By Grayling Thomas Architects · October 2026

Inclusion base design starts with the pupils, not the floor plan. An inclusion base is a dedicated space inside a mainstream school for children with additional needs, and the Department for Education's guidance puts it plainly: "Inclusion base design will be led by the provision intent and target cohort." In practice that means agreeing who the base is for and how much of the day they will spend in it, then planning teaching rooms, small-group and regulation spaces, a location close to mainstream classes, direct access to outside space and any specialist equipment. The DfE's inclusion base guidance gives no floor areas of its own, so the brief does most of the sizing.

What is an inclusion base?

The DfE published Inclusion bases in schools on 25 June 2026. It describes inclusion bases as "provisions within mainstream settings for children and young people with additional needs." They typically support pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), and pupils who need support for behavioural or pastoral reasons, including those at risk of exclusion or low attendance.

The term takes over from several older ones. In the guidance's words, "The term inclusion base replaces the terms SEN unit, resourced provision, and pupil support unit". A school that used to talk about its resourced provision or its SEN unit is now, in DfE language, running an inclusion base.

Two models matter for design, because they decide who pays for the building work and who signs it off:

• Specialist bases are commissioned and funded by the local authority. They are formally recognised by the local authority and typically receive high needs funding.

• Support bases are commissioned and funded by individual schools, academy trusts or local groups of schools. They do not typically receive dedicated high needs funding.

An inclusion base is part of the school, not a separate institution. The SEN department's own space, or a room pupils drop into on an ad hoc basis, is not an inclusion base.

Why are schools planning inclusion bases now?

The guidance places inclusion bases inside the reforms set out in the schools white paper "Every child achieving and thriving". The DfE expects most pupils to thrive full time in mainstream classes, with some benefiting from targeted teaching through a base "that bridges the gap between mainstream and specialist settings."

Capital is the other reason. The guidance links the expansion of inclusion bases to the government's high needs capital investment, "at least £3.7bn between 2025 and 2030", with the aim that bases become "a core part of every local education offer".

For a school or trust, the practical point is this. Local authorities will be choosing which schools host specialist bases, and the guidance suggests they do it "via expressions of interest assessed against evaluation criteria." A school that already knows which rooms it could release and where a new block could go is likely to be in a stronger position.

Briefing an inclusion base: start with the cohort

The guidance says "Bases should be designed with a particular target cohort of children and young people in mind". A base for autistic pupils who spend most of the day in mainstream lessons needs different rooms from a base for pupils with social, emotional and mental health needs who are at risk of exclusion, and both differ from a base for pupils with complex physical and health needs.

The second briefing question is where the base sits on what the DfE calls the continuum model. At one end, pupils spend most of their learning time in mainstream classes and use the base for a few hours each week. At the other, the base is their main learning area and they join mainstream classes for selected subjects or activities. Schools are asked to "prioritise movement towards models that support children and young people to spend more time in mainstream classes". Position on the continuum is the biggest single driver of how much space a base needs.

The guidance asks commissioners to write a clear service specification. For the design team, the items that matter most are:

• the intended cohort profile and developmental stage;

• entry and exit criteria, including how pupils return to mainstream classes;

• the staffing model and access to specialists and health professionals;

• the physical environment and operational capacity;

• the curriculum and intervention offer;

• funding arrangements.

Two briefing steps are easy to miss. The first is to bring in therapists and other health professionals early. Their views on the physical environment "should be sought at the outset to inform scoping and design." The second is to check the formal process. New specialist bases "likely need to go through a formal process", and the guidance warns that setting up a support base can involve other changes to premises or provision that bring in the significant change or prescribed alteration process. Schools should also notify the local authority when opening a support base.

What should an inclusion base include?

The guidance lists the spaces a design might need:

• teaching spaces, where pupils will spend a significant amount of time in the base;

• support spaces for small group, one-to-one, sensory, assessment, emotional regulation and therapy activities;

• a decision on layout: grouped in one zone, dispersed across the school, or fully embedded in shared mainstream areas;

• a dedicated drop-off, entrance and play area, where the cohort needs one;

• direct access to purposeful outside space;

• specialist equipment and facilities, for example medical, therapeutic, hygiene, changing, physical and sensory.

Two design principles run through the whole section. The first is location: "Schools should prioritise locating the base close to mainstream classes and shared spaces such as playgrounds and sports halls, ideally within the same building". A base at the far end of the site sends the wrong message, however good the rooms are. The guidance makes the same point in its own terms: the spaces "should demonstrate that the children and young people who use it are valued".

The second is flexibility. The guidance favours "multi-purpose spaces rather than those with permanently installed sensory facilities", and says "Flexibility should be part of the design, with sufficient space for different types of activities as the needs of the cohort change." A small room with good acoustics, controllable daylight, robust finishes and plenty of power can be a sensory space for one cohort and a therapy or one-to-one room for the next.

On the wider environment, the guidance points schools to acoustic design and visual and lighting comfort as set out in the DfE's inclusive education estates guidance, and to the British Standards Institution's PAS 6463:2022 guide on neurodiversity and the built environment. Its own examples include signs on the door showing how many people are in the base, pupils helping to decorate the space, accessible toilets and changing spaces where needed, and outdoor space designed so it "can merge into mainstream areas or remain a dedicated space".

How big should an inclusion base be?

There is no single answer, and the DfE does not give one. Size comes from three things in the brief: the number of places, how much of the week pupils spend in the base, and the support spaces the cohort needs. The spotlight schools in the guidance show how wide the range is:

Two lessons stand out. Places alone do not set the area: Kingston Park supports up to 16 children with no separate learning area, while Peacehaven's 20 place base has three rooms of its own because pupils spend whole days there. And bases grow. King Ecgbert's base was established in 1994: "Starting with 2 places, it has gradually expanded to 30." A design that leaves room to add a classroom, or that sits next to space the school could give up later, is worth more than one sized tightly to the first intake.

How do you work out the size of a base?

For room sizes where pupils will spend much of the day in the base, the DfE's area guidelines in Building Bulletin 104 cover specially resourced provision and Units, the older names for two kinds of base. The practice's guide to BB104 area guidelines for SEND and alternative provision sets out what they say.

When sizing, it helps to list:

1. places, and the largest number of pupils likely to be in the base at once;

2. each support space by use, not by name, so one room can do two jobs;

3. storage for mobility, sensory and therapy equipment;

4. a staff work area and somewhere private for meetings with families;

5. hygiene and changing provision, if the cohort needs it;

6. outside space, and how it joins the main playground.

Delivering the base: from brief to opening

A base can start in existing rooms or in a new building. In the guidance, spare space at New Marston Primary School was repurposed for its base. At Aylsham High School, after six years in a single classroom, the base moved to "a purpose-built centre located five metres from the main school building". The choice depends on what rooms the school can release, how close they are to mainstream classes, and whether a conversion can give the base its own entrance and outside space without cutting it off.

The guidance asks commissioners to make sure funding covers staffing and training, environmental adaptations, lead-in periods before opening and long-term sustainability. The lead-in matters for the building programme. Commissioners are asked to allow time for "environment setup" and a "pre-opening review by the commissioner", so the rooms need to be finished and furnished before pupils start, not during the first term.

Arrival is a design issue too. The base should start at the same time as the rest of the school, and the guidance suggests helping pupils into school by "avoiding busy areas and crowds where possible". That often decides where the entrance goes and which corridor the base opens onto.

Finally, the school carries the legal responsibility. The guidance says schools "must satisfy themselves that any decisions about the physical environment meet any relevant legal requirements in relation to the premises of the institution." Planning, building regulations and accessibility all need checking before work starts.

Three problems come up often in inclusion base design:

• A calm room and nothing else. The guidance prefers multi-purpose rooms to simply creating a "calming" space; a base needs real teaching and intervention rooms.

• A base out of sight. A separate entrance can help some pupils, but the guidance asks for "careful consideration to how they support an inclusive approach". The route back into school matters as much as the way in.

• Therapists asked too late. Speech and language therapists and occupational therapists know what their sessions need, and changes after tender cost more.

How we help schools plan an inclusion base

An inclusion base is often a modest building project with a large effect on how a school works. The brief has to come first, and the design has to keep pupils connected to the rest of the school.

Grayling Thomas Architects offers SEN and education architecture, masterplanning, and design and delivery. Our SEN work includes Dorothy Goodman School in Hinckley, a £6.2 million new building for an existing special school, where we were lead consultant and architect. The project was the winner of Large Non-Residential Scheme of the Year 2019 at the Procon Leicestershire awards, and was recognised at the RICS East Midlands Social Impact Awards 2020. You can see another example in our case study on the Mendlesham SEN project.

If your school, trust or local authority is planning an inclusion base, we can help you turn the cohort and the continuum into a brief, test the options on your site and take the base through to opening. Read more on our SEN school architecture page and our wider education and SEN architecture work. The full DfE text, including every spotlight school, is in the Inclusion bases in schools guidance (PDF).

To talk through a project, contact Grayling Thomas Architects.