage.

Thrive’s approach aligns closely with this principle.

Children are more likely to explore, communicate, regulate and learn when they experience:

• emotionally available adults
• predictable routines
• responsive relationships
• a sense of safety and belonging

Thrive supports settings to reflect on how the environment, routines and adult responses may affect children’s emotional wellbeing and participation.

This may include:

• improving predictability
• supporting smoother transitions
• creating calmer spaces
• reducing sensory overwhelm
• strengthening co-regulation and emotional safety

The focus is not on “fixing” children, but on creating environments that help all children feel understood and supported.

  

Partnership with families

The Inclusive Early Years Fund also highlights the importance of strong partnerships with families.

Thrive supports collaborative relationships between practitioners and families by providing a shared developmental and relational framework for understanding children’s needs and experiences.

This can support:

• more consistent approaches between home and setting
• stronger transition support
• more confident conversations around emotional wellbeing and development
• greater understanding of children’s needs and strengths

When families and practitioners develop a shared understanding of how children experience the world, support is often more connected and effective.

   

Early intervention and targeted support

The IEYF guidance encourages settings to strengthen targeted support within universal provision, helping children receive support earlier and more effectively.

Thrive supports this through:

• targeted relational support
• small-group work
• emotional regulation approaches
• developmentally informed interventions
• graduated responses to need

Because Thrive is embedded within the wider setting approach, targeted support can sit alongside consistent relational practice across the whole environment.

This helps children experience continuity, safety and belonging throughout their day.

  

Inclusion through everyday practice

The introduction of the Inclusive Early Years Fund reflects a growing understanding that inclusion is not a separate initiative - it is part of everyday relationships, environments and experiences.

For many settings, the challenge is not whether inclusion matters, but how to create approaches that are sustainable, relational and consistent across the whole setting.

Thrive supports settings to strengthen inclusion through emotionally safe environments, shared understanding, workforce development and earlier intervention - helping more children feel safe, connected and able to thrive.

As settings begin planning how they will use the Inclusive Early Years Fund, many are exploring how whole-setting approaches like Thrive can help turn inclusive practice into everyday reality.

  

Want to explore how Thrive could support your inclusion plans?

Book a conversation with our team to discuss your setting, priorities and next steps.

 

Book a conversation about your Inclusive Early Years Fund