Mission Statement:
At CJ’s Little Pickles we believe every child has a fundamental right to be cared for in a loving environment and educated by being given the opportunity to achieve and maintain their learning at the highest level possible.
Every child has unique characteristics, interests, abilities and learning needs and through a holistic approach to learning we endeavour to meet them. We believe every child has a right to be included. We consider all children, adults and families should feel welcome and should have an equal chance to benefit from our nursery and everything it provides. We are committed to providing all of our children every opportunity to achieve the highest of standards including those with diverse needs.
We offer a broad, balanced and flexible curriculum which is accessible to all children and ensures that they are fully included in all aspects of nursery life.
All staff has a responsibility to promote inclusion in the following ways:
• To continue to raise staff awareness of Inclusion via on-going staff development
• To promote self-esteem, self-discipline and positive relationships
• To encourage consistency of response to both positive and negative behaviour
• To ensure that the nurseries expectation and strategies are widely known and understood
• To encourage the involvement of both home and nursery in the implementation of this policy
• To remove the barriers to learning and participation that can hinder or exclude individual children or groups of children and to include pupils in all aspects of nursery life regardless of need
• To meet with other professionals involved with the family, for example, teachers, educational psychologists, and speech and language therapists, to identify how the setting can meet the needs of the child. • By meeting with the child to introduce the members of staff at the setting and to get to know them.
• By initiating additional training where required for existing members of staff to enable them to meet the needs of the child.
• To integrate the child into the setting.
Where it is not possible for CJ’s Little Pickles to integrate a child with additional support needs, we aim to provide parents and carers with information to a more appropriate service, who may be able to meet the needs of their child.
Admissions (please see admissions policy for more information):
CJ’s Little Pickles is open and accessible to all members of the community.
We base our Admissions Policy on a fair system We do not discriminate against a child or their family in our service provision, including preventing their entry to our nursery based on a protected characteristic as defined by the Equality Act (2010).
We advertise our service widely.
We will provide information in clear, concise language, whether in spoken or written form and provide information in other languages (where ever possible).
We reflect the diversity of our community and wider society in our publicity and promotional materials.
We provide information on our offer of provision for children with special educational needs and disabilities.
We ensure that all parents are made aware of our Valuing Diversity and Promoting Equality Policy.
We make reasonable adjustments to ensure that disabled children can participate successfully in the services and in the curriculum offered by the setting.
We take action against any discriminatory, harassing or victimising behaviour by our staff, volunteers or parents whether by:
direct discrimination – someone is treated less favourably because of a protected characteristic e.g. preventing families of a specific ethnic group from using the service;
indirect discrimination – someone is affected unfavourably by a general policy e.g. children must only speak English in the setting;
discrimination arising from a disability – someone is treated less favourably because of something connected with their disability e.g. a child with a visual impairment is excluded from an activity;
association – discriminating against someone who is associated with a person with a protected characteristic e.g. behaving unfavourably to someone who is married to a person from a different cultural background; or
perception – discrimination on the basis that it is thought someone has a protected characteristic e.g. making assumptions about someone's sexual orientation.
Displaying of openly discriminatory and possibly offensive or threatening materials, name calling, or threatening behaviour are unacceptable on, or around, [our/my] premises and will be dealt with immediately and discreetly by asking the adult to stop using the unacceptable behaviour and inviting them to read and to act in accordance with the relevant policy statement and procedure. Failure to comply may lead to the adult being excluded from the premises.
Employment (Please see our Safe Recruitment Policy for more information):
We advertise posts and all applicants are judged against explicit and fair criteria.
Applicants are welcome from all backgrounds and posts are open to all.
The applicant who best meets the criteria is offered the post, subject to references and suitability checks. This ensures fairness in the selection process.
All of our job descriptions include a commitment to promoting equality, and recognising and respecting diversity as part of their specifications.
We monitor our application process to ensure that it is fair and accessible.
The nursery will appoint the best person for each job and will treat fairly all applicants for jobs and all those appointed.
Commitment to implementing the nursery’s Equal Opportunities Policy will form part of the job description for all workers.
Induction:
Practitioners are informed of the Equal Opportunities policy on induction.
On-going Training:
Practitioners are informed and updated on new legislation, and are trained accordingly.
Practitioners are given the opportunity to attend courses for personal development and to improve their knowledge about inclusion. This area of practice is revisited on a regular basis to ensure that all practitioners are reminded of the nursery’s policy and procedure and can behave appropriately.
The nursery will review our practices to ensure that we are fully implementing our policy for Valuing Diversity and Promoting Equality.
Curriculum:
The Early Years Foundation Stage is our starting point for planning a curriculum that meets the specific needs of individuals and groups of children. Our setting encourages children to develop positive attitudes about themselves as well as about people who are different from themselves. It encourages development of confidence and self-esteem, empathy, critical thinking and reflection.
We meet these needs through:
setting suitable learning challenges;
responding to children’s diverse learning needs;
overcoming potential barriers to learning and assessment for individuals and groups of children;
providing other curricular opportunities outside the Early Years Foundation Stage to meet the needs of individuals or groups of children.
All children will be respected and their individuality and potential recognised, valued and nurtured. Planning will ensure that activities/experiences offered are age/stage appropriate and accessible to all children within group. Activities and the use of play equipment offer children opportunities to develop in an environment free from prejudice and discrimination. Appropriate opportunities will be given to children to explore, acknowledge and value similarities and differences between themselves and others.
The nursery ensures that our practice is fully inclusive by:
creating an environment of mutual respect and tolerance;
modelling desirable behaviour to children and helping children to understand that discriminatory behaviour and remarks are hurtful and unacceptable;
positively reflecting the widest possible range of communities within resources;
avoiding use of stereotypes or derogatory images within our books or any other visual materials;
celebrating festivals and holy days;
ensuring that children learning English as an additional language have full access to the curriculum and are supported in their learning;
ensuring that disabled children with and without special educational needs are fully supported;
ensuring that children speaking languages other than English are supported in the maintenance and development of their home languages
Environment:
We will ensure that our environment is as accessible as possible for all visitors and service users. We do this by: undertaking an access audit to establish if the setting is accessible to all disabled children and adults. If access to the setting is found to treat disabled children or adults less favourably, then we will make reasonable adjustments to accommodate the needs of disabled children and adults.
fully differentiating the environment, resources and curriculum to accommodate a wide range of learning, physical and sensory needs.
Teaching style:
At the nursery we aim to give all our children the opportunity to succeed and reach the highest level of personal achievement. We analyse the attainment of different groups of children to ensure that all children are achieving as much as they can. We also make ongoing assessments of each child’s progress. Practitioners use this information when planning. It enables practitioners to take into account the abilities of all the children in the setting.
When the attainment of a child falls significantly below the expected level, practitioners enable the child to succeed by planning work that is in line with that child’s individual needs. Where the attainment of a child significantly exceeds the expected level of attainment, practitioners use appropriate resources and learning styles, and extend the breadth of work within the area or areas for which the child shows particular aptitude.
The practitioners ensure that children:
feel secure and know that their contributions are valued;
appreciate and value the differences they see in others;
take responsibility for their own actions;
participate safely, in clothing that is appropriate to their religious beliefs;
are taught in groupings that allow them all to experience success;
use materials that reflect a range of social and cultural backgrounds, without stereotyping;
have a common curriculum experience that allows for a range of different learning styles;
have targets that enable them to succeed;
are encouraged to participate fully, regardless of disabilities or medical needs.
Valuing diversity in families:
The nursery recognises that many different types of family successfully love and care for children. At CJ’s Little Pickles:
We welcome the diversity of family lifestyles and work with all families.
We encourage children to contribute stories of their everyday life to the setting.
We encourage parents and carers to take part in the life of the setting and to contribute fully.
For families who speak languages in addition to English, we will develop means to encourage full inclusion.
We take positive action to encourage disadvantaged and under-represented groups to use the setting.
Children with disabilities:
Some children in our nursery may have disabilities and consequently may need additional resources. The nursery is committed to providing an environment that allows these children full access to all areas of learning.
All practitioners will adapt their learning opportunities as appropriate for these children. For example, they may give additional time to children with disabilities to complete certain activities. In their planning practitioners ensure that they give children with disabilities the opportunity to develop skills in practical aspects of the curriculum.
All practitioners ensure that the work for these children:
takes account of their pace of learning and the equipment they use;
takes account of the effort and concentration needed in oral work, or when using, for example, visual aids;
is adapted or offers alternative activities in those areas of learning where children are unable to manipulate tools or equipment, or use certain types of materials;
allows opportunities for them to take part in educational visits and other activities linked to their learning
includes approaches that allow hearing-impaired children to learn about sound and music, and visually-impaired children to learn about light using visual resources and images.
uses assessment techniques that reflect their individual needs and abilities.
Dealing with Discriminatory Behaviour:
At CJ’s Little Pickles we do not tolerate discriminatory behaviour and take action to tackle discrimination. We believe that parents have a right to know if discrimination occurs and what actions the nursery will take to tackle it. We follow our legal duties in relation to discrimination and record all incidents any perceived or actual relating to discrimination on any grounds and report these where relevant to children’s parents and the registering authority.
Definition and legal framework:
Types of discrimination
Direct discrimination occurs when someone is treated less favourably than another person because of a protected characteristic
Discrimination by association occurs when there is a direct discrimination against a person because they associate with a person who has a protected characteristic
Discrimination by perception occurs when there is a direct discrimination against a person because they are perceived to have a protected characteristic
Indirect discrimination can occur where a provision, criterion or practice is in place which applies to everyone in the organisation but particularly disadvantages people who share a protected characteristic and that provision, criterion or practice cannot be justified as a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim
Harassment is defined as ‘unwanted conduct related to a relevant protected characteristic, which has the purpose or effect of violating an individual’s dignity or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for that individual’
Victimisation occurs when an employee is treated badly or put to detriment because they have made or supported a complaint or raised grievance under the Equality Act 2010 or have been suspected of doing so.
Protected characteristics:
The nine protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010 are:
Age
Disability
Gender reassignment
Race
Religion or belief
Sex
Sexual orientation
Marriage and civil partnership
Pregnancy and maternity.
Incidents may involve a small or large number of persons, they may vary in their degree of offence and may not even recognise the incident has discriminatory implications; or at the other extreme their behaviour may be quite deliberate and blatant.
Examples of discriminatory behaviour are:
Physical assault against a person or group of people
Derogatory name calling, insults and discriminatory jokes
Graffiti and other written insults (depending on the nature of what is written)
Provocative behaviour such as wearing badges and insignia and the distribution of discriminatory literature
Threats against a person or group of people pertaining to the nine protected characteristics listed above
Discriminatory comments including ridicule made in the course of discussions
Patronising words or actions.
Our procedures:
We tackle discrimination by:
Expecting all staff in the nursery to be aware of and alert to any discriminatory behaviour or bullying taking place in person or via an online arena
Expecting all staff to intervene firmly and quickly to prevent any discriminatory behaviour or bullying, this may include behaviour from parents and other staff members
Expecting all staff to treat any allegation seriously and report it to the nursery manager. Investigating and recording each incident in detail as accurately as possible and making this record available for inspection by staff, inspectors and parents where appropriate, on request. The nursery manager is responsible for ensuring that incidents are handled appropriately and sensitively and entered in the record book. Any pattern of behaviour should be indicated. Perpetrator/victim’s initials may be used in the record book as information on individuals is confidential to the nursery
Ensuring any online bullying or discriminatory behaviour is tackled immediately
Informing: the parents of the child(ren) who are perpetrators and/or victims should be informed of the incident and of the outcome, where an allegation is substantiated following an investigation
Excluding or dismissing any individuals who display continued discriminatory behaviour or bullying, but such steps will only be taken when other strategies have failed to modify behaviour. This includes any employees where any substantiated allegation after investigation will incur our disciplinary procedures (please see the policy on disciplinary procedures).
We record any incidents of discriminatory behaviour or bullying to ensure that:
Strategies are developed to prevent future incidents
Patterns of behaviour are identified
Persistent offenders are identified
Effectiveness of nursery policies are monitored
A secure information base is provided to enable the nursery to respond to any discriminatory behaviour or bullying. If the behaviour shown by an individual is deemed to be radicalised, we will follow our procedure as detailed in our Safeguarding Policy in order to safeguard children and families concerned.
Nursery staff:
We expect all staff to be alert and seek to overcome any ignorant or offensive behaviour based on fear or dislike of distinctions that children, staff or parents may express in nursery.
We aim to create an atmosphere where the victims of any form of discrimination have confidence to report such behaviour, and that subsequently they feel positively supported by the staff and management of the nursery.
It is necessary all members of staff ensure that they do not express any views or comments that are discriminatory; or appear to endorse such views by failing to counter behaviour, which is prejudicial in a direct manner. We expect all staff to use a sensitive and informed approach to counter any harassment perpetrated out of ignorance.
Complaints procedure:
Please see the Complaints policy should you be dissatisfied with the provision.