Partnerships for Inclusion of Neurodiversity in Schools (PINS)

Partnerships for Inclusion of Neurodiversity in Schools (PINS) is a programme that brings health and education specialists and expert parent carers (through the Parent Carer Forum – Pinpoint) into mainstream primary schools to:

• make schools more inclusive of every child (and family), including those who are neurodiverse
• help shape the whole school’s special educational needs provision
• provide early interventions at a school level
• upskill school staff
• support and strengthen partnerships between schools and parent carers
• support and strengthen partnerships between Pinpoint as the parent carer forum and Cambridgeshire and Peterborough’s Integrated Care Board.

The PINS project broadens the scope of the Autism in Schools model to support a wider cohort of neurodiverse children in primary schools. The programme aims to provide support at the whole school level, with more practical work between education, health, and parent carers through partnerships with local parent carer forums. The offer of support to each school will be informed by parent carer views, and the programme will facilitate ongoing engagement between parent carers and school leadership teams.

The PINS project aims to test this model as a ‘proof of concept’ across every Integrated Care Board (although this may not cover every local authority within an ICB). One purpose of a Shared Outcome Fund programme is to evaluate impact, with the learning from the programme used to inform future investment. The PINS evaluation will test whether this co-productive way of working improves outcomes for children, families, schools, and health partners.

Cambridgeshire is an ‘early adopter’ leading this programme with 25 of its schools.

PINS is funded by the Shared Outcomes Fund and delivered by the Department for Education (DfE), NHS England (NHSE) and the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC).