Across the sector, we talk about the importance of inclusion, but are we always delivering on that goal?

After all, while many schools provide brilliantly for neurodivergent children, it’s clear that much needs to be done to ensure all are able to thrive in mainstream settings.

It’s an area we at Whipton Barton Federation, a primary school of more than 200 pupils, are always striving to improve, which is why we were proud to take part in the Partnerships for Inclusion of Neurodiversity in Schools (PINS) pilot programme last academic year.

What PINS is all about

If you’ve not heard of it, PINS is a new initiative funded by the Department for Education (DfE) and supported by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and NHS England, designed to help boost inclusion practice in schools across the country.

It’s important work because, within Devon alone, where we are based, around 15 per cent of children are either diagnosed with, or awaiting assessment for, a neurodivergent condition, from autism, ADHD and anxiety, to dyslexia, dyspraxia and more.

For such children, early intervention and inclusive school environments are vital.

The PINS programme aims to meet that need, providing both educational and health outcomes for neurodivergent pupils long before they reach crisis point by embedding inclusive strategies in a whole-school approach.

Improving engagement

One of the most powerful elements of the PINS programme is helping schools improve how they listen and engage with staff, pupils and, crucially, parents.

For our pilot, the PINS project team at Devon County Council provided a comprehensive template for us to use in a self-assessment about how we engage in these discussions, which was then appraised by our wider staff and governing board.

This honest and helpful feedback helped us to see not only areas of strength, like the warmth of our relationships with families, but also where we could improve, such as making our environment more welcoming and accessible to parents of neurodivergent children.

Working alongside local authorities including Devon County Council and Plymouth City Council, the Parent Carer Forum Devon, and health professionals, we also ran a series of parent workshops and coffee mornings to facilitate ongoing conversations.

Parental insights

The Parent Carer Forum led the initial workshop with parents for us and supported attendees to share their voice using the “Four Cornerstones” approach.

These sessions were instrumental in opening up dialogue not only around the challenges families face, but also what is working well so we could build on that.

Being able to watch how this workshop was conducted provided us with a firm understanding of how we can best lead such events ourselves going forward.

The changes we made weren’t always dramatic, but they were meaningful.

Examples include adjustments to our classroom environments to reduce sensory overload, and clearer communication around transitions. Ensuring that all staff continue to receive regular training around neurodiversity is also key.

Our staff benefited from training as part of our participation, and this was provided free of charge through the project.

A menu of possible staff training was provided, and we identified which options would be the most appropriate for our staff, choosing developmental language disorder (DLD) and autism training.

We also hosted a whole-school event during Neurodiversity Celebration Week, where 45 families joined a collaborative art project, creating vibrant, joyful displays celebrating the strengths of our neurodivergent pupils.

The artwork now hangs proudly in our school as a visual reminder of what happens when we work in partnership with our community.

A blueprint for the future

I believe the PINS project is a blueprint for how mainstream schools can provide better support to neurodivergent children - but it also outlines that, to really deliver, they need support from outside agencies.

The backing of external agencies, NHS specialists, local SEND professionals and the Parent Carer Forum ensured we weren’t working in isolation, but as part of a joined-up ecosystem focused on getting it right for children and families.

The other key element was the fact that the programme doesn’t rely on a child receiving any diagnosis before support begins.

Instead, it encourages schools to respond to children’s needs in real time - an approach that’s not only more compassionate but also more effective.

This isn’t the end of our journey to support neurodivergent pupils. We’re already sharing our learning with other schools in our trust and across the region. What PINS has given us is a model that can be adapted, scaled and embedded over the long term.

I would urge policymakers and education leaders to build on the momentum of the PINS pilot and help ensure that the good practices that schools such as ours have learned can be scaled up.

Because every child deserves to feel safe, valued and supported in their local mainstream school.

Louise Moretta is executive headteacher at Whipton Barton Federation, part of the Ted Wragg Trust

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