EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES

St Mary’s Nursery believe that no child, individual or family should be excluded from the group’s activities on the grounds of age, gender, sexuality, class, family status, means, disability,  ethnic origin, culture, religion or belief. We aim to ensure that all who wish to work in, or volunteer to help with our Nursery have an equal chance to do so.

The Curriculum

All children will be respected and their individuality and potential recognised, valued and nurtured. Activities and the use of play equipment offer children opportunities to develop in an environment free from prejudice and discrimination. Opportunities will be given to children to explore, acknowledge and value similarities and differences between themselves and others.

Resources

These will be chosen to give children a balanced view of the world and an appreciation of the rich diversity of our multi-racial society. Materials will be selected to help children to develop their self-respect and to respect other people by avoiding stereotypes and derogatory pictures of messages about any group of people.

Special Educational Needs

The Nursery recognises the wide range of special needs of children and families in their community and will consider that part it will play in meeting these needs. Planning for meetings and events will take into account the needs of people with disabilities.  Our special educational needs co-ordinator is Mrs Margaret Pout.

Discriminatory Behaviour/Remarks

These are unacceptable in the Nursery. Our response will aim to be sensitive to the feelings of the victim(s) and to help those responsible to understand and overcome their prejudices.

Food

Medical, cultural and dietary needs will be met.

Meetings

The time, place and conduct of meetings will ensure that all families have an equal opportunity to be involved in the running of the nursery

The Human Rights Act 1998

The Equality Act 2010

PLANNING SUPPORT FOR CHILDREN WITH SEN

We will provide an inclusive environment in accordance with The Children’s Act 1989, The Children’s Bill 2004 and SENDA 2001,  by:

• Welcoming all children whatever their individual needs.
• Using our system of observation and detailed record keeping to identify any difficulties a child may have as early as possible.
• Making sure that our long, medium and short term planning for all children also contains approaches and activities for ensuring the progress of those children who have SEN
• Differentiating our activities so that they are achievable by all children and that all children experience success and gain confidence.
• Adapting our materials and teaching styles to deliver our learning activities to children with different individual needs.
• Monitoring how each child with SEN learns, using a key person system.

The Equality Act 2010

The SENCO, Mrs Alison Rosindell will make sure that all parents are fully informed about their child’s programme of work and their progress through regular meetings.  We ensure that they know that they can approach staff members or their child’s key person at any time if they have any queries/problems or just to enquire about their child’s general progress.  This is made clear in regular newsletters and when parents first approach us for nursery sessions.  Mrs. Rosindell has knowledge of outside agencies and will be able to help parents/carers to access these.

We do not contact another professional about a child without parental consent, unless our concerns are of a Child Protection nature  (The Children’s Act 1989 and The Children’s Bill 2004).

PREMISES

Our premises are suitable for wheelchair access.  Our toilets allow wheelchair access by children.  Our tables are low, our chairs are in two different heights and we have a footstool for children’s use if required.  Our sand, water and mark making activities are accessible to all children.  We are currently monitoring our premises to ensure that they meet the needs of all children who might attend the nursery.  Our aim is to provide a fully inclusive environment.

MONITORING OUR SEN POLICY

We monitor our SEN policy by:

• Reviewing annually.
• Displaying the policy in parents cloakroom (a copy of the policy is available to parents/carers)
• Asking parents/carers and staff regularly about how well we are meeting SEN in our setting
• Talking with the children about how happy they feel about their setting and their play

TRANSITION ARRANGEMENTS

We pass our transition documents and progress trackers  (including Individual Education Plan if applicable) on to a child’s next school or setting, with parental consent.  The SENCO liaises with other settings if a child with SEN attends more than one.

COMPLAINTS PROCEDURE

Complaints regarding SEN provision in St. Mary’s Nursery  should be made to the SENCO initially.  She will report back with a week of the complaint and provide a next line of contact if the matter has not been resolved to mutual satisfaction.

Parental Involvement

A strong partnership with parents is of paramount importance. Parents are the prime educators of their children and we need to establish and maintain effective links between the Nursery and the children’s homes in order to support children’s learning and development appropriately. The Nursery will work with parents as partners in providing quality care and education for their children in an atmosphere of mutual trust and respect. We want parents and careers to feel welcome, relaxed and involved at the Nursery.

Procedures

• We aim to create an inclusive, happy and friendly atmosphere in which parents and carers are made to feel welcome at any time. We operate an “Open Door” policy and are always keen to discuss the development of your child’s day
• We provide good quality information about all aspects of the Nursery which is accessible to all parents (Childcare Act 2006).
• We ensure that all parents/careers have opportunities to contribute their own skills, knowledge and interests to the Nursery
• We invite parents/carers to be involved in shared record-keeping about their own child, both formally and informally, ensuring that parents have access to all written records on their own child
• We offer parents/carers the opportunity to participate in curriculum, festivals and other Nursery events
• We have a written complaints procedure which is made known to all parents

Behaviour Management

We believe that children flourish best in an ordered environment in which everyone knows what is expected of them and children are free to develop their play and learning without fear of being hurt or hindered by anyone else.  The person responsible for behaviour is Margaret Pout.

Procedures

• Rules of the group and the behaviour of the children are discussed with the group and explained to all newcomers, both adults and children.
• All staff in the group are responsible for ensuring that the rules are  applied consistently, so that children have the security of knowing what to expect and can build up useful habits of behaviour.
• All staff are aware that their own friendliness, care and courtesy provide a positive model for the children.

When Children Behave in Unacceptable Ways

Physical punishment is never used, nor is it ever threatened.  We would expect that these methods of punishment are not used by visitors to our setting.  Physical intervention will only be used to manage a child’s behaviour if it is necessary to prevent personal injury to the child or an adult, or to prevent serious damage to property, or in what would reasonably be regarded as exceptional circumstances.  Any occasion where physical intervention is used to manage a child’s behaviour should be recorded (incident book) and parents/carers will be informed about it on the same day.

Procedures

• Children are never sent out of the room by themselves.
• It is always made clear to the child(ren) that it is the behaviour and not the child which is unwelcome.
• Adult handling of behaviour and problems is appropriate for the child’s level of understanding and maturity.
• Children are given one-to-one adult support to help them see what was wrong.

We believe in building up self-esteem through praise and by rewarding the children by giving them stickers and certificates.  When the child’s behaviour is unacceptable they are given a short ‘time out’ in the office for them to think about what they have done, a member of staff will be present at all times.  A designated member of staff (currently Margaret Pout) will be responsible for behaviour management issues.

Managing Feelings and Behaviour is an aspect of Learning and Development in the EYFS and we recognise that we must teach and support learning and development in this area, and not simply expect or require certain behaviours.