Funding Available to Develop Inclusion Practice in small Primary Schools

Many schools in Suffolk are working towards the Inclusion Quality Mark (IQM). Some are now Centres of Excellence. The IQM provides a useful framework to audit and develop inclusive practice in schools for the benefit of pupils.

It is clear that smaller primary schools sometimes lack funding and capacity to engage with initiatives like this, so the Suffolk Education Partnership SEND Task group has been working with the Local Authority to unlock some funding to remove some barriers to this.

The Local Authority will meet the costs of schools registering for the IQM - £129.50

The Partnership and LA have limited funding available to pay for the cost of the assessment - £1,450 and provide a day of release for a leader to make a start on the auditing process - £300.

Funding is limited and schools will need to complete the following online expression of interest by Friday 6th September at 5pm: https://forms.office.com/e/Rvz443JR7J

The Eligibility Criteria is as follows:

• - A small school is defined as less than 400 pupils.
• - Schools will agree to register within a week of funding confirmation
• - Schools will need to demonstrate, via the form:
  • - Why the extra release would make a difference.
  • - How they would use this funding/project to make sustainable developments to SEND provision in their school.
• - Account for the days in a brief report to be quality assured by the panel. 

 The panel will be comprised of 5 members representing the SEND Task group and Local Authority, and the panel will confirm funding by Friday 20th September. The Local Authority and Local Centres of Excellence will provide free ongoing support in addition to this.