Secondary schools in England must provide specially designed areas for neurodiverse children and pupils with special educational needs, ministers have said.
Universal “inclusion bases” are spaces away from classrooms where children with additional needs can get support for some lessons. They are seen as a key part of government plans to overhaul special educational needs and disabilities (Send) support.
Ministers have been frantically promoting a vision of a more inclusive education system, ahead of the publication of a landmark schools white paper, widely seen as the most high-stakes policy reform the government has attempted since the welfare rebellion last year.
Send provision is one of the issues MPs are most contacted about. Some fear a backlash against plans that are expected to raise the bar at which children in England qualify for an education, health and care plan, the document that legally entitles children to extra support.
The inclusion bases already exist in some schools. They are part of a £3.7bn investment to redesign the system and create up to 60,000 bespoke places for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities in mainstream schools. They could be set up in spare classrooms or purpose-built, said a spokesperson from the Department for Education on Wednesday.
New guidance published this spring will set out expectations that schools should improve inclusivity and accessibility, which could mean creating breakout rooms, accessible changing facilities, outdoor learning spaces such as sensory gardens, as well as improving lighting, acoustics and ventilation.
Avnee Morjaria, lead author of an Institute for Public Policy Research report on reforming the Send system said: “It is vital that children with Send feel school is a place where they can belong and inclusion bases are an important part of making schools more inclusive.”
Madeleine Cassidy, the chief executive of IPSEA, which is part of the Save Our Children’s Rights campaign, said schools already had a legal duty under the Equality Act to make reasonable adjustments for children, but it was “too often ignored”. She added: “Investing properly in inclusive practice now is not only a matter of children’s rights, but a more sustainable approach that will reduce costs and pressure on the system in the long term.”
Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the school leaders’ union NAHT, said clarity was also needed for primary schools, adding that the government also needed to focus on ensuring schools had the staff and training they needed. Pepe Di’Iasio, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said inclusion bases were “only one half of the equation” and schools also needed funding for specialists and training.
As part of the Department for Education estate strategy published on Wednesday, schools will be given access to a £700m repairs funding pot. Officials will use school building data to identify the buildings most at risk of closure because of major structural issues, such as leaking roofs and failing boilers.
The education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, said the combined measures were aimed at “breaking down barriers to opportunity”.
“For too long, schools and colleges have been forced to patch and mend buildings that have already deteriorated – spending their time worrying about leaking roofs instead of focusing on what matters most: giving every child the best possible education,” she said.
MPs warned in a report on Wednesday that while the government had made a start on removing reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac) from schools, “significant concerns” remained about England’s school estate.
The Raac crisis surfaced in 2023 when more than 100 schools were told just days before the new academic year that they should close – either partially or fully – because of concerns about ageing concrete.
Helen Hayes MP, the chair of the education select committee, said the crisis had come “with a cost” for teachers, parents and pupils. “This crisis has laid bare the concerning condition of much of the school estate in England as a consequence of years of underinvestment,” she said. “While this may require a great deal of work to fix, the quality of school buildings has a significant impact on pupils’ learning and every child deserves to be taught in a safe, secure and fit for purpose school environment.”
