The Inclusive Mainstream Fund (IMF) is a Department for Education grant for mainstream schools in England. Its purpose is to help schools become "inclusive by design" by strengthening universal provision and providing earlier support for pupils with SEND and other additional needs, without requiring a diagnosis or statutory process first. 

Key points:

• The fund provides additional funding to mainstream schools alongside their existing core budgets and notional SEND funding. 
• It is intended to help schools remove common and predictable barriers to learning, improve early intervention and embed inclusive practice across the school.
• Schools are required to publish an Inclusion Strategy explaining how they identify and meet the needs of pupils within their cohort and how the funding is being used. 
• The funding can be used for evidence-informed activities that strengthen inclusive universal provision or provide early targeted support. Activities should align with one or more of the DfE's seven principles of inclusion. 
• The fund is designed to support whole-school approaches such as adaptive teaching, communication-friendly classrooms, early identification systems, attendance and wellbeing support, staff training, and targeted interventions.

greenacres inclusion mainstream funding template.pdf

 Our 5 identified barriers are: