Education Minister Paul Givan has seen first-hand how a £4.5 million fund is transforming support for young children with special educational needs during a visit to Holywood Nursery School. The Pre-School Inclusion Fund (PSIF), expanded to all Department of Education funded settings this academic year, is enabling hundreds of pre-schools across Northern Ireland to purchase specialist equipment, hire additional staff, and access therapeutic services for pupils undergoing statutory assessment.
The visit comes as the Fund moves from pilot phase to universal coverage, representing a significant step in the Minister’s broader SEN Reform Agenda. However, questions remain about how this early intervention support interacts with severe backlogs in formal diagnostic assessments, with some families waiting years for autism evaluations.
From Pilot to Universal Coverage
The PSIF began as a pilot initiative in November 2024, initially supporting 213 pre-school settings with £1.14 million from the Early Learning & Childcare budget. Following a review of criteria in October 2025, the Fund expanded in the 2025/26 financial year to cover all 640 Department of Education funded pre-school providers.
The funding operates on a standardised per-class rate:
- Part-time classes: £3,200 per class
- Full-time classes: £5,300 per class
This £4.5 million investment forms part of a wider £55 million package of Executive measures supporting early learning and childcare. Settings receive flexibility in how they allocate resources, with permitted uses including buying in additional staff time, accessing Allied Health Professional services such as speech and language therapy, and procuring specialist equipment.
Practical Impact on the Ground
At Holywood Nursery School, the Fund has financed the creation of a new sensory room and significantly increased classroom assistant hours specifically for children undergoing statutory assessment of their educational needs. This provides critical support during what officials describe as the “earliest and most critical stage of education.”
The sensory room investment is particularly significant given that many children accessing the Fund are awaiting formal diagnosis. While the Fund helps pre-schools manage additional needs in the classroom, it operates against a backdrop of severe delays in the statutory assessment system. Recent figures indicate that across Northern Ireland, thousands of children are waiting over a year for autism assessments, with delays of up to four to five years reported in some Health Trust areas.
Voices from the Sector
Speaking during the visit, the Minister emphasised the Fund’s role in creating equitable access across the pre-school sector:
“It was a pleasure to visit Holywood Nursery School and see the real, practical difference the Pre- School Inclusion Fund is making for the children here. The expansion of the Pre-School Inclusion Fund is part of my ongoing commitment to delivering SEN Reform and ensuring every child gets the right support from the very start. It recognises the growing number of children presenting with additional needs in the early years and has created genuinely equitable access to support right across the pre-school sector.”
Clare Majury, Principal of Holywood Nursery School, described the practical benefits for her pupils:
“This Fund is an absolute game changer for our children and one of the best and most impactful initiatives for our school. It has strengthened our capacity to meet the needs of pupils with diverse learning profiles. The sensory room is a valuable resource for both this academic year and in the future, we are so pleased to now offer this to our children.”
The Minister concluded his visit by stressing the importance of targeted investment:
“What we’ve seen at Holywood Nursery School is proof that targeted, flexible investment works. It supports children’s learning, wellbeing and development at exactly the right moment. I commend everyone at the school for their commitment to truly inclusive early education.”
Unanswered Questions and Systemic Challenges
While the expansion has been welcomed by early years providers, several gaps in the announcement raise questions about long-term sustainability and coherence with wider reforms.
The Department has not specified how many individual children are being supported per setting, nor has it clarified what happens to this support when children transition to primary school. This is particularly pertinent given that broader SEN Reform proposals have suggested evaluating the “over-reliance on classroom assistants” in future years—a potential contradiction to the current expansion of assistant hours in pre-schools.
Additionally, the Fund applies only to Department of Education funded settings, leaving questions about support for children in private or unregistered childcare arrangements. The research context also highlights persistent funding disparities between voluntary pre-schools and statutory nursery schools, with the former receiving less base funding per pupil despite delivering the same curriculum.
Five Questions Stakeholders Are Asking
- How will the Fund address the needs of children stuck in multi-year waiting lists for statutory assessment, given that early intervention is most effective when paired with timely diagnosis?
- Will the flexibility in spending lead to inconsistent provision quality across settings, and what monitoring mechanisms exist to ensure equitable outcomes?
- What continuity of support is guaranteed when children transition to primary school, particularly if broader SEN reforms proceed with reducing classroom assistant numbers?
- Given that voluntary pre-schools receive lower base funding than nursery schools, does the PSIF adequately level the playing field, or does it merely paper over structural funding inequalities?
- How will the Department measure the Fund’s success—through the SEN Reform Outcomes Framework, or through specific metrics tied to school readiness and assessment waiting times?
Looking Ahead
The PSIF represents a tangible investment in early intervention at a time when nearly one in five pupils in Northern Ireland has been identified as having special educational needs. As the Fund beds in across all 640 eligible settings, observers will be watching whether this £4.5 million commitment is maintained in future budgets, and how it aligns with the ongoing consultation on the Early Learning and Childcare Strategy, which proposes further reforms through 2030.
For now, the Fund offers immediate relief to pre-schools struggling to support children with complex needs. Whether it can serve as a bridge to faster diagnostic services and sustained primary school support remains the critical test for the SEN Reform Agenda’s promise of “the right support, from the right people, at the right time and in the right place.”