In our previous blog, From Inclusion to Belonging: Using the Inclusive Mainstream Fund 2026 to Build a Strategy That Helps Every Child Thrive, we explored why this funding represents much more than an additional budget. We suggested that the real opportunity isn't simply to improve inclusion, but to create the conditions where every child feels safe, understood and able to thrive.
We argued that the opposite of exclusion isn't inclusion - it's belonging.
The next question is a practical one.
How can schools use this funding to turn that ambition into everyday practice?
The government's guidance suggests schools invest in:
- High-quality adaptive teaching
- Inclusive pedagogy and decision-making
- Safe, calm and accessible learning environments
- Targeted, evidence-based support, including early identification.
For the average primary school, this funding is expected to be around £14,000 per year, with secondary schools averaging around £48,000.
That creates an important question.
What investment will have the greatest impact across the whole school, rather than benefiting only a small number of pupils or a single area of provision?
We'd argue that one of the strongest investments schools can make is in understanding need.
Because every other decision - from staff development and targeted interventions to environmental adaptations and resource allocation - becomes more effective when it's informed by meaningful insight.
That's why we believe investing in understanding need should come first.
Every school will answer that question differently, but there are four investments we believe will deliver the greatest long-term impact.
1. Invest in Understanding Need Earlier
Perhaps the biggest opportunity presented by the Inclusive Mainstream Fund is the chance to become more proactive.
Too often, inclusion strategies become reactive.
Attendance falls.
Behaviour escalates.
Learning declines.
Support follows.
Those indicators matter, but they rarely explain why.
We often describe schools as becoming data-rich but insight-poor.
Schools know who's absent.
They know who's receiving intervention.
They know who's struggling.
But they don't always know what's driving those experiences.
That's why the government's emphasis on early identification feels so important.
The challenge for schools isn't putting support in place.
It's demonstrating that they're helping the right children, at the right time, with the right support.
This is exactly why we believe Motional can become the foundation of an effective inclusion strategy.
For a relatively small proportion of the Inclusive Mainstream Fund, schools gain:
- Whole-school emotional wellbeing insight.
- A clear understanding of need across individuals, classes and the wider organisation.
- Practical advice and targeted support for staff.
- Evidence that demonstrates whether support is making a difference.
- A shared language that helps teachers, leaders and families work together.
In other words, one investment that strengthens every other investment a school chooses to make.
Think about it another way.
If a school invests in staff training, how do they know whether it's improving outcomes for children?
If they introduce new interventions, how do they identify who needs them most?
If they redesign learning environments, how do they know where those changes will have the greatest impact?
Understanding need gives context to every one of those decisions.
That's why we believe it should sit at the heart of every Inclusive Mainstream Fund strategy.
Rather than waiting for difficulties to become barriers to learning, Motional’s Snapshots, Groupshots and the Organisational Snapshots help schools build an understanding of emotional wellbeing across individual pupils, classes and the whole organisation in as little as an hour per teacher, per term.
More importantly, that understanding becomes action.
Teachers receive tailored advice.
Leaders gain a clearer picture of emerging need.
Support can be targeted with greater confidence.
And over time, schools can measure the impact not only of Motional's advice and activities, but of the many excellent strategies and interventions they already have in place.
It's not about collecting more data.
It's about creating the right insight, at the right time, so schools can make the right decisions.
2. Invest in Ongoing Staff Development, Not One-Off Training
Every inclusion strategy ultimately succeeds or fails because of the adults delivering it.
Early Career Teachers arrive with fresh knowledge and enthusiasm, but they also need experienced colleagues who feel equally confident supporting children with an increasingly diverse range of needs. Likewise, experienced staff deserve opportunities to refresh their practice and continue developing their confidence.
The most successful schools don't rely on isolated training days.
They build a culture of continuous professional learning through coaching, shared reflection and opportunities to develop practice over time.
At Motional, we believe understanding need is the foundation of effective teaching. The bespoke programs that are created following a Groupshot provide advice, guidance and knowledge specific to the needs of the group and are available to all staff. This creates a culture that places the wellbeing and safety of students at the heart of shared practice.
Attendance, behaviour and emotional wellbeing all tell us something important, but they rarely tell us why.
When staff understand the emotional drivers behind behaviour, they're able to respond with curiosity rather than certainty, support rather than sanction, and consistency rather than guesswork.
That's where meaningful inclusion begins.
Investing in people doesn't just improve practice today.
It changes the culture of the school for years to come.
3. Give Your SENCO Time to be…
Ask almost any SENCO or ALNCo what they need more of and the answer is usually the same.
Time.
Time to work alongside teachers.
Time to support children.
Time to meet families.
Time to lead inclusion.
Too often, that time is consumed by administration.
One of the principles behind Motional has always been simple.
Give SENCOs more time to do what only they can do.
Once need has been identified, teachers receive practical advice and structured programmes that help embed support within everyday practice. Leaders gain evidence to guide conversations and monitor progress, while SENCOs spend less time creating paperwork and more time supporting people.
Technology should never replace professional expertise.
Its role is to give professionals more time to use it.
The Inclusive Mainstream Fund also provides an opportunity to build wider capacity around the SENCO - developing staff who can support implementation, deliver interventions and help embed inclusive practice across the school.
4. Invest in Environments That Help Children Feel They Belong
The government guidance talks about creating safe, calm and accessible learning environments.
That's about far more than furniture or sensory spaces.
It's about creating schools where children feel psychologically safe, understood and ready to learn.
Sometimes that's improving sensory provision.
Sometimes it's reducing cognitive load.
Sometimes it's adapting routines.
Sometimes it's simply asking children what helps them feel safe, successful and ready to learn.
One of the most valuable investments schools can make is listening to pupils themselves.
Inclusion shouldn't simply be designed for children.
It should be shaped with them.
Whole-school insight can be particularly valuable here.
Patterns often emerge across year groups or classrooms that simply aren't visible when looking at individual pupils alone. Those patterns help leaders make informed decisions about where changes to the environment could have the greatest impact.
When children help shape their environment, they don't just feel included.
They feel that they belong.
The Thread That Connects It All
Staff development.
Earlier identification.
Targeted support.
Inclusive environments.
Each of these investments has the potential to transform children's experiences.
But there is one question that sits underneath them all.
How will you know they're making a difference?
Schools already do incredible work every day.
The challenge isn't replacing what's already working.
It's understanding which approaches are having the greatest impact, where needs are changing and where support should be directed next.
That's why we believe understanding need isn't another initiative.
It's the thread that connects an effective inclusion strategy.
It enables schools to understand need, act early, target support more effectively and evidence impact over time.
Most importantly, it ensures every investment made through the Inclusive Mainstream Fund has the greatest possible chance of making a lasting difference.
From Funding to Lasting Change
Funding comes and goes.
Cultures remain.
The schools that will gain the greatest benefit from the Inclusive Mainstream Fund won't necessarily be those that purchase the most resources.
They'll be the schools that use this opportunity to build staff confidence.
Strengthen relationships.
Understand need earlier.
Make better decisions.
And create environments where every child feels that they belong.
In our previous blog, we argued that belonging should be the ambition.
This funding provides schools with an opportunity to turn that ambition into everyday practice.
We see that as the real opportunity.
Not simply to improve provision, but to help every child feel safe, understood and able to thrive.
That genuinely feels like a chance to make it happen.
Where Would We Start?
If we were advising a school on how to prioritise its Inclusive Mainstream Fund, we'd encourage them to begin by investing in understanding need.
Once schools have a clear picture of emotional wellbeing across their community, every subsequent investment - whether in staff development, targeted interventions or learning environments - becomes more focused, more consistent and easier to evaluate.
That's why we believe Motional offers one of the highest impact-to-cost investments schools can make through the Inclusive Mainstream Fund.
It isn't simply another initiative to fund.
It's the investment that helps every other investment deliver greater impact.
If you'd like to explore how schools across the UK are using Motional to understand need, align support and evidence impact, we'd be delighted to show you.
Book a short demo or get in touch to continue the conversation.
