unbarrier.access
you know what isn’t reaching learners. a partnership year is what happens next.
three terms alongside your staff: noticing what is really happening, designing the change with them, modelling it in classrooms, and making it hold after we have gone.
one number for a defined outcome. quoted as a year, invoiced by term.
primary · secondary · special · alternative provision · colleges · international — and everyone in the chain, not only the person who signed it off.
led by nici foote · about →
the spend is real. the question was never on the form.
£900m
annual edtech spend by english schools, with no statutory requirement for any product in it to show measurable educational benefit in advance.
written evidence to a parliamentary committee, april 2026
276,890
usage records from a single trust, analysed in the dfe’s own june 2026 market assessment to tell the difference between products bought and products actually used.
dfe, assessment of the education technology market in england, june 2026
not asked
readiness tools score the adults: staff confidence, leadership vision, infrastructure. all worth knowing. none ask whether the technology, the access or the communication landed with the learner it was meant for.
the spend gets justified by the rollout, and the rollout gets justified by the spend. nobody is being careless. the question was never on the form — and a question that isn’t asked can’t be answered, funded, or defended to a governing body.
what's missing — the seven questions
this is unbarrier.voice, the measurement layer under everything we do. pick any moment in a lesson, and ask all seven of it.
- provision
- is there a device, a tool, a connection at all — and is it in the room, charged and working when the lesson starts?does the thing exist for this child, or only on the inventory?
- access
- can the child get into it without an adult beside them — the settings, the login, the support features?does it work for them, not just work?
- design
- was the material built with more than one way in, before anyone had to ask for an adjustment?universal design, and the only lever left where the law cannot reach.
- capability
- can the adults set it up on a tuesday, and does it hold across teachers, subjects and buildings when the champion is away?is this practice, or is it one person?
- belonging
- does the child want to be there, take part without being asked, and get back in when something goes wrong?access without belonging is attendance.
- trust
- do the child, the family and the staff believe it will work when it matters — and believe their data is safe?a tool that fails twice in front of a class is never opened again, whatever the audit says.
- evidence
- can you show a parent, a governor or an inspector what actually changed, without reaching for the word “engagement”?if it cannot be shown, it cannot be funded, defended, or done again.
take the seven questions with you
the seven questionsa4 · one side · free, no emailnotice → design → try → embed.
a partnership year runs the cycle three times, once a term. notice what is really happening, with voice. design the change with your team. try it and model it in classrooms. embed it so it holds after we have gone — then notice again, and find out whether it did.
- notice
- design
- try
- embed
most inclusion work stops at try. embed is where you find out whether any of it worked.
how the work runs
six parts to every engagement: online scoping · bespoke build · strategy with your team · training · modelling in class · reflection and a resource pack.
a day covers two of the six. a partnership covers all six — which is why the work is sold as a year, not a stack of day invoices. you get one number for a defined outcome, not an invoice that grows every time someone asks a question.
quoted as a year · invoiced by term · three terms
what a year costs
advisory£2,250 a year · £750 a term
a monthly strategy call, an async question line, the voice baseline and endline, a termly governor-ready note, and the template library. no on-site time.
for the school with more will than budget. it keeps the work moving between visits you can’t yet fund.
partner · single school£6,000 a year · £2,000 a term
everything in advisory, plus six on-site half-days of classroom modelling, a whole-staff twilight, coaching for your own leads, and an end-of-year reflection that maps the next one.
the core offer.
edtech companies: blocks are scoped per cohort — the edtech page says how. trusts and groups: the partnership, below.
on every quote
- 50% on order, 50% at the midpoint.
- uk b2b late payment terms apply.
- intellectual property is licensed to you, never assigned.
- no free scoping. the £500 discovery day is the scoping, priced honestly.
trusts and school groups
partnership with unbarrier
what you don’t get
we’re not providing leads. we’re not endorsing or placing products. we’re not a tool you can list in your inclusion strategy statement. that’s by design.
what you do get
when we partner with you on your inclusion strategy, we bring three things: clarity on what you actually need, evidence of where your investment is landing, and the confidence that your procurement decisions are sound.
01
discovery
we start by listening. a structured conversation about your group — where you are, what’s stretched, where your money’s going. we analyse what we hear and come back with a clear picture: this is what’s working, this is what’s missing, here’s what comes next.
02
professional learning
if it fits, we move into your schools. we work with your teams on what works — not in theory, but in the classroom with real learners. we’re there at the start to set the tone, then again six months in to make sure it’s held. the work is measurable. you’ll see the difference.
why this model works for groups
if you’re sending technology to multiple schools, managing procurement across regions, or making the second round of spend land where the first didn’t, you need someone who already knows your system, knows your schools, and can move quickly.
that’s what the partnership does. it protects your investment. it tells your procurement team: we’ve validated this. it tells your schools: there’s someone who understands what you need. and it tells your board that you’re spending money in the right way.
your questions, answered up front
schools decide before the first conversation. so this page carries what you would otherwise have to ask for:
- what actually happens across a partnership year — the method.
- how much of your staff’s time it takes — six half-days on site, one twilight, and a monthly call. that is the whole ask.
- what it costs — the tiers, in full, before you ask.
- proof it has worked elsewhere — what stands behind it, and what doesn’t yet.
what it looks like over time
- onboarding
- the voice baseline, and the first plan we agree together.
- six months
- modelling in classrooms, and the first movement you can see.
- the end of the year
- the endline against the baseline. capacity built in your own leads, so it holds without us in the room.
- after that
- renewal on evidence, not goodwill. if the numbers didn’t move, that is the conversation we have first.
the partnership year is new. here is what isn’t.
we are not going to show you a testimonial for something nobody has bought yet. what follows is what actually stands behind it.
a platform pays for our school training.goodnotes funds it, so there is no invoice to the school. not a testimonial. a commercial fact, and a harder one to fake.
the accreditation.apple professional learning specialist, and 26 years in classrooms as a send specialist across uk state and international schools. the work is not a career change.
what we are building right now.a device and digital inclusion instrument for an international schools group, with a technology partner. in progress, not finished — and we would rather say that than imply otherwise.
how we name people.schools and trusts by shape and scale, never by name without written permission asked for at contracting. if we would not name you without asking, we will not name anyone else to you either.
and the thing we would rather you judged us on: book the discovery day. £500, one day, no lock-in, and you will know inside a fortnight whether we are any good. that is a cheaper test than any case study.
tell us what you’re working with.
if we can help, we’ll say how. if we can’t, we’ll point you to someone who can.
notice
one email when there is something worth saying. nothing when there isn’t. written for people who don’t have time to read it twice.