Equal Opportunities Policy

We believe that Equal of Opportunity is fundamental to high quality of Early Years provision. As parents and staff, we have the highest expectations of all our children irrespective of class, race, gender, sexual orientation, ability, culture, belief, lifestyle or family circumstances.

As a team, we take positive action to ensure that equal opportunities are integrated into every area of the curriculum. We recognize that all children are individuals and aim to provide a curriculum which meets the needs of each child ensuring quality, care and education for all our children.

By encouraging children to be confident and assertive in establishing their own identity, we seek to prepare them for the realities of today's world.

As a member of the Pre-School Learning Alliance, we work in accordance with all relevant legislation, including:

  • Disabled Persons Act 1958, 1986
  • Race Relations Act 1976
  • Sex Discrimination act 1986
  • Children's act 1989

We believe that the group's activities should be open to all children and families and to all adults committed to their welfare. We aim to ensure that all who wish to work in, or volunteer to help with, our pre-school have an equal chance to do so.

We take positive action to achieve all the above in the following ways:

  • The pre-school is open to every family in the community with a priority given to children living within the catchment area. Admission priority is given to the oldest child on the waiting list.
  • The pre-school will appoint the best person for each job and will treat fairly all applicants for jobs and all those appointed.
  • Commitment to implementing the group's equal opportunity policy is part of the job description for all workers.
  • The pre-school recognizes that many different types of family successfully love and care for children.
  • The pre-school offers a flexible payment system for families with differing means.
  • All medical, cultural and dietary needs will be met.
  • The time, place and conduct of meetings will ensure that all families have an equal opportunity to be involved in the running of the pre-school.
  • Planning for pre-school meetings and events will take into account the needs of people with disabilities.
  • Information, written and spoken, can be communicated clearly in as many languages as necessary.
  • Discriminatory behaviour or remarks are unacceptable in the pre-school.
  • 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. Appropriate opportunities will be given to all children to explore, acknowledge and value similarities and differences between themselves and others.
  • Resources will be chosen to give children a balanced view of the world and an appreciation of the rich diversity of our multi-racial society.
  • We believe all children need to feel positive about themselves, their home and their culture. We value children for who they are and always treat them with respect and expect them to value and respect others.
  • We ensure that our practice and resources do not provide stereotypical or negative role models but reflect differing family groups e.g. single parents, mixed parentage, lesbians and gay men as parents, etc and help children develop self respect and understanding of others.
  • We recognize the wide range of special needs of children and families in the community and will consider how we can meet those needs.
  • We will make provision for children with special educational needs by ensuring that individual educational plans are drawn up for each child, liaising with the appropriate learning support services and working closely with the family.
  • We believe that all children should feel positive about their home language/s and we encourage children to speak their own language. We ensure all children have experiences of other languages providing access to dual language books, songs in different languages and examples of writing from many languages.
  • We believe in having a positive environment reflecting children's background to welcome the diversity from which they come. When ordering equipment, we ensure it is positive in its representation of all groups.

Our aim is to show respectful awareness of all major events in the lives of the children and their families in the pre-school and in our society as a whole. We actively seek to share and increase our understanding of each other's culture and traditions through a variety of events and activities that reflect the experience of the children at the pre-school.

Without indoctrination in any specific faith, children will be made aware of the festivals which are being celebrated by their own families or others, and will be introduced; where appropriate; to the stories behind the festivals.

Before introducing a festival with which adults in the pre-school are not themselves familiar, appropriate advice will be sought from the people familiar with that festival.

Children will be encouraged to welcome a range of different festivals, together with the stories, celebrations and special food and clothing they involve, as part of the diversity of life.

Challenging Discrimination

Research has shown that children as young as 2 years are aware of differences and can display discriminatory attitudes. As early years educators, it is our job to encourage children to develop a positive attitude to their community and the help them develop a sense of justice.

We challenge discrimination by children in the following ways:

  • We support the victim, helping them to respond to hurtful or discriminatory behaviour or language.
  • We support the child who has behaved in a discriminatory way by helping them to understand that discrimination is hurtful and damaging and is not acceptable. This is done by talking to the child in language appropriate to their stage of development.
  • We will discuss such incidents with the parents of the children concerned.
  • The staff will ensure that ant issues raised by such incidents are addressed within planning and that necessary strategies are implemented in the pre-school.
  • We will ensure parents are aware of the action we are taking and expect them to support us.
  • We will observe and monitor to ensure that the incident isn't repeated.

Children learn by example, so we have a policy that all adults in the pre-school provide good role models for children. Any adult displaying discriminatory behaviour will be challenged and explained why it is offensive and damaging. We will give them the opportunity to apologies and undertake never to repeat it.

We regard our equal opportunity policy as a working document and monitor and evaluate it annually.