Apply for an NPQ

AUTUMN 2026 COHORT HAS BEEN ANNOUNCED

LEARN MORE ABOUT EACH NPQ HERE

Scholarship funding for Autumn 2026

Scholarship funding is available for teachers and leaders in publicly-funded schools (including maintained nursery schools) and 16 to 19 educational settings in England for the following NPQs:

• NPQ for SENCOs – equips SENCOs and Senior Leaders with the cutting-edge expertise and leadership skills needed to navigate the evolving SEND landscape and champion inclusive practices within schools.

• NPQSL – for school leaders who are, or are aspiring to be, a senior leader with cross-school responsibilities.

• NPQH – for school leaders who are, or are aspiring to be, a headteacher or head of school with responsibility for leading a school.

Funding for these courses is also available to:

• hospital schools
• young offender institutions
• local authority virtual school headteachers, staff in a defined deputy headteacher role and staff in direct teaching roles
• other local authority staff in direct teaching roles – for example, local authority supply or peripatetic teachers

• Early years leadership NPQ scholarship (NPQEYL)

Scholarship funding is also available for the early years leadership NPQ for publicly funded early years settings and maintained nursery schools, including:

• private, voluntary, independent (PVI) settings
• Ofsted-registered early years childminders
• maintained nursery schools
• those working in publicly-funded early years educational settings

NPQ scholarships for settings with high levels of disadvantage

Scholarship funding is also available for the following NPQs based on disadvantage criteria:

• leading teaching
• leading behaviour and culture
• leading literacy
• leading primary mathematics
• executive leadership
• leading teacher development

For these NPQs, scholarship funding to cover the full NPQ course cost is available to teachers and leaders from eligible schools and 16 to 19 settings that have high levels of disadvantage.

RISE scholarships

Schools in the targeted regional improvement for standards and excellence (RISE) programme are eligible for scholarship funding for all NPQs.

FOR INFORMATION ON FUNDING ELIGIBILITY – CLICK HERE