Orli in your inclusion strategy
Schools receiving the inclusive mainstream fund must publish an inclusion strategy statement on their website by 31 December 2026. Here’s a plain way to include Orli, if it’s part of your plan.
What the statement needs
- Who
- Every mainstream school that gets the fund, including academies and free schools. Each academy in a trust publishes its own.
- When
- By 31 December 2026, then an updated statement every year.
- What goes in it
- Your cohort’s barriers to learning and participation, the activities you’re investing in with budgeted costs, intended outcomes and, from year two, a review.
- Who looks at it
- Families, governors and trustees. Ofsted inspectors can consider it when they evaluate inclusion, and the DfE reviews a sample.
Where Orli can sit
Anything the fund pays for must sit under at least one of the DfE’s 7 principles of inclusion. Orli fits best under principle 5.
- 5. A safe and respectful culture fostering belonging, attendance, and participation in learning. A short, shared routine for settling the room, and a common language for feelings.
Orli isn’t therapy or a diagnosis, and it doesn’t replace your SENCO, DSL or specialist services. Its own evidence is early: whether it adds up to better learning over time is what we’re investigating with schools.
Copy and adapt
Each part fits a section of the DfE’s template. Change anything in square brackets.
Whole class Universal
- What we’ll do
- A short, shared routine to help children settle and regulate in [classes], [three] times a week [after lunch]: Orli Bites of about five minutes, such as Breathe with Orla, and story Adventures on the class board. Barrier [number]. Evidence: [your sources].
- Who it’s for
- Universal: every child in [classes].
- How we’ll know
- [Children can name how they feel and choose one thing that helps.] Success criteria: [the routine runs three times a week by February half term]; [classes settle more quickly after lunch, reviewed each half term].
Small group or 1:1 Targeted
- What we’ll do
- Weekly Orli sessions for [number] children who find it hard to manage how they feel, in a small group or 1:1. Each child makes their own Orli; staff use Bites and Adventures with the facilitator guide. Barrier [number]. Evidence: [your sources].
- Who it’s for
- Targeted: [number] children in [year groups], chosen from what staff see, without waiting for a diagnosis.
- How we’ll know
- [Children use one thing that helps, with less adult support.] Success criteria: [X of Y sessions run by Easter]; [staff note strategies children use alone].
Budgeted cost: [£ from the fund] + [£ from core budget]. One Orli licence covers the whole school: ask us for a quote. Whether the fund pays for an activity is your decision; the conditions of grant rule out subsidising activity you already fund.