Equality, Inclusion and Valuing Diversity Policy

 Statement of intent

Larksmead Pre-school 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. Larksmead Pre-school is committed to

anti-discriminatory practice to promote equality of opportunity and valuing diversity for all children and families.

Aim

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

• make inclusion a thread that runs through all of the activities of the setting

The legal framework for this policy is:

• The Equality Act 2006

• Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) 1995, 2005

• Race Relations Act 1976

• Race Relations Amendment Act 2000

• Sex Discrimination Act 1976,1986

• Children Act 1989, 2004

• Special Educational Needs and Disability Act 2001

Method

In order to meet our legal duties, promote equality and inclusion in our setting and value diversity we follow these procedures:

Admissions

• Larksmead Pre-school is open to all members of the community.

• We advertise our service in a variety of places.

• We will endeavour to reflect the diversity of members of our society in our publicity and promotional materials.

• We provide information in clear, concise language, whether in spoken or written form.

• We will endeavour to provide information in languages other than English upon request.

• We base our admissions policy on a fair system.

• We ensure that all parents are made aware of our equality and diversity policy and all other relevant policies.

• We do not discriminate against a child or their family, or prevent entry to our setting, on the basis of colour, ethnicity, religion or social background, such as being a member of a Travelling community or an asylum seeker.

• We do not discriminate against a disabled child or refuse a child entry to our setting for reasons relating to disability.

• We develop an action plan to ensure that all individuals can participate successfully in the services offered by the setting and in the curriculum offered.

• We take action against any discriminatory behaviour by staff or parents. Displaying of openly discriminatory and possibly offensive materials, name calling, or threatening behaviour are unacceptable on or around the premises and will be dealt with in the strongest manner.

Employment

• Posts are advertised and all applicants are judged against explicit and fair criteria.

• Applicants are welcome from all backgrounds and posts are open to all.

• We may use exemption clauses in relevant legislation to enable the service to best meet the needs of the community.

• The applicant who best meets the criteria is offered the post, subject to references and checks by the Criminal Records Bureau. This ensures fairness in the selection process.

• All job descriptions will include a commitment to valuing equality and recognising and respecting diversity as part of their specifications.

• We monitor our application process to ensure that it is fair and accessible.

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 that staff are confident and fully trained in administering relevant medicines and performing invasive care procedures.

• We review our practices to ensure that we are fully implementing our policy for promoting equality, valuing diversity and inclusion.

Curriculum and environment

The curriculum offered iat Larksmead Pre-school encourages children to develop positive attitudes about themselves as well as to people who are different from themselves. It encourages children to empathise with others and to begin to develop the skills of critical thinking.

The environment should be accessible for all visitors and service users. If access to the settings is found to treat disabled children or adults less favourably then reasonable adjustments should be made to accommodate the needs of disabled children and adults.

We do this by:

• making children feel valued and good about themselves

• undertaking an access audit to establish if the setting is accessible to all children

• making adjustments to the environment and resources to accommodate a wide range of learning, physical and sensory impairments

• making appropriate provision within the curriculum to ensure each child receives the widest possible opportunity to develop their skills and abilities; e.g. recognising the different learning styles of girls and boys

• positively reflecting the widest possible range of communities in the choice of resources

• avoiding stereotypes or derogatory images in the selection of books or other visual materials

• celebrating a wide range of festivals

• creating an environment of mutual respect and tolerance

• differentiating the curriculum to meet children’s special educational needs

• helping children to understand that discriminatory behaviour and remarks are hurtful and unacceptable

• ensuring that children learning English as an additional language have full access to the curriculum and are supported in their learning

• endeavouring to support children speaking a languages other than English 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 setting.

• 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 endeavour to develop means to ensure their full inclusion.

• We offer a flexible payment system for families of differing means.

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.

Meetings

• Meetings are arranged to ensure that all families who wish to may be involved in the running of the setting.

• Information about meetings is communicated in a variety of ways.

Monitoring and reviewing

• To ensure our policy and procedures remain effective we will endeavour to 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.

This policy was adopted at a meeting of Larksmead Pre-school

Held on: 19^th March 2008

This policy was reviewed on 23rd January 2009