Diversity and inclusion

Guidance and strategies to support and extend inclusive practice.

The resources below can be used to support and extend your practice and provision, but all settings must also have regard to relevant legislation and regulation.

If you can't find what you are looking for contact the Family Information Service.

The Ordinarily Available Inclusive Practice guide highlights a range of support and expectations that settings can ordinarily provide for a child or young person, including prompts, strategies and examples of good practice. This includes a section for children aged 0 to 5 years.

Other resources

From January 2025, the Early Years Individual Support Plan (EYISP) has been replaced with the Information gathering form as part of the SEND under 5 process. You should delete any old EYISP templates.

The information gathering form will be submitted to the Special Education Needs Assessment Team (SENAT). If the incorrect paperwork is submitted it will be rejected.

If a child has received an outcome of information gathering from SEND under 5 you will need to use this form to collate all the information. This form will be submitted to SENAT and used to decide at Considerations Panel whether a child will go forward for an Education, Health, and Care Needs Assessment (EHCNA). It is not a needs assessment request.
This action plan for inclusion document is embedded in the Information gathering document. It can still be accessed and used in isolation for children you are not gathering information for. It uses the Assess, Plan, Do, Review cycle to monitor children’s progress.
- Action plan for inclusion (Word, 107KB)
This supported transition plan should be used to help plan a supported transition for a child with SEND.
- Supported transition plan (Word, 93KB)
Inclusion funding can be awarded to support the inclusion and participation of children with severe or complex needs and/or a disability that are accessing an Early Years Funded Entitlement (EYFE) place with an early years provider.

Visit our Inclusion Funding web page for more information.
The SEND under 5s process seeks to establish proactive, practical support for families at an early stage, as well as identification of the support needed throughout their early years and into school. The process will be overseen by the early years and childcare advisers who provide inclusion support within pre-school settings.

For more information and to refer a child, visit the Send under 5's referral page.

Children with SEND who are likely to go on to need additional support in school should be referred to the local authority in which they live. For information on referral processes in a neighbouring local authority, visit their website:
Developing practice
- Communication environment evaluation tool (Word, 22KB) - Audit your setting to help identify effective elements of your environment in supporting all children’s speech and language development, and identify actions for your setting development plan.
- Communication environment evaluation tool: guidance (PDF, 218KB)
- Supporting children with speech, language and communication needs (IDP1)
  Part 1 of the Inclusion Development Programme focuses on supporting children with speech, language and communication needs. It is relevant to all practitioners, teachers, managers and leaders working within the EYFS with children from birth to the age of five.
- Supporting children on the autism spectrum (IDP2)
  Part 2 of the Inclusion Development Programme focuses on how you can develop your practice to support children with social communication difficulties, including those on the autism spectrum.
- Speech and Language UK - Help to support young children’s communication skills.
- The Communication Trust - Resources to support young children’s communication skills.
- National Literacy Trust: Early years sector - Supporting the development of early language and communication.
- Universally speaking - Stages of communication development for children aged 0-5.
Information to share with families
- Improving speech and language - Information from Family Assist on giving babies and young children a head start on learning to talk.
- Dummies and child speech development - Information from Family Assist about using a dummy and the effects on speech development.
- Words for life
- Talk to your baby
- BBC Tiny Happy People
Key information to support the needs of individual children
- Speech and Language Therapy Service referral for pre-school children
- Speech and language monitoring tool (PDF, 209KB) - All children in early years settings will have their progress monitored using the EYFS ages and stages. For any child where their communication and language is below age-expected levels, or you have concerns about their communication and language skills, complete the speech and language monitoring tool.
- Speech and language monitoring tool: guidance (PDF, 175KB) - Support for practitioners in using the monitoring tool, identifying areas of concern and what to do next.
- Speech and language monitoring tool: practice strategies (PDF, 136KB) - Ideas to support children’s communication and language development after assessing their current skill level.
Speech and Language Setting Support (SaLSS)

The Speech and Language Therapy Service and SaLSS therapists liaise with the Early Years and Childcare advisors to ensure appropriate support is available to Early Years settings.
- How to request SaLSS whole setting support
- All of us: Framework for quality inclusion (PDF, 333KB) - Checklist for providers to consider their own practice and explore what to do next.
- Continence support for early years settings and schools - Support for early years settings and schools to manage children's continence difficulties.
- Family hubs - Contact your local hub to offer further support when working with families of children with SEN and disabilities.
- Family and Childcare Trust - Guidance to support practitioners to develop quality, inclusive provision for all children.
Where individual transition planning will be beneficial for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), we have developed materials in conjunction with partner organisations. These can assist practitioners in schools and early years settings, health professionals, parents and carers to work together to ensure a smooth transition into a new setting.
The following documents from the Transition Plan above, are provided below in Word to adapt for your setting:
This approach is based on the values of inclusion and helps adults plan the support a child needs to be included and involved in their community (which includes you as their childcare setting).

This pack is intended to provide the tools needed to plan for children who have an identified special educational need or disability (SEND), or where there is a concern about the child’s learning and development. It also provides support in meeting the principles of the Special Educational Needs and Disability Code of Practice (January 2015).
- Person Centred Planning pack (PDF, 1.6MB)
The following parts of the pack are provided in Microsoft Word format to adapt for your own setting:
- Supporting children with behavioural, emotional and social difficulties (IDP3)
  Part 3 of the Inclusion Development Programme focuses on supporting all children in developing behavioural, emotional and social skills, thus avoiding later difficulties in learning and development. It also helps practitioners who are working with children whose behaviour, emotional and social development is already causing concern.
- Social and emotional aspects of development (SEAD) - Guidance to help practitioners support children in the early years and develop social and emotional skills.
- STAR observation: template (Word, 31KB) - A detailed observation format to help practitioners identify triggers for children’s behaviours.
- Star observation form: example (PDF, 124KB)
- Time-out versus feelings area (PDF, 76KB) - Comparing what ‘time-out’ achieves in comparison to using a ‘feelings area’ in your setting, where a child can retreat to calm down.
- Conflict resolution - Information from Family Assist about dealing with behaviour that leads to conflict between children.
- Setting limits - Information from Family Assist about the adult’s role in the setting of limits to manage unwanted behaviour.
- Helping children to make the right choices - Information from Family Assist about why children become frustrated, helping them to manage their feelings and learn about the results of their actions.
- Attachment and developmental trauma - Resources from Beacon House about how attachment and developmental trauma can affect children.
The Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP) is additional funding for early years providers to improve the education they provide for children claiming Early Years Funded Entitlement (EYFE).
- Eligibility and how to access EYPP funding - Information about the eligibility criteria and how to claim the funding.
- EYPP Project: Learning Together About Learning - Early Education received funding from the government for a project to support and evaluate strategies for implementing the Early Years Pupil Premium.
- Disability Access Fund (DAF) - Additional funding available for early years settings for children accessing EYFE, where the child is also in receipt of Disability Living Allowance.
A child who is being looked after by their local authority is known as a child in care. They might be living with foster parents, at home with their parents under the supervision of social services, in residential children's homes, or other residential settings like schools or secure units. They might have been placed in care voluntarily by parents struggling to cope, or children's services may have intervened because a child was at significant risk of harm.
- West Sussex Virtual School - Information about how to support children in your setting.

Diversity and inclusion

Other resources

Developing practice

Information to share with families

Key information to support the needs of individual children

Speech and Language Setting Support (SaLSS)