EducareM · Resources for Catholic education
Inclusion, Dignity and Belonging
Apply Catholic teaching to SEND, disadvantage, disability, cultural diversity and the experience of families of different faiths or none.
Look closely at access, language, behaviour, participation and whose voice is missing. Turn a commitment to dignity into changes people can experience.
Explore EducareM resources →Every person has dignity. Every person should belong.
Catholic inclusion begins with the conviction that every person is created in God’s image and loved by God. Dignity is inherent: it does not depend on attainment, independence, behaviour, financial circumstances or religious belief.
A Catholic school expresses its mission through ambitious education, respectful relationships and practical care. Belonging includes being known, learning well, contributing and having influence. Ask what a pupil or family actually experiences, including where they remain on the margins.
Dignity and education
Genesis 1:27 grounds our understanding of human dignity. Gravissimum educationis, §1 , links the right to education with the dignity and development of every person.
School question: Do our teaching, expectations and daily language communicate that every pupil can grow?
Participation and disability
Fratelli tutti, §98 , calls for the active participation of disabled people in community life and recognition of their unique contribution.
School question: Can a pupil participate, contribute and lead, or are they only present?
Attention to disadvantage
Gravissimum educationis, §9 , gives particular attention to those experiencing poverty or lacking support.
School question: Which costs, assumptions or routines restrict opportunity, and what will we change?
Hospitality across difference
In Luke 10:25–37, Jesus challenges narrow ideas about who counts as our neighbour. Catholic hospitality invites us to listen, respond and serve across differences.
School question: Do families understand our Catholic identity and experience respectful welcome, including when their beliefs differ?
Catholic identity expressed through welcome
Explain the school’s faith and mission clearly. Learn about families’ circumstances without assuming that a language, culture, disability or faith tells you everything about a person. Respect conscience and explain prayer, religious education and sacramental practice carefully, including applicable legal rights.
Catholic teaching informs the school’s purpose; it does not replace duties under education, equality or safeguarding law.
Translate dignity into everyday practice
SEND and ambitious learning
Identify emerging needs, use high-quality teaching and adapt access, explanation, practice and assessment. Involve pupils and families in the graduated approach: assess, plan, do and review. Provide support while developing confidence and independence.
Do not reduce ambition because support is needed. Check what pupils actually learn and whether interventions connect with classroom teaching.
Disability and access
Review routines, communication, resources, sensory environments and opportunities beyond lessons. Plan reasonable adjustments and implement the accessibility plan. Consult the pupil and family about what works.
SEND and disability overlap but are not identical. A pupil may need a disability-related adjustment without having SEN.
Disadvantage and opportunity
Identify barriers affecting learning and participation without treating a funding label as a description of a child. Consider equipment, transport, digital access, uniform, activities, food and family communication.
Provide discreet support and review whether it improves opportunity and outcomes. Do not require families to publicly explain hardship.
Culture, language and faith
Pronounce names carefully, communicate accessibly and teach about people and cultures accurately. Develop English language proficiency while recognising existing knowledge and multilingual strengths.
English as an additional language is not itself SEN. Assess possible additional needs carefully. Challenge racism, religious prejudice and stereotypes promptly.
Every staff role matters
Teachers shape learning and assessment. Teaching assistants support access and independence. Office staff make communication workable. Site and catering teams understand practical barriers. Lunchtime staff notice participation and relationships. Chaplaincy staff help the community pray and serve thoughtfully. Leaders provide training, time, resources and accountability.
Scenarios for staff formation and review
Use one scenario in a short mixed-role discussion. Read the Catholic principle, identify the barrier, hear different perspectives and agree a supported action. These are fictional composite situations for adaptation; discuss them without identifiable personal details.
1. Access: present at the event, outside the experience
Situation: A pupil using a wheelchair can reach a school celebration but cannot access the raised area where classmates read, sing and receive recognition. They are offered a separate contribution from the side.
Catholic lens: Dignity and active participation; Fratelli tutti, §98.
Discuss
- What would equal membership look like from the pupil’s perspective?
- Were access and participation considered when choosing the space and planning roles?
- What can site staff, teachers, chaplaincy and the family help us understand?
Act: Consult the pupil and family; redesign the shared activity or location so participation is meaningful. Check arrangements for future events against reasonable-adjustment duties and the accessibility plan.
Review: Ask what the pupil could do, choose and contribute. Do not stop at whether they attended.
Guidance: Equality Act advice for schools .
2. Language: a family labelled “hard to reach”
Situation: A parent misses an online meeting and does not return a long English-language form. Staff assume a lack of interest. Reception later discovers that the parent cannot use the platform confidently and did not understand the request.
Catholic lens: Hospitality, solidarity and respectful partnership.
Discuss
- Is the family hard to reach, or is our communication difficult to access?
- What do we know about language, literacy, digital access and preferred contact?
- How might our labels influence expectations of the pupil?
Act: Agree an accessible contact method, offer appropriate interpretation or translated information and check understanding. Arrange adult interpretation for sensitive discussions rather than relying on a child.
Review: Ask whether the parent could understand, respond and influence the discussion.
Guidance: SEND Code of Practice where SEND partnership is involved; Equality Act advice .
3. Behaviour: repeated sanctions, unchanged barriers
Situation: A pupil regularly leaves a noisy room during independent work. Repeated sanctions have not changed the pattern. Some staff view leaving as deliberate defiance; others identify possible sensory and communication needs.
Catholic lens: Dignity, justice, responsibility and compassionate understanding.
Discuss
- What happens before, during and after the difficulty?
- Have we checked the task, environment, instructions, needs and existing adjustments?
- How can we protect everyone’s learning and safety while teaching a workable response?
Act: Agree a consistent, taught response and review support with the SENCO, pupil and family. Seek specialist advice where needed. Consider whether reasonable adjustments are required and whether any sanction is lawful, fair and proportionate.
Review: Look at safety, engagement, learning and recurrence. A quieter record is not enough if the pupil spends more time outside education.
Guidance: Behaviour in schools and suspension and permanent exclusion guidance .
4. Disadvantage: the hidden cost of participation
Situation: A residential visit includes clothing, travel arrangements and spending money beyond the advertised price. A family does not return the form. The pupil is described as uninterested and misses the experience.
Catholic lens: Attention to poverty, solidarity and the common good.
Discuss
- What is the full financial and practical cost?
- Are we interpreting silence before understanding the circumstances?
- How can support protect dignity and widen access?
Act: Review the activity’s costs, communication, charging and remissions arrangements. Offer a discreet conversation and consider practical barriers as well as funding.
Review: Check participation, family feedback and what pupils gained. For voluntary contributions, follow the guidance: non-payment must not exclude an individual pupil from the activity.
Guidance: Charging for school activities and using pupil premium .
5. Participation: a Catholic school, a family with different beliefs
Situation: A family of another faith asks what their child will do during Mass and religious education. Their questions are interpreted as opposition. The child is overlooked for a service role because staff assume the family will not want to contribute.
Catholic lens: Truthful explanation, hospitality and respect for conscience.
Discuss
- Have we explained the purpose and expectations rather than assumed understanding?
- Which contributions are open to the pupil, and which ministries have particular requirements?
- Have we listened to the family and explained applicable rights and arrangements?
Act: Arrange a respectful conversation with the appropriate leader or chaplain. Explain Catholic teaching and practice, distinguish general service from sacramental roles, and clarify lawful arrangements for religious education and worship.
Review: Ask whether the pupil experiences belonging and whether the family understands the school’s provision. Do not make a pupil a spokesperson for an entire religion.
Guidance: Catholic Education Service , diocesan advice and Equality Act advice .
6. Voice: the consultation that misses people
Situation: Leaders consult the pupil council about lunchtime provision. Confident representatives support the current arrangements. Pupils using communication aids, those attending an inclusion base and several younger pupils have not been heard.
Catholic lens: Participation and recognition of each person’s contribution.
Discuss
- Whose experience is missing, and how do we know?
- Which communication methods or settings would help?
- How will pupils see what their contribution changed?
Act: Use supported conversations, images, observation and accessible questions. Include pupils learning away from the main classroom. Report back what was heard, what will change and why.
Review: Identify an actual decision shaped by previously unheard pupils and check its effect with them.
Guidance: SEND Code of Practice .
7. Culture and prejudice: “only a joke”
Situation: A pupil’s name, accent or religion is repeatedly mocked. Adults dismiss the comments as banter. The pupil stops contributing in lessons and no longer attends a club.
Catholic lens: Human dignity, fraternity and truthful accountability.
Discuss
- What has the pupil experienced, and what support do they need?
- What message does an adult’s response communicate to others?
- Do curriculum materials and everyday language reinforce or challenge stereotypes?
Act: Follow safeguarding and behaviour procedures, record and respond appropriately, support the pupil and address the conduct. Teach respectful language and accurate understanding; review patterns and follow up.
Review: Ask whether the pupil feels safe, participates again and trusts adults to act. A recorded response is only the beginning.
Guidance: Keeping children safe in education and Equality Act advice .
8. Attendance: understanding the barrier
Situation: A pupil’s attendance falls after a difficult transition. The family reports anxiety, unmet support needs and problems reaching lessons. Letters escalate, but no one checks how the agreed support works across the day.
Catholic lens: Accompaniment, dignity and a commitment to education.
Discuss
- What are the barriers, and what evidence have we gathered?
- Are attendance, teaching, SEND and pastoral teams working together?
- What can the pupil and family tell us about mornings, transitions and school routines?
Act: Agree coordinated support, responsibilities and review dates. Follow statutory attendance guidance, including appropriate escalation. Check that adjustments and provision are delivered.
Review: Consider improved access, learning, wellbeing and sustained attendance. Do not use informal exclusion or an unreviewed reduced timetable as a solution.
Guidance: Working together to improve school attendance .
Connect inclusion with the whole Ofsted toolkit
This section applies to maintained schools and academies in England. The linked official publication page provides the current toolkit and operating guidance.
The toolkit checked for this resource is June 2026, version 2.0, for inspections from 7 September 2026 . Inclusion has its own evaluation area and connects with every other area. The questions below are suggested EducareM review prompts, not additional Ofsted criteria.
| Official section | Suggested review question |
|---|---|
| Inclusion · pp.11–17 | Whose barriers remain, and what changed after support? |
| Safeguarding · pp.4–10 | Can every pupil communicate concerns and receive help? |
| Curriculum and teaching · pp.18–27 | Do adaptations enable ambitious learning? |
| Achievement · pp.28–34 | What do pupils know and achieve after support? |
| Attendance and behaviour · pp.35–43 | Which routines or responses restrict access? |
| Personal development and wellbeing · pp.44–52 | Who misses opportunities, and why? |
| Early years · pp.53–61 | How do communication, play and transitions include everyone? |
| Post-16 provision · pp.62–68 | Who can access suitable pathways and prepare for adulthood? |
| Leadership and governance · pp.69–77 | Which decisions and resources improve pupils’ experience? |
PDF page links may open at the start of the document in some browsers. Use the printed page numbers. When the toolkit is revised, return to the official publication page.
Read the dedicated inclusion section in full
It covers identification and support, disadvantage, SEND, pupils known or previously known to children’s social care, family partnership, accessibility, inclusion strategy, transitions and alternative provision.
Read it alongside Ofsted’s supporting evidence base and equality duties guidance .
Use normal school evidence
Use the work already needed to understand pupils and improve provision: conversations, classroom evidence, review records, participation information and feedback. Ofsted does not require documents created specifically for inspection or a prescribed evidence format.
Government expectations and duties · England
The sources below distinguish law, statutory guidance, funding conditions and non-statutory advice. Follow the requirements applicable to your school type and provision. Read the current documents at source; the prompts are a starting point for review.
SEND provision and partnership
Statutory guidance: SEND Code of Practice: 0 to 25 .
Review early identification, SEN support, assess–plan–do–review, pupil and parent involvement, specialist advice and transitions. Check delivery of specified provision, the SENCO’s role, the SEN information report and links to the local offer.
Support should respond to identified needs; do not make useful classroom support dependent on waiting for a diagnosis.
Equality and disability
Legal duties explained in non-statutory DfE advice: Equality Act 2010: advice for schools .
Review discrimination, harassment and victimisation, reasonable adjustments, accessibility planning and applicable public sector equality duties. Include all relevant protected characteristics, not only the groups discussed on this page.
For pupils, physical access is addressed through accessibility planning; reasonable adjustments also concern policies, practices and auxiliary aids and services. An EHC plan is not a prerequisite for disability duties.
Disadvantage and pupil premium
Non-statutory guidance and separate grant conditions: Using pupil premium and the pupil premium publication hub .
Identify barriers, use evidence-informed approaches and evaluate outcomes. Check current grant conditions and strategy publication requirements. Distinguish funding eligibility from the wider range of pupils facing disadvantage.
Attendance and behaviour
Statutory attendance guidance: Working together to improve school attendance .
DfE behaviour advice: Behaviour in schools . Statutory guidance: Suspensions and permanent exclusions .
Review barriers, taught routines, support, lawful adjustments and proportionate responses. Check reduced timetables, reintegration and any use of off-site provision against the relevant guidance.
Safeguarding and social care
Statutory guidance: Keeping children safe in education and education of looked-after and previously looked-after children .
Review accessible reporting, additional vulnerabilities, child-on-child abuse and multi-agency support. Work with the designated teacher, social workers and virtual school as appropriate, including personal education plans.
Medical needs and alternative provision
Statutory guidance: Supporting pupils with medical conditions , education for children unable to attend because of health needs and alternative provision .
Check suitable support, continuity of education, partnership and oversight. Review learning, safety and attendance for pupils educated away from the main school.
Curriculum, early years and relationships
National Curriculum · EYFS statutory framework · statutory RSHE guidance .
Review accessible, ambitious learning and age-appropriate teaching about respectful relationships. Meet the curriculum requirements applicable to your school, with adaptations that preserve meaningful access.
Costs and wider participation
DfE advice explaining charging rules: Charging for school activities .
Review lawful charging and remission arrangements, voluntary contributions and communication. Include practical costs and access to enrichment when planning activities.
Inclusive mainstream funding and the inclusion strategy
DfE guidance on developing an inclusion strategy supports schools receiving the inclusive mainstream fund. The guidance is non-statutory; the publication requirement is a condition of grant.
The 2026–27 funding guidance requires relevant schools to publish their inclusion strategy by 31 December 2026. Check subsequent funding years and any later legal changes at source.
Seven principles to connect with school planning
- Leadership and governance that embed inclusion.
- Evidence-informed support and early intervention.
- High-quality adaptive teaching and an accessible curriculum.
- Enriching opportunities beyond the classroom.
- Safety, respect, belonging, attendance and participation.
- Partnerships with families and wider services.
- Accessible environments and continued improvement.
Link planned activity, costs, intended outcomes and review to the barriers in your cohort. Use the current DfE template and requirements, including annual review where a multi-year strategy is used.
Scotland, Wales and independent schools
The Catholic principles and suggested scenarios can be adapted widely. Ofsted and the DfE school guidance above concern England and do not replace devolved requirements. Scottish and Welsh schools should use their own education, additional-needs and inspection frameworks. Independent schools should use the inspection framework and legal requirements applicable to their provision.
SCES · CES · Education Scotland · Hwb Wales · ISI inspection framework .
A practical inclusion review
Choose one part of school life: a lesson sequence, lunchtime, an activity, a transition, family communication or pupil leadership. Review the experience with those who use and deliver it.
- Listen: Include pupils and families who are seldom heard. Use accessible communication and protect privacy.
- Observe: Follow the experience from arrival to completion. Where does access, learning or participation become difficult?
- Check: Compare what happens with agreed provision, relevant duties and the school’s Catholic purpose.
- Act: Agree a specific change, responsible person, resources and review date.
- Evaluate: Check whether access, learning, safety, confidence or belonging improved. Ask the people affected.
| Record | Prompt |
|---|---|
| Barrier and experience | What is difficult, for whom, and how do we know? |
| Teaching and duty | Which Catholic principle and relevant requirement guide the response? |
| Action and responsibility | What will change, who will lead it, and what support is needed? |
| Outcome and review | What improvement will we look for, when, and whose feedback will we seek? |
Questions for leaders and governors
- Which pupils learn less or participate less because barriers remain?
- Does high-quality teaching reach them consistently across classes or departments?
- Are agreed adjustments and provision implemented across the whole day?
- Which voices influence decisions, and which are missing?
- Do funding, training and staffing decisions address the identified barriers?
- What changed after our last review, and what remains unresolved?
Use proportionate evidence and existing records. Protect confidentiality, especially where small groups make individuals identifiable. Inclusion is evaluated through experience and outcomes as well as published intentions.
A prayer for dignity and belonging
God of love,
help us recognise your image in every person.
Open our ears to voices we have missed,
our eyes to barriers we have overlooked,
and our hearts to the gifts of others.
Give us wisdom to teach with ambition,
courage to challenge injustice,
and patience to walk beside each family.
May our school be a community
where every person is known, valued and able to contribute.
Amen.
Continue the conversation
Explore EducareM resources, Governing with Hope and the programme diary . Contact EducareM to discuss formation and review across your school or trust.