Inclusion
As an early years setting you must make sure that inclusion is at the heart of your practice. Every child has a right to be treated with respect. You must be able to adapt to meet the needs of all children no matter what type of childcare you provide.
You have a legal duty to actively promote equality and to work to ensure that all children have equal access to services. You must do so regardless of their own or their parents:
- age
- disability
- gender reassignment
- marriage and civil partnership
- pregnancy and maternity
- race
- religion or belief
- sex
- sexual orientation
These are the protected characteristics of the Equality Act 2010.
Relevant resources
- Disabled children and the Equality Act 2010 for early years (Council for Disabled Children website)
- Early years inclusive environments good practice audit - Word 114KB (Essex County Council)
- Equality Act 2010 Summary - PDF 160KB (Essex County Council)
- Equality impact check for childminders - Word 112KB (Essex County Council)
- Inclusion Incident Report template - Word 53.5KB (Essex County Council)
- Quality Matters: Inclusion, private, voluntary and independent (PVI) settings - PDF 513KB (Essex County Council)
- Quality Matters: Inclusion, schools - PDF 445KB (Essex County Council)