The Department for Education has published new guidance to help schools, settings and local authorities set up, deliver and improve Inclusion Bases in mainstream education.
For many schools, the idea of an Inclusion Base won’t be entirely new. Targeted provision has existed for years in different forms and under different names, including SEN units, resourced provision, pupil support units, internal inclusion rooms, pastoral bases and inclusion bases.
What the guidance does is bring greater clarity and consistency to the purpose, quality and role of this type of provision within mainstream education.
Inclusion Bases are targeted provisions within mainstream schools for children and young people with additional needs who need structured support to access learning, build relationships and take part in wider school life. These needs may include SEND, social, emotional and mental health needs, behavioural or pastoral needs, low attendance or risk of exclusion.
The guidance comes at a demanding time for education leaders, with many schools balancing budget pressures, rising needs and the challenge of identifying barriers to learning earlier.
For leadership teams, the strategic question is rarely whether targeted provision is valuable, but rather: how can an Inclusion Base fit into our wider, whole-school approach to inclusion?
What is an Inclusion Base in practice?
In practice, an Inclusion Base is a form of targeted provision within a mainstream school. It might be a separate class, specialist facility or base where staff with particular expertise are located, but it should not sit apart from the rest of the school. It should be connected to the school’s wider approach to inclusion.
For many schools, this won’t mean starting from scratch. Some will already have targeted provision in place to support children and young people with additional needs. The DfE guidance gives schools a chance to review how well that provision is working: whether it has a clear purpose, is based on identified need, and supports pupils’ ongoing participation.
An Inclusion Base may deliver specific interventions, teaching or support. This might happen alongside mainstream lessons, for short-term regulation or specialist intervention, or in place of specific lessons as part of a structured, time-limited plan.
For some children and young people, support from an Inclusion Base may help them gradually transition or reintegrate into fuller participation in mainstream classes. For others, ongoing support from the base may help them access school in a way that works for them.
The important point is that access should be based on identified need, clear assessment, planned outcomes and regular review. An Inclusion Base shouldn’t be used as a sanction, a route to informal exclusion or a place to remove pupils from school life. It should provide planned support that helps pupils participate more fully in school life wherever possible.
This is the approach Thrive advocates for: Inclusion Bases that sit at the heart of a school’s inclusive practice, rather than apart from it. When targeted provision is needs-led, relational and connected to the wider life of the school, it can help children and young people feel that they belong, that they matter, and that they have the support they need to thrive.
Who are Inclusion Bases for?
Inclusion Bases are for children and young people with additional needs who need targeted support within a mainstream school. This may include pupils with:- special educational needs and disabilities
- social, emotional and mental health needs
- behavioural or pastoral needs
- low attendance, including emotionally based school avoidance
- risk of exclusion
- barriers to learning or participation in school life
The pupils accessing an Inclusion Base will vary depending on the school, local context and the needs of the cohort. An Inclusion Base should therefore be developed with a specific target group or provision offer in mind, with pupils’ needs, strengths, barriers and communication needs informing the support offered, the physical environment, staffing and links with classroom practice.
What should schools consider when developing an Inclusion Base?
The DfE guidance sets out six key principles of effective practice for Inclusion Bases:- Supporting inclusion in the school or local area: maintaining strong, non-punitive links between the base and the wider school community.
- High-quality curriculum design: ensuring learning is ambitious, accessible and appropriately scaffolded.
- Effective data, assessment and outcomes: using clear data and assessment to understand need, review progress and inform next steps.
- Effective workforce and leadership: ensuring the base has the right staff, training, leadership and lines of accountability.
- Effective partnership working: involving families, wider professionals and, where relevant, local authorities.
- Inclusive and accessible physical environments: creating a welcoming, accessible space that supports pupils’ needs.
Together, these principles show that an Inclusion Base should not simply be a room or a separate space for pupils to go. It should be purposeful, well-led and designed around the needs of the pupils it is there to support.
When developing or reviewing an Inclusion Base, schools should be clear about who the provision is for, what it is intended to achieve, who will deliver the support, how it will link with classroom practice, how families and wider professionals will be involved, and how progress will be reviewed.
How do Inclusion Bases fit within your inclusion strategy?
For schools navigating wider funding and policy priorities, including the Inclusive Mainstream Fund, there is a growing focus on showing how inclusion plans will make a meaningful difference.
The Inclusive Mainstream Fund is designed to help mainstream schools strengthen inclusive practice, identify and meet common needs, remove barriers to learning and develop targeted support where needed.
Schools receiving Inclusive Mainstream Fund allocations must publish an inclusion strategy by 31 December 2026. This should set out how they will use their overall school funding allocation to meet the needs of their cohort and embed inclusive practice.
For some schools, this may include reviewing or developing targeted provision, such as an Inclusion Base. For others, the immediate priority may be strengthening wider practice before adding or expanding provision.
An Inclusion Base can be a powerful part of this wider strategy, but it needs to be planned as part of the whole-school approach. Schools should be clear about the needs it is designed to meet, how staff will be supported, how impact will be tracked and how the base connects with wider school practice.
For schools not eligible for the Inclusive Mainstream Fund, the same principle still applies: targeted provision should be planned around need, connected to wider practice and reviewed for impact.
How can Thrive support Inclusion Base implementation?
Setting up the physical space for an Inclusion Base is only one part of the picture. The real work is making sure the provision is purposeful, relational and linked to everyday practice across the school.
This is where Thrive can support leadership teams.
Many settings already use dedicated “Thrive Rooms” as part of their targeted support offer. But Thrive is not simply a room or a space. It gives schools a relational approach, specialist training and online tools to support assessment, action planning and impact review.
1. Clearer assessment, action planning and impact tracking
Through Thrive-Online, schools can assess pupils’ social and emotional needs, understand their starting points, create targeted action plans and review progress over time.
This helps schools make sure support is based on identified need and adapted as pupils develop. It can also support clearer decisions about who accesses targeted provision, what support they receive, when that support needs to change and what impact it is having.
2. Training for the staff delivering support
The DfE guidance highlights the importance of effective workforce and leadership. Training staff as Thrive Licensed Practitioners can help build the expertise needed to understand pupils’ social and emotional development, plan appropriate support and respond relationally when pupils are finding school difficult.
This is particularly relevant where an Inclusion Base is supporting pupils with SEMH needs, low attendance, emotionally based school avoidance, risk of exclusion or difficulties accessing learning and relationships.
3. A consistent whole-school approach
An Inclusion Base should not feel like a separate school within the school. Pupils need consistency between the support they receive in targeted provision and the responses they experience in classrooms, corridors and the wider school day.
Thrive helps schools build a shared relational framework, so staff have a more consistent understanding of behaviour, need, regulation and support. This can help Inclusion Bases stay connected to wider school practice, rather than becoming isolated from it.
Schools will still need to consider their own context, space, staffing and specialist provision requirements. Thrive can help strengthen many of the practices that make targeted provision effective: clear assessment, planned support, relational practice, staff confidence and measurable impact.
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