All services receiving support through the Inclusion Support Programme (ISP), must develop a Strategic Inclusion Plan (SIP) for their service, in collaboration with the Inclusion Agency (IA).

A SIP is a self-guided inclusion assessment and planning tool for services that includes short and longer term strategies for improving and embedding inclusive practice. The development of a SIP recognises current inclusive capacity of a service and outlines the strategies and actions educators will implement to increase this capacity and capability to include all children.

The development of a SIP is the first step to accessing support from the ISP including funding through the Inclusion Development Fund (IDF). .

The SIP is implemented and evaluated within a 12 month period. A SIP can be updated during this period to reflect any changes, and record the progress made in implementing the strategies and actions outlined. The SIP will include an inclusion profile for each care environment a service is seeking inclusion support for.

A service’s SIP must identify:

  • The barriers that impact the service’s capacity to include children with additional needs; and
  • The proposed strategies and actions to address identified barriers to inclusion.

Overview of the SIP

(diagram)

For further information on developing a Strategic Inclusion Plan please refer to 'Overview of the Strategic Inclusion Plan'