Equality & Diversity
Beehive Day Nursery
Equality and Diversity Policy
Statement of intent
Beehive Day Nursery is committed to providing equality of opportunity and anti-discriminatory practice for all children and families.
Aim
We aim to:
- Provide an environment in which children feel secure, can flourish and where all contributions are valued;
- Include and value the contribution of all families to our understanding of equality and diversity;
- Provide positive non-stereotyping resources and information about different ethnic groups and people with disabilities and gender roles;
- Improve our knowledge and understanding of issues of equality and diversity; and
- Make inclusion a thread which runs through all of the activities of the nursery.
The legal framework for this policy is:
- Race Relations Act 1976;
- Race Relations Amendment Act 2000;
- Sex Discrimination Act 1996;
- Children Act 1989; 2004
- Special Educational Needs and Disability Act 2001
- Disability Discrimination Act 1995
- Equality Act 2010
- Special Educational Needs and Disability Code of Practice 2014
Methods
Admissions
Our nursery is open to all members of the community.
- We advertise our services widely.
- We 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 base our admissions policy on a fair system.
- We do not discriminate against a child or family with a disability or refuse a child entry to the nursery because of any disability, ethnicity, religion, gender, social background.
- We ensure that all parents are made aware of our equal opportunities policy.
- We develop an action plan to ensure that people with disabilities can participate successfully in the services offered by the nursery and in the curriculum offered.
- We take action against any discriminatory behaviour by staff, parents or children including but not limited to name calling, threatening behaviour or offensive remarks.
Employment
- Posts are advertised and all applicants are judged against explicit and fair criteria
- The applicant who best meets the criteria is offered the post, subject to references and checks by the Disclosure and Barring Service. This ensures fairness in the selection process. All job descriptions include a commitment to equality and diversity as part of their specifications.
- We monitor our application process to ensure that it is fair and accessible
- Applicants from all backgrounds are welcomed. Applications are open to all who meet the criteria for each post.
Training
- We seek our training opportunities for staff and volunteers to enable them to develop inclusive and anti-discriminatory practices which help all children to flourish
- We review our practices to ensure that we are fully implementing our policy for equality and diversity
- Children with medical needs are cared for by staff who have been trained to do so.
Curriculum
- The curriculum offered in the nursery 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.
We do this by:
- Making children feel valued and good about themselves;
- Ensuring that children have equality of access to learning
- Reflecting the widest possible range of communities in the choice of resources;
- Avoiding stereotypes or derogatory images in the selection of materials;
- Finding out about and learning about a range of festivals and developing cultural awareness among adults and children
- Creating an environment of mutual respect and tolerance;
- Helping children to understand that discriminatory behaviour and remarks are unacceptable;
- Ensuring that the curriculum offered is inclusive of children with special educational needs and children with disabilities;
- Ensuring that children whose first language is not English have full access to the curriculum and are supported in their learning;
- Undertaking an access audit to ensure that the nursery is accessible to all children and their families;
- Using means of communication to ensure everyone is included, e.g. Makaton signing and aiming to ensure all children have a ‘voice’ which is listened to.
Valuing diversity in families
- We welcome the diversity of family life and work with all families
- We encourage children to contribute stories of their everyday lives
- We encourage parents/carers to take part in the life of the nursery and to contribute fully. To facilitate this, reasonable adaptations are made to help parents/carers with disabilities
- For families who have a first language other than English, we value the contribution their culture and language offer.
- We offer a flexible payment system for families of differing means and can offer information about financial support if appropriate (or signpost to where information is available)
British Values
Democracy
- We develop children’s self-confidence and self-awareness by helping them to know that their views are important and to learn to value the views of others.
- Adults support the decisions that children make, providing them with activities to encourage turn-taking, sharing and collaboration. Children are encouraged to ask questions and develop an enquiring mind.
Rule of Law
- We help children to understand rules and boundaries in age-appropriate ways
Individual Liberty and Freedom for all
- Children are encouraged to explore their feelings and ideas and to begin to understand the similarities and differences between people and that we have equal rights even if we have different opinions, ideas and ways of living.
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, cultural approaches to mealtimes and eating and to respect the differences among them
Meetings
- Meetings are arranged to ensure that all families may attend
- Information about the running of the nursery is communicated in a variety of ways – written, verbal and in translation – to ensure that all parents have information about the nursery and its policies and procedures
This policy was adopted by the management and staff of Beehive Day Nursery on
10th September 2004
This policy will be reviewed annually to ensure that it remains effective and that our strategies meet the aims of promoting equality and inclusion as well as valuing diversity
We provide a complaints procedure and complaints summary record which parents can see and use.
Latest review: September 2018
