Who is this template for?
This template is designed specifically for school and trust leaders across England, including Academy Trust Leaders (CEOs and Central Executives), Headteachers, Heads of School, Trustees, and Governors. It is equally indispensable for middle and specialist leaders—such as Special Educational Needs Coordinators (SENCOs) and inclusion leads—who are responsible for establishing universal inclusive provision, breaking down barriers to learning, and ensuring compliance with the conditions of grant.
Why use this template?
Under the conditions of the Inclusive Mainstream Fund (IMF), all mainstream schools in England must publish a robust inclusion strategy on their website by 31 December 2026. This template provides the structure, rigour, and clarity needed to meet this statutory duty while embedding lasting, high-impact practice across your setting:
- Direct Alignment with DfE Conditions of Grant: Confidently evaluate your current provision and map funding directly against the Department for Education’s seven principles of inclusion, ensuring full regulatory adherence.
- Website-Ready Strategic Output: Efficiently pinpoint the specific barriers to learning and participation across your cohort, match them with targeted activities, define clear budgeted costs, and track measurable intended outcomes—everything required for your published website strategy.
- Robust Governor & Trustee Scrutiny: Provide governing boards and trust boards with transparent, visual oversight of how the IMF is allocated and monitored, facilitating meaningful challenge and evidence-based strategic governance.
- Streamline Inspection Readiness: Structure your internal evidence base to demonstrate to Ofsted how leaders establish an inclusive vision, equip classroom staff to deliver adaptive teaching, and systematically monitor pupil impact.
- Bridge Strategy and Classroom Impact: Shift inclusion from an isolated policy document into a dynamic, whole-school framework that links universal provision (Quality First/adaptive teaching) with targeted interventions without waiting for statutory diagnosis.
- Actionable Force-Field Analysis: Uncover the real helping and hindering factors within your school culture, staff deployment, and physical environment, turning honest self-evaluation into concrete action plans with assigned accountability.
How does it work?
Built on iAbacus’s proven, intuitive evaluation sequence, this template turns complex self-evaluation into a clear, visual process. Leaders make a professional judgement by sliding an abacus bead, calibrate that judgement against defined criteria across four progressive performance levels (Emerging, Developing, Embedded, and Sustained), attach supporting evidence and costing notes, analyse driving and restraining factors, and construct targeted action plans.
The template evaluates seven core Areas down the left side of the abacus, mirroring the national framework:
- Leadership: Ambitious leadership and governance that embeds an inclusive vision, distributes accountability across all tiers, and deploys resources effectively.
- Early Support: Evidence-based approaches prioritising early identification and proactive intervention without requiring a formal statutory diagnosis.
- Adaptive Teaching: High-quality, adaptive teaching and curriculum design that ensures accessibility, challenge, and high expectations for all learners.
- Beyond the Classroom: Accessible, enriching extracurricular and broader school experiences that foster independence, confidence, and pupil voice.
- Culture and Belonging: A safe, calm, and respectful school culture that champions attendance, pupil wellbeing, and a genuine sense of belonging.
- Families and Partners: Strong, collaborative partnerships with parents, carers, multi-agency services, and external specialists to deliver coherent support.
- Environment: Continuous improvements to physical, sensory, and digital accessibility across classrooms and shared learning spaces.
Clear, Professional Reporting
With a single click, iAbacus exports your complete evaluation into a polished, professional PDF report. This executive-level document clearly presents your judgements, qualitative evidence, budgeted allocations, and action plans in a clean, visual format. It provides the ideal evidence bundle to present to Ofsted inspectors, clearly demonstrating how leaders ensure the inclusion strategy is deeply embedded in everyday classroom practice and how staff across the school are equipped, trained, and supported to deliver it.
References / Source Material
- DfE: Developing an inclusion strategy using the Inclusive Mainstream Fund
- DfE: Inclusive Mainstream Fund: Best practice for schools
- EEF: The EEF Guide to Inclusive Teaching
- Ofsted: State-funded school inspection toolkit
How to Get Started
New to iAbacus? Discover how this template can support your improvement strategy. Book a personalised demo or start a free trial to explore the full platform. Visit www.iAbacus.com to learn more.
Already a subscriber? You can find this template in the template library within your iAbacus account. Simply log in, create a new abacus, and select it from the list to get started.
