Equal Opportunity Policy
Every child and their family will be welcomed at my house. I believe that every child should be given an equal opportunity to reach their full potential and to feel valued, with a sense of belonging.
Before I start to care for a new child I will ask parents to provide details of their language, culture, religion, special needs, disabilities and ethnicity. This will enable me to prepare my home to reflect their individuality and hopefully help the child to feel a sense of belonging and to settle in easily. This may mean learning common words in their language, gathering familiar materials, foods, role play items from their culture, etc.
For children with special educational need and disabilities, I will gather information on how best to support their child, care for their physical needs and ways to help them settle in, learn and develop. I will work with parents, carers, and other professional involved in the child’s care, learning and development to support the child as best I can and to ensure their health and safety. I will use the’ SEND code of practise: 0-25 years’ to guide me in my provision for children with special needs and disabilities.
No child in my care will be discriminated against in anyway, whether for their skin colour, culture, gender, ability or religion. I will challenge any remarks that I feel are inappropriate. I will avoid giving children stereotypical images, by giving boys and girl’s opportunity to play with the same toys and activities, role play different types of jobs, dress up in different costumes and clothing.
I will help all children in my care to develop positive images and understanding of a variety of cultures and religions, including their own. Whilst I will focus on those of the children attending the setting, I will also help children to learn about the cultures and religions of people in our local community and the main cultures and religions of the wider world. This will be through discovering and celebrating different festivals and celebrations, trying different foods from around the world, looking at books which reflect different cultures, using multicultural skin tone crayons, etc. I will endeavour to provide a range of multicultural toys and resources such as puzzles, books, role play props, dolls, etc. These may be borrowed from local toy libraries or children’s centres.
I will also help children to learn about other countries in the world, their languages, foods, costumes, homes and animals.
Children whose home language is not English will be supported to use their own language in play whilst also developing their skills in English. A child’s communication, language and literacy skills will be assessed on their ability in the English language.
I encourage and appreciate parents sharing any festivals, special occasions, artefacts, traditions, recipes, etc. with me and whenever possible I will use these to enhance the children’s knowledge and understanding of the world.