The children who attend the Cass Child and Family Centre come from awide range of socio-economic and cultural backgrounds. Situated in theSquare Mile in the City of London, the centre lives with the constantthreat of civil disorder and terrorism so the children have to regularlypractice fire and bomb drills.
The children who attend the centre live very much in a man-madeenvironment peopled by commuters. The centre works hard to createopportunities for play to soften the hard edges of their urbansurroundings.
Its challenge is to give these children a sense of belonging, and to dothis it offers a range of trips to the children so they can shareexperiences and develop a wider vocabulary. These trips have includedplaces such as London Zoo, Tate Modern and the city farm, and havetriggered activities such as making books, posters and games. The centretook the children to visit the city police horses so they could see thatpolice can be friendly and approachable.
They also now part-own one of the horses there, giving the children thechance to build up a relationship with an animal, and get to know theirrole in the community.
The most popular trips, however, have been to the children's own homesand 'the books we made from these experiences have been the ones thatall the children turn to again and again,' says Joanna Seymour, head ofthe centre.
She says, 'The programme we have created provides the children with areason to talk, to develop social skills and to feel included in theirpeer group. We found that involving them in planning these trips,including their parents, recording their impressions, acknowledgingtheir strengths and revisiting their experiences with a small andsupportive group created more cohesion within their peer group.'
HIGHLY COMMENDED
- The Sophie Centre, Lambeth, London
This nursery in South London was set up more than 20 years ago by JaniceMcDonald, who felt her daughter, Sophie, who has Down Syndrome, wasexperiencing prejudice at the local playgroup. It started in Janice'sfront room and has grown to be a leading light in inclusive education.The ratio of children without a disability to disabled children is60/40. Staff are specially trained to look after and educate all typesof children, including children in wheelchairs with a range of physicaldifficulties to those with cerebral palsy and Down Syndrome. Commonfeedback from parents is that the nursery has helped them to accept anddeal with the demands of having a child with a disability.
CRITERION
Open to services or projects that promote equality of opportunity andthe best outcomes for all children, regardless of ethnic origin, specialneeds, background or disadvantage.
