Frederic Chopin Polish School CIC in Bath is committed to providing equality of opportunity and anti-discriminatory practice for all children/young people and families in accordance with the Race Relations (Amendment) Act (2000).
Frederic Chopin Polish School CIC aim to provide a positive and loving learning environment free from prejudice, discrimination and fear, in which all children/young people and their families feel accepted, respected and valued.
Aims
We aim to:
- Recognise that all children are different and aim to identify how best to support each child and family.
- Value the contributions that all children and their families can bring.
- Actively promote anti-discriminatory practice to build an inclusive environment where every child can fulfil their potential.
- Continually reflect on our practice and increase our knowledge around equalities issues.
- Provide an inclusive environment recognising that as individuals, children and adults alike all require some form of support. However, we recognise that for some this may be specific and sometimes require the help of outside agencies.
- Adhere to relevant legislation to ensure equality in the service we provide (see Relevant
Legislation Section)
Employment
Frederic Chopin Polish School CIC strives to find the best candidate for every job vacancy regardless of race, religion, home language, family background, gender or disability and/or learning difficulty.
- Positions are advertised widely in the local community.
- All applicants are assessed against the same criteria
- Each position is offered to the applicant who best meets the criteria for the post.
- As our work with children requires staff to undertake a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) Check, we would encourage all applicants called for interview to provide details of their criminal record at an early stage in the application process.
Having a criminal record will not necessarily bar them from working with us, this will depend upon the nature of the offence and when it occurred. We will take guidance from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and from Ofsted when making an employment decision. We undertake to discuss any matter revealed in a Disclosure with the person seeking the position before withdrawing a conditional offer of employment.
We follow the DBS Code of Practice when handling and storing all confidential information.
Staff
Frederic Chopin Polish School CIC is committed to the fair treatment of its staff, potential staff or users of its services, regardless of race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, responsibilities for dependants, age or physical/mental disability.
All staff members have knowledge of our Equality of Opportunity including SEN Policy and share the responsibility of ensuring that we provide a fully inclusive service for children and their parents/carers and families. They recognise the importance of their role in promoting equality and challenging discrimination.
We seek out on-going training/professional development opportunities for staff to enable them to keep up to date with new developments, current research, and appropriate practice.
Admissions
Frederic Chopin Polish School CIC is open to all members of the community.
We advertise our services widely and aim for the families that use our services to reflect the cultural diversity of our community.
We base our admissions policy on a fair system; we never discriminate against a child/young person or their family, or prevent access to our services, on the basis of race, religion, home language, family background, gender or disability and/or learning difficulty.
We gather full and accurate information about all children/young people when they start at Frederic Chopin Polish School CIC to ensure that we can meet their needs to the best of our ability.
Environment and Resources
We aim to provide a secure environment in which all children/young people can flourish and in which all contributions are valued.
We provide resources that give a balanced view of the world and an appreciation of the rich diversity of our society.
We encourage children through play equipment and activities that explore, acknowledge and value similarities and differences between themselves and others.
Our physical resources take into account children’s size, height and physical needs, e.g. we have child-sized tables and chairs at their level.
The Early Years Foundation Stage Framework
We ensure that all children/young people have the opportunity to experience a challenging and enjoyable programme of learning and development.
We respect each child’s/young person’s personal learning journey and encourage each child to recognise their own unique qualities and characteristics.
We provide activities and experiences for the children/young people which celebrate diversity.
Our observation, assessment and planning process allows for the key person to plan for each child’s/young person’s individual needs.
We strive to provide activities and experiences for each child/young person which are appropriate to their age, stages of development and levels of understanding.
We differentiate activities and experiences to suit children’s/young people’s individual needs to ensure that all children/young people can participate in them, including children with Special Educational Needs.
We plan opportunities that build on and extend all children’s/young people’s knowledge, experiences, interests and skills and develop their self-esteem and confidence in their ability to learn.
Inclusive Practice
All staff share the responsibility of ensuring that we provide a fully inclusive service for children/young people and their parents/carers and families.
When starting at Frederic Chopin Polish School CIC all children are appointed a Key Person who will liaise with parents/carers and families to identify children’s individual needs and requirements to ensure that we are providing a fully inclusive service for each and every child/young person. We will identify and provide additional resources and support for individual children/young people, where needed.
Safety in Frederic Chopin Polish School CIC – we aim to be fully aware of special arrangements that may be necessary to ensure that children/young people with disabilities or learning difficulties are fully included in all activities planned for children/young people.
Outings – staff will make arrangements to include all children/young people on outings, taking into account individual/ special needs e.g. one to one care for the duration of the outing.
Working with Parents and Carers
We aim to include and value the contribution of all families to our understanding of equality and diversity.
We ensure that our parents/ carers have access to our Equality of Opportunity including SEN Policy by making it available at all times.
We value the contribution that parents/cares can make to the setting and aim to make all parents/carers feel welcome to share in the daily life of the service their child receives.
We encourage parents/carers to become actively involved in the life of the School, for example assisting on outings and providing resources.
Discriminatory remarks or Behaviour
We take all incidents of discrimination very seriously and aim to challenge overt prejudice and discrimination when it occurs in a way that is sensitive and constructive.
As a staff team we aim to recognise and examine our own beliefs and prejudices in relation to our own practice.
We would fully support any child/young person, member of staff or parent/carer who encountered discrimination or harassment in a sensitive and constructive manner.
Action to be taken in case of discrimination
Any concerns of discrimination should be reported to the service leader in the first instance.
The concern may be raised to the School’s Director/ School’s Management if special conditions exist. The School Management will consider whether discrimination has occurred and agree on appropriate actions and response.
The response will be made in writing to the person raising the concern. Actions will be implemented and monitored as appropriate. A report will be produced detailing the incident and recording any actions or outcome, and where appropriate other agencies will be informed.
Relevant Legislation:
• Race Relations Act 1976 and Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000
• The Children’s Act 1989
• The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 ( and Amendment Regulations 2003)
• The Sex Discrimination Act (SDA) 1975 (amended 1986)
• The Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2003
• The Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003
• The Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006
Monitoring and Reviewing the Policy:
• The effectiveness of this policy is monitored by the the Director and the School Management of the setting.
• This policy will be reviewed every 12 months or as and when required.
• Views of the whole staff team and parents/ carers are taken into consideration when reviewing the policy.
Special Educational Needs
Definition of Special Educational Needs (SEN)
“Children/young people have a Special Educational Need if they have a learning difficulty which calls for Special Educational provision to be made for them”. As defined by the equality act 2010 for those who have Special Educational Needs and disabled children.
Introduction
This policy is in line with the revised Code of Practice.
The building is accessible for wheelchair users.
At Frederic Chopin Polish School CIC in Bath we strive to provide a broad and balanced curriculum for all children/young people. The Early Years Foundation Stage is our starting point for planning that meets the specific needs of individuals and groups of children/young people. When planning, staff set suitable learning challenges and respond to children’s diverse learning needs. Some children/young people have barriers to learning that mean they have special needs and require particular action by the School.
These requirements are likely to arise as a consequence of a child/young person having Special Educational Needs. Staff take account of these requirements and make provision, where necessary, to support individuals or groups of children/young people and thus enable them to participate effectively in curriculum and assessment activities. Such children/young people may need ‘additional’ or ‘different’ help from that given to other children/young people of the same age.
Children/young people may have Special Educational Needs either throughout or at any time during their development. This policy ensures that curriculum planning and assessment for children/young people with Special Educational Needs takes account of the type and extent of the difficulty experienced by the child/young person.
Aims and objectives
The aims of this policy are:
- to create an environment that meets the Special Educational Needs of each child;
- to ensure that the Special Educational Needs of children are identified, assessed and provided for;
- to make clear the expectations of all partners in the process;
- to identify the roles and responsibilities of staff in providing for children’s Special Educational Needs;
- to enable all children to have full access to all elements of the School’s curriculum;
- to ensure that parents are able to play their part in supporting their child’s education;
- to ensure that our children have a voice in this process.
Educational Inclusion
At Frederic Chopin Polish School CIC we aim to offer excellence and choice to all our children/young people, whatever their ability or needs. We have high expectations of all our children/young people. We aim to achieve this through the removal of barriers to learning and participation. We want all our children/young people to feel that they are a valued part of our community. Through appropriate curricular provision, we respect the fact that children/young people:
- have different educational and behavioural needs and aspirations;
- require different strategies for learning;
- acquire, assimilate and communicate information at different rates;
- need a range of different teaching approaches and experiences.
Staff respond to children’s/young people’s needs by:
- providing support for children/young people who need help with communication, language and literacy;
- planning to develop children’s/young people’s understanding through the use of all available senses and experiences;
- planning for children’s/young people’s full participation in learning, and in physical and practical activities;
- helping children/young people to manage their behaviour and to take part in learning effectively and safely;
- helping individuals to manage their emotions, particularly trauma or stress, and to take part in learning.
Special Educational Needs
Children/young people with Special Educational Needs have learning difficulties that call for special provision to be made. All children/young people may have special needs at some time in their lives. Children/young people have a learning difficulty if:
- they have significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of children of the same age;
- they have a disability which prevents or hinders them from making use of the educational facilities that are provided for children of the same age;
All our children/young people are assessed when they join Frederic Chopin Polish School CIC, so that we can build upon their prior learning. We use this information to provide starting points for the development of an appropriate curriculum for all our children/young people.
If our assessments show that a child/young person may have a learning difficulty, we use a range of strategies that make full use of all available resources. In liaison with the Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCO), the child’s Key person will offer interventions that are ‘different from’ or ‘additional to’ those provided as part of the Frederic Chopin Polish School CIC usual working practices.
The Key person will keep parents informed and draw upon them for additional information. If the SENCO, Key person and parents/carers feel that the child/young person would benefit from further support, the SENCO will then take the lead in further assessments of the child’s/young person’s needs.
We will record the strategies used to support the child within an Individual Play Plan (IPP). The IPP will show the short-term targets set for the child and the strategies to be used. It will also indicate the planned outcomes and the date for the plan to be reviewed. In most cases, this review will take place twice a year. Parents/carers will be involved in the writing and review of each IPP.
If the IPP review identifies that support is needed from outside services, we will consult parents/cares prior to any support being actioned. In most cases, children/young people will be seen in the service they attend by external support services. This may lead to ‘additional’ or ‘different’ strategies and external support outside of Frederic Chopin Polish School CIC. External support services will provide information for the child’s new IPP. The new strategies within the IPP will, wherever possible, be implemented in the service the child/young person attends.
Some children/young people at Frederic Chopin Polish School CIC may have significant behaviour problems. Staff use a range of strategies for dealing with difficult behaviour.
Early Support
Early Support supports parents/carers of children/young people. It brings together all the services and support available from different agencies. This makes it easier for families to co-ordinate their child’s health, education and social care needs.
Some families will have a key worker who provides advice and support and can help negotiate the system. A key worker may be needed more at some times than at others. Families can decide what works best for them.
Early Support has developed a wide range of resources, training courses and workshops. They include:
- A Family Pack containing information booklets about services and the Family File for sharing information with service providers easily
- materials and resources to record the child’s/young person’s development
- information booklets on a range of disabilities and conditions
- A range of training courses developed for families and carers to help them use the resources and services offered by Early Support
Common Assessment Framework (CAF)
The CAF is a shared assessment and planning framework for the use across all children’s/young people’s services and all local areas in England. It aims to help the early identification of children and young people’s additional needs and promote co-ordinated service provision to meet them. The CAF is aimed at children and young people with additional needs who have needs that are not being met by their current service provision.
At Frederic Chopin Polish School CIC the SENCO:
- manage the day-to-day operation of the policy;
- co-ordinate the provision for and manages the responses to children’s/young people’s special needs;
- support and advise colleagues;
- oversee the records of all children/young people with Special Educational Needs;
- act as the link with parents;
- act as link with external agencies and other support agencies;
- monitor and evaluate the Special Educational Needs provision.
- manage a range of resources, human and material, to enable appropriate provision for children/young people with Special Educational Needs;
- contribute to the professional development of all staff.
Assessment
Early identification is vital. Frederic Chopin Polish School CIC staff inform the parents/carers at the earliest opportunity to alert them to concerns and enlist their active help and participation.
The staff and the SENCO assess and monitor the children’s/young person’s progress in line with existing Frederic Chopin Polish School CIC practices. This is an on-going process.
The SENCO works closely with parents/carers and Key person to plan an appropriate programme of support.
The assessment of children/young people reflects as far as possible their participation in the whole curriculum of the service. The Key person and the SENCO can break down the assessment into smaller steps in order to aid progress and provide detailed and accurate indicators.
The LEA seeks a range of advice before making a formal statement. The needs of the child/young person are considered to be paramount in this.
Access to the curriculum
All children/young people have an entitlement to a broad and balanced curriculum, which is differentiated to enable children/young people to:
- understand the relevance and purpose of learning activities;
- experience levels of understanding and rates of progress that bring feelings of success and achievement.
Staff use a range of strategies to meet children’s/young people’s Special Educational Needs. Learning and activities have clear learning objectives, we differentiate work appropriately, and we use assessment to inform the next stage of learning.
Individual Play Plans (IPPs), which employ a small-steps approach, feature significantly in the provision that we make in Frederic Chopin Polish School CIC. By breaking down the existing levels of attainment into finely graded steps and targets, we ensure that children/young people experience success.
We support children/young people in a manner that acknowledges their entitlement to share the same learning experiences that their peers enjoy. Wherever possible we do not withdraw children/young people from Frederic Chopin Polish School CIC. There are times, though, when to maximise learning, we ask the children/young people to work in small groups, or in a one-to-one situation outside the main learning environment.
Partnership with parents
At Frederic Chopin Polish School CIC we work closely with parents in the support of those children/young people with Special Educational Needs. We encourage an active partnership through an on-going dialogue with parents. Parents/carers have much to contribute to our support for children/young people with Special Educational Needs.
We have regular meetings with parents to review the progress of their children against the targets set in the IPP and to set new targets. We inform the parents/carers of any outside intervention, and we share the process of decision-making by providing clear information relating to the education of children/young people with Special Educational Needs.
Monitoring and Evaluation
The SENCO monitors the movement of children/young people within the Special Educational Needs system in Frederic Chopin Polish School CIC. The SENCO provides staff with regular summaries of the impact of the policy on the practice of the service the child/young person attends.
The SENCO draws up Individual Play Plans for children. The SENCO and the managers hold regular meetings to review the work of Frederic Chopin Polish School CIC in this area.
The SENCO monitors the progress of children/young people with Special Educational Needs regularly and discusses findings with all staff and parents/carers.