the hook
i've spent the years telling schools that accessibility isn't an add-on. it's ordinarily available provision — support that should sit inside every classroom, not bolted on for the few.
last week that stopped being my phrase. it became the government's.
what actually changed
every school in england must publish an inclusion strategy by 31 december 2026. the guidance is specific: schools must set out their plan for "high quality ordinarily available provision." not send provision. not an add-on. ordinarily available.
the money has already moved. £400 million a year, for three years, straight to schools. average primary gets about £14,000. average secondary gets about £48,000. it landed in accounts at the end of june.
the bit nobody's talking about yet
a week after the money landed, the eef published new guidance that should worry anyone treating this as a checklist exercise. their message: more adaptation does not mean more inclusion. some of the things schools reach for first — simplifying tasks, lowering the bar, doing it for the child instead of with them — actively hinder learning.
effective support looks different. it's specific to the task. it's informed by what you're actually seeing. and — this is the line i'd put on a wall — it usually means more high-quality teaching, not different teaching.
why i'm not fully relieved
i've watched this pattern before, in edtech. money and mandates arrive fast. the conditions to use them well — trust, training, time to actually change practice — arrive slower, if at all. teacher confidence in edtech fell even as the hardware got better. i don't want inclusion strategies to become the same story: a document written in november to hit a december deadline, sitting unread by february.
the policy direction is right. belonging first, ordinarily available provision, shared ownership across all staff, not just the senco. i've been saying this for two years. i'm glad the government caught up.
but a strategy on a website isn't the same as a classroom where a child feels safe enough to try. that's still the actual work. that's always been the actual work.
if you're staring at a december deadline
start with the audit, not the tool. know what's already sitting on the devices you own before you buy anything new. and build the strategy with your teachers, not for them — the ones sat in classrooms are the ones who'll actually have to live inside it.
if you want a second pair of eyes on yours before december, book 45 minutes and we'll start with what you've already got.
sources: dfe inclusive mainstream fund for schools: methodology 2026–27 · eef guide to inclusive teaching, 6 july 2026 · dfe technology in schools survey 2024–25