Equality, Inclusion and Diversity at Kids Planet

Kids Planet is an equal opportunities employer and actively promotes the benefits of a diverse workforce.

Our aim is for our team to be truly representative of all sections of the communities we work in, society and the children and parents who attend our nurseries. These values run through everything we do.

We value diversity amongst our employees and expect everyone to be treated with respect. We actively encourage equality and diversity among our team by eliminating unlawful discrimination within the workplace. We recognise how important it is for each employee to feel respected and able to give their best and we achieve this by creating a working environment free of bullying, harassment, victimisation, and unlawful discrimination, promoting dignity and respect for all. Individual differences and the contributions of all our teams are recognised and valued.

What does equality, inclusion and diversity mean?

EQUALITY

Equality means recognising and responding fairly to the individual needs and identities of all others. It provides everyone with an opportunity to reach their full potential and have an equal chance to live their life as they choose.

INCLUSION

Inclusion is a process of identifying, understanding and breaking down barriers to participation and belonging.

DIVERSITY

Understanding that every individual is unique and recognizing those individual differences.

How do we put equality, diversity & inclusion into practice with staff and children at Kids Planet?

• Our staff teams acknowledge the beliefs and attitudes of others, seeing things from someone else’s perspective.
• We are sensitive to individuals and challenge discriminatory practice or language without the need for aggressive confrontation.
• We recognise that treating everyone the same is not treating everyone with equal consideration.
• In our settings, we use culturally rich stories, poems and room displays from around the world to bring awareness of cultural differences within our environment.

• We talk to children and challenge stereotypes, creating positive messages around inclusivity and diversity. Displays positioned at the child’s level in a busy part of a nursery enable plenty of opportunity for interaction and sparking great conversations about the world they live in.
• Our practitioners use music to introduce multiple cultures and sounds to young children.

• We use food as another opportunity to raise awareness of the positives multiple ethnicities bring. Tasting and learning about cuisines from around the world develops minds and opens cultural awareness dialogue.

• Setting up a Curiosity Room for children to explore, enquire and make their discoveries about  Islam and Ramadan for example. Children decorate their room with Ramadan greetings and lanterns for others to see.

• Roleplay areas help create positive awareness of cultural differences. For example, creating a bakery with bread around the world or decorating the home corner at Diwali.
• Creating a curiosity shelf filled with trinkets from around the world of the cultures, for example, a Turkish eye, an Eiffel tower, some castanets, an Indian elephant, a traditional polish, wooden plates. Objects like these give children the opportunity to touch and feel and understand what the items represents and why they were special.

DIVERSITY IN OUR WORKFORCE

As a group, we are working hard to improve diversity in our workforce.  We recognise that men are extremely poorly represented in the Early Years education workforce, making up just 3% of the total nationally, and the same proportion within Kids Planet. This lack of men is both a symptom and cause of gender inequality: looking after educating young children should be a job for everyone, not just women – and we believe we should be modelling this clearly to the children and families in our care. We have been successful in our men in childcare bid – a Greater Manchester Combined Authority project which is a collaboration between Kids Planet and the Fatherhood Institute, a highly respected charity that runs the MITEY (Men in The Early Years) network/campaign. This successful bid means that we are currently preparing for, recruiting, and supporting a cohort of 12 men through our in-house Early Years. In February 2021, for our commitment to building an inclusive workforce in conjunction with our Men in Childcare campaign, we won the WorldSkillsUK Diversity and Inclusion Heroes Award for Programme or Campaign of the Year. You can read more about it here.

For more details about our Men in Childcare campaign, email Jason.holmes@kidsplanetdaynurseries.co.uk

Kids Planet have 96 nurseries across the UK, find a nursery near you.

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