The Inflexion Foundation is pleased to announce that it has entered into a partnership with The Difference through a grant of £75,000 per year for the next three years. The Difference helps schools and school leaders become more inclusive to bring the best in education to children who need it most.

Over 34 million days of lost learning through suspension, absence and exclusions were recorded in schools across England last year, a 79% increase in just five years. The Difference exists to change this story by delivering practical training and support to school leaders that make their schools more inclusive for the benefit of all students. Since 2019 The Difference has trained over 700 school leaders, worked with over 440 schools and reached over 300,000 young people.

The Inflexion Foundation's grant will support The Difference to work at depth with ten schools in disadvantaged areas across England through an intensive training programme, The Difference Schools Partnership, that will embed inclusive practice within each school to deliver long-term, sustainable change. This partnership will help The Difference to focus on competitively recruiting schools onto the programme, reducing suspensions and absence within the schools, and publishing learnings that will be shared nationally with school leaders in our networks.