About PINS

We are excited to share our report, in partnership with CFE Research, on the impact evaluation for year one of the PINS Programme.

Jointly led by the Department for Education and NHS England, with strategic input from the National Network for Parent Carer Forums, PINS brought together education and health professionals to provide bespoke support to mainstream primary schools, helping them to take a whole-school approach to better identify and meet the needs of neurodivergent pupils.

About the Evaluation

We took a mixed-methods approach and spoke to a range of stakeholders including project teams, practitioners, Parent Carer Forum representatives, school staff and pupils, as well as collecting and analysing survey and programme management data.

Key Findings

In year one of the evaluation, we found strong support for the Programme and the whole school approach to supporting neurodivergent pupils. Participation was high, attrition low and a wide range of activities were delivered across participating schools.

There is early evidence of positive impact on areas of focus in schools including leadership, culture and values; teaching and learning; school environment; communication; pupil readiness to learn; and parent carer engagement. There are also early signs of system impact, such as improved collaboration between partners and greater prioritisation given to neurodiversity. Measurable impacts on pupil outcomes were not anticipated at this stage of the evaluation; however, some teachers and practitioners suggest that these may emerge in the longer term.

Our findings highlight useful lessons on delivering cross-departmental programmes at pace in schools. Key challenges in year one of PINS delivery included:

• tight timescales driven by conditions of funding
• the capacity of the NHS and other partners to mobilise specialist support at the required volume
• the ability of schools to receive all the training within the delivery period
• the ability of leaders and SENCos to cascade training to staff working in teaching and non-teaching roles.

Next steps

The programme will continue for another year to March 2026, with additional evaluation to further investigate the longer-term outcomes and impacts of the programme. You can download the report below and also access it here.