Mainstream pathway
The Council believes that mainstream schools can offer the majority of pupils with SEND the opportunity for real inclusion but that they require access to enhanced support and resources to be able to continue meeting need throughout a student's education.
Following the implementation of our first wave of SEND hubs across the 2025-26 academic year, we will further expand our offer to mainstream schools by developing the following:
Enhanced learning provision (ELP)
Mainstream schools will be supported to implement enhanced learning provisions. ELP’s are school-led initiatives designed to support pupils who are working below age-related expectations or facing additional vulnerabilities, particularly during key transitions such as early years to primary or primary to secondary.
Many inclusive schools already successfully provide this type of informal intervention to children and young people with SEND or behavioural needs throughout the school day. The council will support the implementation of this type of provision through the SEND workforce development offer and with interventions from our inclusion quality and effectiveness advisors.
- to access an ELP, pupils do not need an EHC plan
- teaching is delivered in small groups by trained school staff, but also with access to the wider curriculum
- ELPs are tailored to the needs of each school’s community, promoting early intervention and reducing escalation to specialist settings
ELPs are a key part of the strategy’s focus on and very much supported through the workforce development programme, ensuring schools are equipped to support their pupils as they progress.
Mainstream SEND hubs
Building on our work programme of launching SEND hubs in Lincolnshire, this strategy further prioritises mainstream inclusion by creating more mainstream SEND hubs. This type of provision provides an enhanced educational experience for children and young people with SEND, enabling them to be educated and have their needs met in a mainstream school, in bespoke environments, taught by knowledgeable and skilled staff.
We will review the mainstream school estate with regards existing sufficiency and identify any surplus accommodation which could be remodelled and developed to house a SEND hub, making best use of existing capital assets. Utilising surplus accommodation maximises available space within our education estate (including academies where the council is the landlord) which are currently under-utilised. SEND hubs will also seek to support under-capacity schools to ensure future sustainability by making best use of available spaces.
Once schools with potential capacity have been identified, we will work in partnership with these settings to explore the viability of developing a SEND hub on these sites. We will give due regard in the identification process to localised demand and also prioritise equity of access, in terms of location and educational phase in order to ensure sufficient secondary provision to support the child’s educational journey.
A mainstream SEND hub is a small, adapted area within a mainstream school or academy that provides tailored support for children with SEND. Mainstream SEND hubs are highly structured settings within mainstream schools. Commissioned by the council for pupils with an EHC plan, it provides a structured and supportive environment for pupils whose needs cannot be fully met in a standard mainstream classroom.
The ethos of the hub is belonging - children are supported to access mainstream activities and learning opportunities in the wider school environment, where appropriate, whilst being taught a differentiated curriculum in a small class for the majority of the school day.
Each SEND hub classroom is set up to support a maximum of 13 children at any one time, with a maximum of 2 hub classrooms per school. In each classroom, ten places are formally commissioned by the council, while the remaining 2 to 3 are flexible, or “transient,” places that the host school can use to support their own pupils. These transient places are intended to provide short-term support throughout the school day and are allocated by the host school.
Mainstream SEND hubs are an integral part of the mainstream school, physically and culturally, with inclusivity and belonging at their core. The hub belongs to the school, is managed by the school and is staffed by the school – the council’s responsibility is to provide funding, support and to quality assure the provision.
For the ten council commissioned places, admission to a SEND hub is a structured and collaborative process designed to ensure that placements are appropriate, sustainable, and in the best interests of the child. The process is governed by the principles of inclusion, transparency, and partnership between the council, the host school, parents, carers, and relevant professionals.
SEND and AP hub pupil placement funding is determined through a theoretical model using key cost drivers of delivery that are costed to determine overall hub funding