The Youth Sport Trust (YST) were awarded the SEND Inclusion in PE grant by the Department for Education in May 2021. The aim of this was to deliver a three-year programme (named Inclusion 2024) on behalf of a consortium of organisations including Activity Alliance, nasen, British Paralympic Association and Swim England.

The programme uses a network of Lead inclusion Schools to work with local schools and county school networks. ASK Research was commissioned by the consortium in December 2021 to set up and carry out an evaluation of the Inclusion 2024 programme. This report provides insight into the first academic year of programme delivery; from September 2021 to July 2022.

The findings from year one show that over 5,500 school staff have received CPD as part of the Inclusion 2024 programme.

The effects of this contact are that:

• School staff feel more supported in delivering inclusive PE and school sports (82% said their contact with the Lead Inclusion School had helped a lot with this)
• They feel more informed about best practice (81% said their contact with the Lead Inclusion School had helped a lot with this)
• Their creative thinking about how to adapt their PE and school sports delivery for pupils with SEND has increased (81% said the Lead Inclusion School had helped a lot with this)
• Staff knowledge around inclusive PE and school sports delivery has increased (79% said their contact with the Lead Inclusion Schools had helped a lot with this) and
• This has resulted in increased confidence to deliver inclusive PE and school sports (76% said their contact with the Lead Inclusion School had helped a lot with this).