Inclusion and Equality Policy

Our Commitment

At Birmingham Day Nurseries we are committed to valuing and respecting the diversity of individual families and our community, and this sits at the heart of our practice. Inequalities can have far-reaching effects on children’s education, health and life chances and we understand the vital role we play in addressing all forms of discrimination and prejudice. In upholding our responsibility, we meet all aspects of the Equality Act (2010), ensuring no child or family is discriminated against.

Inclusion and equalities apply to all our children and families. Each child and family bring their own identity, values and unique funds of knowledge, that are built on over time by taking part in the practices of their community. Creating an ethos of equality involves being aware of how practices and the environment in an early year’s setting appear through the eyes of each unique child. We will ensure that time is given for individuals and staff teams to engage in reflective practice that will support our approach to inclusion. As well as the legally protected characteristics:

• Age
• Disability
• Gender Reassignment
• Marriage and Civil Partnership
• Pregnancy and Maternity
• Race
• Religion or Belief
• Sex
• Sexual Orientation

diversity in the setting may include many different factors.

There is a fundamental difference between equity and equality. Equality aims to provide fairness through treating everyone the same regardless of need, while equity achieves this through treating people differently dependent on need. Practitioners should acknowledge the unique situations that families find themselves in, and plan to lessen the effects of these barriers by offering additional opportunities.

Birmingham Day Nurseries are committed to:

Ensuring children can see themselves and their families in the environment by:

• Represent the differences of our children and families through our resources, books, displays and activities
• Displaying photos of the children and their families through our family board/books
• Ensuring that our books, posters, resources and conversation include representation of different races, disabilities, ages, types of families including single parents, same-sex parents, grandparents raising children
• Displaying and celebrating children achievements, moments of pride and things that are important to them and their family.
• Utilising the space within our environments including areas such as role play, to provide opportunities for children to explore different cultural artifacts and customs

Ensuring our children develop a strong sense of self, and pride in who they are by:

• Recognising that every child brings with them a rich heritage 
• Supporting them in being able to identify their individual qualities and what makes them unique and special
• Recognising and celebrating their achievements through ongoing praise and encouragement
• Welcoming and encouraging their contributions and in being able to recognise what they bring to the setting, their peers and to the wider community

Developing children’s understanding of discrimination and bias:

• Not avoiding conversations about race, gender etc
• Encouraging positive conversations about difference
• Providing a range of resources and equipment to support children’s understanding
• Teaching children about fairness through activities and conversations
• Being good role models
• Supporting children to embrace and celebrate differences
• Sharing and celebrating children’s lived experiences through the provision of first-hand experiences

Ensuring every child develops a sense of belonging:

• Providing opportunities for children to talk about their lives from home and the people who are important to them
• Teaching what is meant by ‘family’ and ‘friends’
• Ensuring our environments are welcoming, with a home-from-home feel. 
• Adapting our environments, routines and resources to accommodate the varying needs of our children and allowing them full access to the curriculum
• Ensuring the child’s voice is at the heart of everything we do. 

To enable us to do this we ensure that we recruit staff teams that are committed to improving outcomes for children and breaking down barriers that may prevent them from reaching their full potential. Ongoing training is provided to our staff team to ensure that they are familiar with recent guidance and know how to provide the best standard of support to all of our children.

Whilst inclusion applies to all of our families and children, we recognise that there are particular groups of children that this becomes more relevant for.  As part of dedication to inclusion, we have additional policies relating to:

• Special Educational Needs and Disabilities
• Children with English as an Additional Language
• Looked After Children
• Dealing with Discriminatory Behaviour
• Teaching and Learning

Funding

For some of our children and families we may be able to access additional funds to enable us to better support their emerging needs and have greater access to our curriculum.

In addition to the funding we may be able to access for children with SEND needs, such as Inclusion Support in Early Years (ISEY) and SEND Support Provision Plan (SSPP), there is also EYPP funding available for some of our less advantaged and vulnerable children. 

Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP) funding is allocated based on specific criteria and requires a parent/carer to apply for this if they meet such criteria.  Birmingham Day Nurseries will support parents in identifying whether they may be eligible to receive EYPP funding and can guide them through the application process as required. Once eligibility has been confirmed this will allow us to access funds that we can apply to the areas that we feel will best support the individual children’s needs. EYPP funds can be used to provide training to our staff teams to enable them to better support the children, or for resources that may enhance teaching and learning opportunities. 

Discussions about eligibility for EYPP will take place at the point of registration, but recognising that circumstances may change, we endeavour to engage in ongoing conversations about this with all our families.

All staff, volunteers and agencies are expected to follow our commitment and abide by this policy.  

The legal framework for this policy is based on:

• Equality Act 2010
• Children Act 2004
• Care Standards Act 2002
• Childcare Act 2006
• *Children (Scotland) Act 1995
• Special Educational Needs and Disability Act 2001
• Special Educational Needs and Disability Code of Practice: 0 to 25 years 25 January 2015