The Department of Health and Social Care and the Department of Education have launched a new £13 million pilot to upskill school staff to offer “excellent inclusive provision” for neurodiverse children. A “partnerships for inclusion of neurodiversity in schools” pilot was successful in the third round of the government’s shared outcomes fund.
The pilot will focus on early support and intervention for neurodiverse children in the mainstream primary setting. It will achieve this by bringing together health, the local parent carer forum, the local authority, and education staff. The one-year pilot will “create environments that better meet neurodiverse children’s needs, ensuring they are able to thrive as part of their wider cohort”.
Partnerships for Inclusion of Neurodiversity in Schools (PINS) will bring health, LA and education specialists and expert parent carers into mainstream primary settings to:
- Help shape whole school SEND provision
- provide early interventions at a school level
- upskill school staff
- support strengthening of partnerships between schools and parent carers
The project will reach 1,680 mainstream primary schools across England. Each of the 42 integrated care boards (ICBs), will work with 40 primary schools, meaning 450,000 children could be reached.
The West Yorkshire integrated care board will be piloting the project across Kirklees, Wakefield, and Calderdale. Kirklees have been awarded to run the pilot in 14 of the 40 regional primary schools. The pilot will run from September 2024- March 2025.
