Inclusion
Research findings · 2026

Everything that follows came directly from schools.

This is a presentation of what we learned from our research - conversations with SENCOs, teachers, and teaching assistants across English primary schools about how inclusion really works, where it breaks down, and what they wish existed. What we've built is a direct response to what they told us.

Hero Inclusion

The knowledge is captured but scattered - on paper, in memory, hard to collate.

Post-it · TA desk "Amir joined group today - first time in 3 weeks"
Parent email · 7:52am "Re: Logan - rough night, just wanted to flag before school"
Notebook · p.14 "Zara - transitions difficult since new timetable. Worth flagging?"
Sticky · whiteboard "Check Marcus re: reading - regression last 2 weeks?"
WhatsApp · 8:43am "He had a really hard night. Just wanted you to know."
Obs. sheet · Year 3 "Layla - 20 min sustained focus on phonics, asked for help unprompted"
Margin note · lesson plan "Priya withdrawn again Mon–Wed. Check in w/ TA after lunch"

Observed, but not captured.

Observations, emotional check-ins, session notes, moments of breakthrough or struggle. That information takes many forms - handwritten notes on post-its, jottings in lesson plan margins, a quick message to the SENCO, a corridor conversation.

In a busy school day, there is rarely a moment to convert those insights into records. Through no lack of care or commitment, that information stays hidden - observed but not captured, captured but not connected.

It never builds into a coherent picture of a learner, feeds the plan, or reaches the SENCO or the parent.

Work can be invisible. Information is stuck and isolated.

Teaching assistants hold some of the most intimate, consistent knowledge of any learner in the school - the one who withdrew on Tuesday, the one who finally connected with a peer on Thursday. None of it is captured in a way that builds a coherent narrative. It stays in memory - until it's lost.

"They do careful, important work that nobody ever sees."

Teachers carry detailed knowledge of how their SEND pupils are doing - academically, socially, emotionally - but have no efficient way to record it, share it, or connect it to the formal plan.

SENCOs are chasing, not supporting.

With caseloads of 30, 40, or 50+ students, maintaining the APDR cycle meaningfully is close to impossible. Plans are produced from templates rather than from a living, continuously updated picture of the learner.

Inclusion is a whole-school responsibility. The review cycle was never designed to be the SENCO's job alone - every adult who works with a learner holds a piece of the picture.
Observations that never reach the record
Post-it · TA desk "Amir joined group today - first time in 3 weeks"
Notebook · p.14 "Zara - transitions difficult since new timetable. Worth flagging?"
Voice note "Check Marcus re: reading - seems to have gone backwards?"
Obs. sheet · Year 3 "Layla - 20 min sustained focus on phonics, asked for help unprompted"
Margin note · lesson plan "Priya withdrawn again Mon–Wed. Check in w/ teacher after lunch"
Quick chat "Can we have a quick chat about Sam's progress?"
How can this be added to the narrative?
Where the knowledge lives
Teaching assistant
Teaching assistant
Held in memory. Shared in corridors. Lost at the end of term.
Teacher
Teacher
In a notebook, in their head, or buried in an inbox. Rarely at hand when needed.
Parent Parent
Parents
Messages, calls, context that never makes it into the school record.
Student
Student
Books, notes, artwork, scribbles, conversation, body language.
Everyone cares deeply. The system just has no way to receive what they know.
A typical SENCO caseload
50+
students on a typical SENCO caseload
Manual
evidence assembly from scattered sources
Spread­sheet
where provision mapping currently lives
The workflow

From a note on a post-it to a plan that actually reflects the learner.

This is what the full Hero Inclusion loop looks like - from the moment an observation happens, through to the review, and back into the classroom.

01

The classroom moment.

A TA notices something important. Amir joined the group for the first time in three weeks. A teacher spots that Zara is struggling since the timetable changed. These moments happen every day - written on post-its, scribbled in margins, or held in memory until they're lost.

The knowledge exists. The system just has no way to receive it.
02

Digitise the note.

Open the Capture App. Take a photo of the handwritten note, speak a voice memo, or type a quick observation. AI structures it instantly - linking it to the right learner, the right outcome, the right date. Done in under a minute. No portal logins. No re-typing later.

03

The weekly summary builds itself.

As captures arrive across the week - from TAs, teachers, even forwarded emails from parents - Hero Inclusion assembles them into a weekly summary for each learner. Patterns surface. Progress against outcomes is tracked automatically. The SENCO sees it all without asking for it.

04

A live view of the whole caseload.

The Inclusion Hub gives the SENCO a dashboard of every learner - who is progressing, whose review is coming up, where gaps are emerging. Not assembled from spreadsheets the night before. Updated continuously, from the work that's already happening.

05

The plan writes itself.

When review time comes, the evidence is already there. Hero Inclusion drafts the termly plan or ISP from the accumulated weekly summaries - formatted to the right template, linked to the learner's outcomes, ready to share with parents. A review that used to take a full evening takes twenty minutes.

06

The new term begins. The loop continues.

A new intervention starts. The TA working with Amir captures what she sees - the moments of hesitation, the small steps forward, the strategies that work and the ones that don't. Each observation lands in the record automatically. Nothing is lost this time.

07

Progress is visible - in real time.

Week by week, the picture of each learner becomes richer. The SENCO can see which outcomes are moving. Teachers can see whether their strategies are working. Parents receive updates that reflect what's actually happening - not just what was written in a review six months ago.

08

Share the win.

Amir has been engaging consistently for six weeks. The evidence is all there - captured in the moment by the people who were with him. The SENCO can share it with his parents, present it to governors, or use it to make the case for continued support. Nobody had to chase anyone. Nothing had to be assembled at the last minute.

This is what good inclusion practice looks like when the system actually supports it.
The moment before it gets lost
Post-it · TA desk
"Amir joined group today - first time in 3 weeks"
Notebook · p.14
"Zara - transitions difficult since timetable change. Worth flagging?"
Corridor conversation
"She was really upset at lunch - not sure if it's home stuff"
None of this will make it into the record.
Capture App — in the moment
Capture app
Weekly summary — auto-generated
Weekly summary
Inclusion Hub — live caseload view
Inclusion Hub register
Termly plan — generated from evidence
Termly plan
Intervention note — captured & structured
Capture and enhance
Progress — week by week
Amir Hassan
Year 3 · ISP · 6 weeks of captures
Progressing ↑
Peer interaction+8 captures
Self-regulation+5 captures
Independent working+2 captures
Shared with parents
🎉
Six weeks of progress, captured and counted.
Every adult who worked with Amir contributed. Now his parents can see exactly what happened - and what's next.
TA · Teacher · Parents · Amir
Review shared with parents · No assembly required
Inclusion

The goal isn't better paperwork. It's knowing each learner well enough to make every moment with them count.

Purpose-built for SEND and inclusion management in English primary schools. Working alongside Arbor, BromCom, and every MIS you already use.