u/Neck-Initial

Has anyone heard what their school is doing with the new SEND funding?

I’ve been reading about the new Inclusive Mainstream Fund and was trying to work out what it could actually mean day to day.

From the guidance, schools can use the funding for things like SEND training, adaptive teaching, interventions, and giving staff more time and support.

It sounds like there’s quite a bit of flexibility in how schools use it, so I’m curious what different schools are actually planning.

Has anyone heard anything yet? And if you had a say, where would you want the money to go?

Not necessarily the biggest issue in education, just the one thing that would make your working day noticeably better.

More pay? More contracted hours? Better communication with teachers or SLT? More time for planning? Proper breaks? Better training? More recognition?

Or something completely different?

If you could change just one thing tomorrow, what would you pick?

I saw this Twinkl article about TA/support staff pay and conditions and thought it was worth discussing.

The bit I’m trying to understand is what actually changes now, because it sounds like existing pay and conditions may stay in place until at least 2027-28, even though the School Support Staff Negotiating Body is being brought back.

I’m also not fully clear whether this means a proper national TA pay scale is coming back, or whether it is more about setting minimum standards/floors for pay, conditions, training and progression.

For TAs, LSAs, HLTAs, teachers or anyone who understands this better: how are you reading it?

Does this feel like real progress, or does it feel too slow given what support staff are already doing day to day?