Thesis (MEd (Educational Psychology))--University of Stellenbosch, 2007. / According to literature, children who live in Children’s Homes are of the most damaged children in society. The contextual circumstances from which these children come, together with the trauma of removal, result in these children feeling rejected. The characteristic needs of these children are the need for love and attention, to be of value and to belong somewhere. The satisfying of these needs at school is therefore very important for the child’s development. The inclusive culture of a school is the creation of a school community where everyone feels safe, is accepted and regarded as worthy. This will be reflected in policy and practice. To belong, be accepted and acknowledged, is the nucleus of social inclusion. The purpose of the research was, therefore, to acquire understanding for the experience of six children from a Children’s Home concerning social inclusion in a local main stream school. Five dimensions of social inclusion, as found in the literature, formed the framework of this research. They are: acknowledgement of worth, human development, involvement and participation in decision making, sharing of social spaces and material prosperity. The research takes the form of a qualitative study. In order to obtain understanding for the experience of the children, a basic interpretative research design was decided on. A purposeful sample was selected. For the production of data use was made of individual semi-structured interviews, focus group interviews and observation. Data was processed by doing qualitative content analysis. Significant units were coded and categorised. Each child has his/her own construction of reality, but an experience which was expressed throughout, is their experience that they are regarded and treated as an inferior group. This is a harmful situation for the children and recommendations were made to pay attention to this within the school context.