The majority of children with additional or special educational needs will not require special resources or enhanced staffing to be successfully included in a setting. Most providers will meet the additional needs of their children very well.
For support to deliver high quality, inclusive practice to all children, refer to the West Sussex Ordinarily Available Inclusive Practice guide.
For guidance on the expectations of Universal Inclusive Practice in Early Years settings refer to Chapter 3 of the SEN and Disability in the Early Years Toolkit (Council For Disabled Children).
What is Inclusion Funding?
Funding can be awarded to support the inclusion and participation of children with severe/complex needs and/or a disability that are accessing an Early Years Funded Entitlement place with an Early Years provider.
These children may be in receipt of Inclusion Funding for a time limited period only, or for the duration of their place with the Early Years provider.
How to request Inclusion funding?
Early Years and Childcare providers registered to offer Early Years Funded Entitlement places (such as private, voluntary and independent providers) may request Inclusion Funding where a child needs support which is over and above ordinarily available inclusive practice. The child must be accessing an Early Years Funded Entitlement place with the provider in order for the provider to access funding, and the provider will need to complete an Action Plan for Inclusion.
Application process
Important: All applications must be submitted by the following dates to be considered for the applicable term; any applications received after this date will not be considered:
- Autumn Term 2024 - by 31 May 2024
(Note that deadlines will usually be 6 weeks before the end of a term to ensure you are notified of the decision and can plan the use of funding, if awarded, for the following term.)
Prior to application:
1. Read the following document
2. If you have not completed an 'Action Plan for Inclusion' before and require further guidance, please contact the Setting Support mailbox for your area and request support.:
- Arun - SettingSupportArun@westsussex.gov.uk
- Adur and Worthing - SettingSupportAdurWorthing@westsussex.gov.uk
- Mid Sussex - SettingSupportMidSussex@westsussex.gov.uk
- Crawley - SettingSupportCrawley@westsussex.gov.uk
- Horsham - SettingSupportHorsham@westsussex.gov.uk
- Chichester - SettingSupportChichester@westsussex.gov.uk
3. Complete or update an ‘Action Plan for Inclusion’ and return this to EYFInclusionTeam@westsussex.gov.uk
- Action Plan for Inclusion (Word, 106KB)
- Guidance to complete the Action Plan for Inclusion (PDF, 308KB)
Should your Inclusion Funding application be successful, an EYCA will contact you to arrange a visit in the term after you have been awarded funding for an Inclusion Funding review. In this visit the EYCA will look at your Action Plan for Inclusion and the impact of the funding on your strategies of support.
For pre-entry requests for funding, base it on the evidence you have gathered from the child’s parents/carers and professionals involved in supporting the child for whom you are requesting funding.
4. If your application is successful, read the following document thoroughly: