Inclusion & Pupil Premium
Every Child Belongs. Every Child Participates. Every Child Achieves.
At Woodlands Primary School, inclusion is not an intervention or an additional provision: it is the way we design our school. We are ambitious for every child. We believe that children should be able to belong, participate, learn and thrive regardless of disadvantage, additional need, disability, language, background or circumstance. Our responsibility is therefore not simply to respond when a child experiences difficulty. We aim to understand the children and families we serve, anticipate commonly occurring and predictable needs, identify barriers early and organise our curriculum, teaching, environment and wider provision so that children can succeed. This approach reflects the national direction towards mainstream education that is inclusive by design, while building upon the inclusive practice that has been developing at Woodlands over a number of years.
Our ambition is clear: high expectations, equitable opportunity and excellent outcomes for all.
Our Approach to Inclusion
Woodlands is a large and diverse primary school and our provision extends from babies and toddlers through to Year 6. We recognise that children arrive at school with different experiences, strengths and starting points and that some will require additional or different support at different stages of their education. Our approach is therefore based upon equity rather than uniformity: giving children what they need to access the same high expectations, opportunities and sense of belonging.
Inclusion at Woodlands encompasses our work in:
high-quality, adaptive teaching and an ambitious curriculum for all;
early identification and intervention;
SEND and our Specialist Inclusion Base (SIB);
communication, speech and language development;
emotional regulation, sensory need and readiness to learn;
attendance and belonging;
safeguarding and early help;
disadvantaged pupils and Pupil Premium;
children who are looked after or previously looked after (LAC/PLAC);
children from Armed Forces families;
English as an additional language (EAL);
mental health and wellbeing;
enrichment, wider opportunities and cultural capital;
effective transition between phases and settings; and
strong partnership with families, the LA and other professionals.
Some children require sustained specialist provision. Others may need targeted or responsive support for a shorter period. Our aim is always to identify need early and provide the right support, at the right time, in the right way, while maintaining ambitious expectations for every learner.
The Seven Principles of Inclusion
The Department for Education's Inclusive Mainstream Fund supports schools to strengthen inclusive practice and remove barriers to learning and participation.
The DfE identifies seven principles of effective inclusion. These align closely with the direction already established at Woodlands:
Ambitious leadership and governance that embeds inclusion;
Evidence-based support prioritising early intervention;
High-quality adaptive teaching with curriculum designed for all learners;
Enriching provision beyond the classroom that all children can access;
A safe and respectful culture fostering belonging and attendance;
Strong partnerships with families and wider services;
Inclusive environments with continuous improvements to accessibility.
Our Inclusion Strategy 2026/27, available below, explains how these principles are being translated into practice at Woodlands, the barriers we have identified within our school community and how our resources are being used to address them. Our Inclusion Strategy sets out how we are continuing to develop inclusive practice across Woodlands, building upon our established mainstream, specialist and early-years provision and responding to the changing needs of our children and community.
Removing Barriers to Learning and Participation
We do not assume that a label, diagnosis or funding category tells us what an individual child needs. Instead, we use a combination of assessment, professional knowledge, pupil and family voice, attendance and safeguarding information and our understanding of children's learning and development to identify barriers and determine appropriate support.
The barriers experienced by children within our community can include:
communication, speech and language needs;
SEND and additional learning needs;
difficulties with regulation, sensory processing or readiness to learn;
gaps in vocabulary, knowledge or previous educational experience;
disadvantage and financial hardship;
attendance or persistent absence;
social, emotional or mental-health needs;
family circumstances or significant life experiences;
limited access to wider experiences and enrichment;
EAL; and
barriers arising during transition between phases or settings.
These barriers can overlap. For this reason, we do not consider SEND, disadvantage, attendance, safeguarding and wellbeing in isolation. Our leaders work together to understand the whole child and the factors affecting their access, participation and achievement.
Pupil Premium
What is Pupil Premium?
Pupil Premium is additional government funding provided to improve educational outcomes for disadvantaged pupils. For 2026/27, schools are required to use Pupil Premium on evidence-informed activity which addresses identified needs and falls within the DfE's approved menu of approaches. Pupil Premium is not a personal budget attached to an individual child. Schools determine how it can be used most effectively, based upon the needs of their disadvantaged cohort and evidence about what is most likely to improve outcomes. Funding may therefore support eligible pupils directly, other pupils with identified needs, or wider approaches such as improvements to high-quality teaching which benefit disadvantaged pupils alongside their peers.
At Woodlands, our Pupil Premium Strategy forms an important part of our wider approach to inclusion.
Pupil Premium Funding 2026/27
For the 2026/27 financial year, the Pupil Premium rates for primary-aged pupils are:
£1,550 for pupils in Reception to Year 6 who are eligible for Free School Meals, or who have been eligible during the previous six years (FSM Ever 6);
£2,690 for previously looked-after children;
£2,690 for looked-after children, with this funding managed by the Local Authority's Virtual School Head; and
£360 Service Pupil Premium for eligible children from Armed Forces families.
*Service Pupil Premium has a distinct purpose and is primarily intended to enable schools to provide pastoral support and mitigate the potential effects of mobility or parental deployment.
Free School Meals and Pupil Premium from September 2026
From the beginning of the 2026/27 academic year, eligibility for Free School Meals has expanded to include children in households receiving Universal Credit. There are now two categories:
Targeted Free School Meals – based upon the existing income threshold. Eligibility within this category continues to attract associated entitlements, including Pupil Premium where the relevant criteria are met.
Expanded Free School Meals – for pupils in Universal Credit households whose earnings are above the Targeted FSM threshold. This provides entitlement to a free school meal but does not itself generate Pupil Premium funding or the other entitlements linked to Targeted FSM eligibility.
We strongly encourage families who believe they may meet the Targeted FSM criteria to ensure that their eligibility is registered, even where their child already receives a free school meal. Information and applications are available through Cheshire West and Chester Council's Free School Meals service.
How We Use Pupil Premium
Our starting point is always need, evidence and impact, rather than simply allocating funding to individual pupils. Our strategy reflects the DfE's evidence-informed menu of approaches and the Education Endowment Foundation's (EEF’s) tiered approach, with particular emphasis upon:
High-quality teaching
Excellent classroom teaching has the greatest potential to improve outcomes for all children, including those experiencing disadvantage. Our investment therefore includes staff professional development, assessment, curriculum development, adaptive teaching, evidence-informed approaches to literacy and mathematics and ensuring that teachers and support staff have the knowledge and resources required to meet a diverse range of needs.
Targeted academic support
Where assessment identifies a specific barrier or gap, pupils may receive carefully selected additional or targeted support. This can include approaches to communication and language, phonics, reading, writing and mathematics, alongside interventions designed around particular learning needs. Support is selected according to identified need and its impact is reviewed.
Wider strategies
We know that children cannot learn effectively if they are not in school, do not feel safe or that they belong, or are not emotionally and physically ready to learn. Our wider work therefore includes attendance, safeguarding and early help, emotional wellbeing, regulation, relationships with families, transition and access to enrichment and wider opportunities. Where financial circumstances could otherwise prevent participation, we seek to remove barriers so that disadvantaged children can participate fully in the wider life of the school.
Inclusion, Disadvantage and SEND
Disadvantage and SEND are different, but for some children they intersect. We therefore analyse the needs and outcomes of children carefully rather than treating pupils as a single homogeneous group. A child may experience disadvantage without SEND; have SEND without experiencing disadvantage; or experience both alongside other barriers such as attendance, communication need, safeguarding vulnerability or limited previous educational experience. Our response is deliberately joined-up.
This is reflected in our leadership, assessment, safeguarding and attendance systems and in the way our mainstream classes, our LA commissioned Specialist Inclusion Base and the way we organise our EYFS contribute to a wider continuum of support. Our ambition remains the same throughout: children should receive the support they need without reducing our expectations of what they can achieve.
Early Intervention
A central principle of our inclusion strategy is that support should not unnecessarily depend upon a diagnosis or statutory process. Where we identify an emerging barrier, we seek to respond early. This may involve adaptation within the classroom, changes to the learning environment, targeted intervention, communication and language support, sensory or regulation support, pastoral provision, family support or engagement with external professionals. Our inclusive spaces and provision are designed to enable children to regulate, communicate and become ready to engage successfully with learning, while also helping staff to understand children's needs more accurately. We continually review this provision and its impact as children's needs and our school community evolve.
Enrichment and Belonging
Inclusion extends beyond academic attainment. Every child should have access to the experiences which make primary education memorable: visits, visitors, residential experiences, sport, music, clubs, performances, leadership opportunities and the wider cultural life of the school. We therefore monitor participation as well as attainment. Where disadvantage creates a barrier to participation, we consider how our resources can be used appropriately to remove or reduce that barrier. We want every child to be able to say:
“I belong here. I can participate. I am known. I am supported. I am expected to succeed.”
Knowing Whether We Are Making a Difference
We evaluate inclusion and Pupil Premium through their impact on children rather than simply recording what money has been spent.
Leaders and governors consider a range of evidence including:
attainment and progress;
quality of teaching and learning;
attendance and persistent absence;
participation and engagement;
communication and language development;
behaviour, regulation and readiness to learn;
safeguarding and early-help outcomes;
access to enrichment and wider opportunities;
pupil and parent voice;
successful transitions;
SEND outcomes; and
the impact of individual interventions and wider strategic approaches.
This allows us to identify what is working, what needs to change and where resources should be directed next.
Leadership, Governance and Accountability
Inclusion is a whole-school responsibility. School leaders regularly evaluate the needs of our pupil population and the effectiveness of our provision. Governors provide strategic challenge and oversight, including scrutiny of our Inclusion and Pupil Premium strategies, the use of associated funding and the outcomes achieved. Our Pupil Premium Strategy Statement is reviewed and updated annually and published by 31 December in accordance with DfE requirements.
From 2026/27, schools are also required to publish an annual Inclusion Strategy Statement. This sets out the barriers to learning and participation identified within the school, the approaches being taken to address them and how funding, including the Inclusive Mainstream Fund, is being used. These are not separate pieces of paperwork at Woodlands. Together, they demonstrate a single strategic commitment, to identify barriers early, remove them wherever we can and ensure that every child has the opportunity to belong, participate and achieve.
Key Documents
The documents below, taken together, explain how we are working to create an increasingly inclusive-by-design school in which difference is anticipated, barriers are identified early and every child is supported to achieve ambitious outcomes. They provide further detail about our approach, provision, use of funding and evaluation of impact:
Woodlands Inclusion Strategy 2026/27 (including the Inclusive Early Years Fund, IEYF, information)
SEND Information Report
SEND Policy
Accessibility Plan
Pupil Premium Strategy Statement 2026/27
Previous Pupil Premium Strategy Statements
Attendance policy
Safeguarding policy
Equality information and objectives
You can check if you are eligible online:
https://www.cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk/residents/education-and-learning/school-meals.aspx
OR GET IN TOUCH WITH BENEFITS INFORMATION
Telephone: 0300 123 7021, Monday to Friday 8am to 7pm
By post: Revenues and Benefits Department, PO Box 187, Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, CH34 9DB
