EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY Valuing diversity and promoting equality Policy statement We will ensure that our service is fully inclusive in meeting the needs of all children, particularly those that arise from their ethnic heritage, social and economic background, gender, ability or disability. Our Nursery is committed to anti-discriminatory practice to promote equality of opportunity and valuing diversity for all children and families We aim to: • Provide a secure and accessible environment in which all our children can flourish and in which all contributions are considered and valued • Include and value the contribution of all families to our understanding of equality and diversity • Provide positive non-stereotyping information about gender roles, diverse ethnic and cultural groups and disabled people; • Improve our knowledge and understanding of issues of anti- discriminatory practice, promoting equality and valuing diversity; and • Make inclusion a thread that runs through all of the activities of the Nursery Procedures • Admissions, Our Nursery is open to all • We reflect the diversity of our society in our publicity and promotional materials. • We provide information in clear, concise language, whether in spoken or writtenform • We base our admissions policy on a fair system • We ensure that all parents are made of our Equal Opportunities policy • We do not discriminate against a child or their family, or refuse entry to our Nursery on the basis of colour, ethnicity, religion or social background • We do not discriminate against a child with a disability or refuse a child entry to our Nursery for reasons relating to disability • We would take action against any discriminatory behaviour by staff or parents. Displays of openly discriminatory and possibly offensive materials, name calling, or threatening behaviour are unacceptable in and around the premises and will be dealt with Employment Posts are advertised and all applicants are judged against explicit, fair criteria and applicants are welcome from all backgrounds. Posts are open to all and the applicant who best meets the criteria is offered the post, subject to references and checks by the Criminal Records Bureau All job descriptions include a commitment to promoting equality and recognising and respecting diversity as part of their specifications Training We seek out training opportunities for staff and volunteers to enable them to develop anti-discriminatory and inclusive practices, which enable all children to flourish We ensure all staff are fully trained in administering relevant medicines, as and when required We review our practices to ensure that we are fully implementing our policy for promoting equality, valuing diversity and inclusion Curriculum The curriculum offered in the setting encourages children to develop positive attitudes about themselves and encourages children to emphathise with others and to begin to develop the skills of critical thinking Environment • Our environment is accessible as possible for all users. We accommodate the needs of disabled children and adults. We do this by:- • Making them feel valued and good about themselves • Ensuring that children have equality of access to learning • Making adjustments to the environment and resources to accommodate a wide range of learning • Making appropriate provision within the curriculum to ensure each child receives the widest possible opportunity to develop their skills and abilities, including different learning styles especially of boys and girls • Positively reflecting the widest possible range of communities • Avoiding stereotypes or derogatory images in the selection of books/visual aids • Celebrating a wide range of festivals • Creating an environment of mutual respect and tolerance • Differentiating the curriculum to meeting children’s special educational needs • Helping children to understand that discriminatory behaviour and remarks are fully hurtful and unacceptable • Ensuring that the curriculum offered is inclusive of children with special education needs and children with disabilities • Ensuring that children learning English as an additional language have full access to the curriculum and are supported in their learning; and ensuring that children speaking languages other than English are supported in the maintenance and development of their home languages Valuing diversity in families • We welcome the diversity of family lifestyles and work with all families • We encourage children to contribute stories of their everyday life to the Nursery • We encourage parents/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 ensure their full inclusion • We offer flexible payment system for families of differing means and offer information regarding sources of financial support Food • We work in partnership with parents to ensure that the medical, cultural and dietary needs of children are met • We help children to learn about a range of food, and of cultural approaches to mealtimes and eating, and to respect the differences among them Monitoring and Reviewing To ensure our policies and procedures remain effective we will monitor and review them annually to ensure our strategies meet the overall aims to promote equality, inclusion and valuing diversity. We provide a complaints procedure and a complaints summary record for parents to see Legal framework The Equality Act 2006 Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) 2005 Race Relations Act 1976 Race Relations Amendment Act 2000 Sex Discrimination Act 1986 Childrens Act 1989, 2004 Special Education Needs and Disability Act 2001