The Department for Education's guidance explains what inclusion bases should achieve. But how do schools set about those ambitions? Nurture-informed practice can help schools deliver inclusion bases with
- emotionally safe environments
- ambitious learning
- effective reintegration
- positive behaviour
- strong attendance
- belonging
- whole-school inclusion.
Long before the term inclusion base entered national policy language, schools were using nurture groups to provide structured, evidence-informed support that enabled children to remain engaged in mainstream education and successfully reintegrate into classroom learning.
Today's inclusion bases represent an opportunity to build on that experience. However, their success will depend on the quality of the relationships they foster, the confidence and capability of the adults who lead them, and the extent to which they are embedded within a genuinely inclusive whole-school culture.
On this page:
- Children's learning is understood developmentally
- The classroom offers a safe base
- Nurture is important for wellbeing
- Language is a vital means of communication
- All behaviour is communication
- Transitions are significant in the lives of children
- Case study: Homewood School & Sixth Form Centre
- Mapping the Principles of Nurture to the DfE Guidance
Nurture Principle 1
Children's learning is understood developmentally
Children accessing inclusion bases often present with interrupted learning, unmet developmental needs or experiences that have affected their engagement with education.
Effective inclusion bases recognise that progress is not always linear. They assess children's developmental and emotional needs alongside academic attainment, using this understanding to plan appropriate support while maintaining high expectations.
What this means for inclusion bases
- Use individualised assessment of developmental and social-emotional needs using the Boxall Profile® Online.
- Set high expectations with appropriate scaffolding.
- Create flexible pathways back into mainstream learning.
Supports DfE expectations around:
- Ambitious curriculum
- Personalised support
- Successful reintegration
- Effective data, assessment and outcomes
Nurture Principle 2
The classroom offers a safe base
The DfE is clear that inclusion bases should never become places of isolation or sanction. Nurture-informed practice reinforces this by recognising that emotionally safe, predictable environments enable children to regulate, engage and learn.
An effective inclusion base is not simply another room. It is a secure relational environment that acts as a bridge back to mainstream school life.
What this means for inclusion bases
- Use predictable routines
- Staffing should be consistent
- Ensure there are emotionally available adults
- Use restorative approaches
- Make environments that reduce anxiety and support participation
Supports DfE expectations around:
- Inclusion not isolation
- Positive behaviour
- Engagement
- Wellbeing
Nurture Principle 3
Nurture is important for wellbeing
Relationships are the foundation of successful inclusion.
Children thrive when they experience belonging, trusted adults and positive peer relationships. Inclusion bases should strengthen, not replace, a child's connection with the wider school community.
What this means for inclusion bases
- Trusted key adults must be present
- Family involvement and engagement is important
- Maintain a strong pupil voice
- Keep links with tutor groups and peers
- Create planned opportunities for success
Supports DfE expectations around:
- Belonging
- Participation
- Whole-school inclusion
Nurture Principle 4
Language is a vital means of communication
The quality of adult interaction shapes children's experience of school. Effective inclusion bases promote emotionally literate communication, collaborative problem-solving and restorative dialogue.
Staff require the confidence and skills to build trust through everyday interactions.
What this means for inclusion bases
- Staff must lead reflective conversations
- Restorative language is key to these conversations
- Communication must be emotionally informed
- Practice skilled adult modelling
- Maintain strong home-school communication
Supports DfE expectations around:
- Skilled staffing
- Effective leadership
- Positive relationships
Nurture Principle 5
All behaviour is communication
Behaviour is often the outward expression of unmet need, anxiety or dysregulation. Understanding behaviour in this way does not lower expectations. Instead, it enables adults to respond consistently while addressing underlying causes. This approach helps reduce exclusions, strengthen attendance and improve engagement.
What this means for inclusion bases
- Consider a behaviour analysis
- Use co-regulation techniques
- Targeted interventions are necessary
- Keep consistent responses
- Ensure reintegration planning from the outset
Supports DfE expectations around:
- Positive behaviour
- Reducing suspension
- Inclusion
Nurture Principle 6
Transitions are significant in the lives of children
The Department for Education describes inclusion bases as bridges back to mainstream education. Nurture-informed practice has long recognised that transitions require careful planning, trusted relationships and consistency. Successful reintegration is not an event, but a process.
What this means for inclusion bases
- Phased reintegration is needed
- Keep close collaboration with classroom teachers
- Family engagement is key
- Requires ongoing monitoring
- Celebrate success
Supports DfE expectations around:
- Reintegration
- Attendance
- Sustained participation
Case study
Inclusion bases at Homewood School
Homewood School & Sixth Form Centre is a large secondary school in Kent. They operate two inclusion bases on their site: The Hub and The Life Centre.
“Both The Life Centre and The Hub, I would say, operate on the same principles that nurture is the foundation for it all, but what's then offered is obviously personalised to the students that are accessing it.” - Lucy Stephen, Assistant Vice Principal Inclusion
The young people accessing this provision are consistently displaying behaviours that are having a negative impact on their learning, and the learning of others around them. Staff at The Life Centre, however, know that the behaviour presented on the surface is only a small portion of what is going on; their targeted support aims to understand the root causes of the challenging behaviour. Crucially, The Life Centre is not a sanction. It is an extra layer of support. In another setting, many pupils accessing this inclusion base might have been permanently excluded or persistently absent from school, instead of getting the support they need.
Pupils in The Life Centre have all their developmental needs assessed: learning, language, social and emotional, using tools such as the Boxall Profile®. From this data, specific barriers to success are uncovered, such as time-management, literacy, self-efficacy, and targeted interventions are planned from there. When pupils are nearing the time to return to mainstream classes, there is a gradual transition process to full time lessons, with frequent check-ins from Life Centre staff to provide that scaffolding.
This provision has transformed the life paths of many pupils at Homewood. The Life Centre provides a safety net for young people and, for many, forms the most successful phase of their school life.
“I'm thinking about one of our year 11s this year. It’s been the difference between him taking a full range of GCSEs to him in another setting, being permanently excluded.” - Lucy Stephen, Assistant Vice Principal Inclusion
Mapping the principles of nurture to the DfE guidance
| Inclusion bases are a bridge to mainstream | Transitions are significant | Proactive transition planning for reintegration from day one. Try visual warnings before changes, key adult check-ins during moves, and structured support during entry/exit times. |
| Ambitious curriculum | Children's learning is understood developmentally | High expectations with appropriate support: differentiation of tasks, expectations, and emotional support based on Boxall Profile® assessments rather than age-typical assumptions. |
| Inclusion, not isolation | The classroom offers a safe base | Safe, predictable environments connected to school life, characterised by visual schedules, sensory breaks, low-arousal spaces, and emotionally available adults who offer unconditional positive regard. |
| Skilled staffing | Language is a vital means of communication | Relational practice, coaching and reflective supervision. Explicit teaching of emotional literacy, naming feelings, visual emotion boards, and adult modelling of emotional regulation. |
| Positive behaviour | All behaviour is communication | Understanding need while maintaining clear expectations. Reframing challenging behaviour as an invitation to investigate underlying triggers, sensory overload, trauma, or skill deficits. |
| Whole-school inclusion | Nurture is important for wellbeing | Belonging, participation and trusted relationships. Staff value achievements, focus on strengths, provide regular positive feedback, and celebrate effort and growth across all subjects. |
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