At MH we are an inclusive setting and work closely as a staff team with the pupils and parents at school to ensure that every child gets what they need to access their education.
Everyone needs different things – we are not the same. We spend lots of curriculum time celebrating difference. Difference in our gender, age, culture, ethnicity, interests, families and the ways we learn. Children are very good at accepting difference. We teach this from an early age.
Our SEN information Report has further information on how we identify, assess and make provision for pupils with additional needs and it can be found here:
https://merryhill.org.uk/download/sen-information-report/
This image is one we share with the children at school and have on display in our classrooms.
The children quickly notice that the shortest child cannot see over the fence in the first picture.
We will ask the children, “is this fair?”
“What does the shortest child need?”
They may say that it is unfair that the tall child has a box to stand on.
When looking at the second picture we ask the children, “is this fair?”
The children are able to see that in the second picture the shortest child had what he needed to be able to see over the fence.
Equity is giving everyone what they need to be successful. Equality is treating everyone the same. Equality aims to promote fairness, but it can only work if everyone starts from the same place and needs the same help.
In this way we begin to explain to our children that everyone is different and needs different things. Sometimes the needs are physical for example, if a child in the class wears glasses we are not going to remove the glasses and, equally, we are not going to give everyone glasses to wear. The glasses for the child that needs them allows them to access their learning. Sometimes the needs are less visible and a child may need additional support, such as fixed routine, sensory stimulus, speech and language difficulty. Again the additional support allows that child to access their learning.
We celebrate difference and we learn from it.
…‘Providing an inclusive setting that promotes equality of opportunity does not mean that all children should be treated the same, but that the unique skills and abilities of each child should be recognised.”
EYFS 2012