Nursery World Awards 2020 - Inclusive Practice

With a huge increase in the number of early years practitioners engaging in intergenerational learning through weekly visits to residential care homes, a group of eight childminders in Torbay have gone a step further by committing to an innovative intergenerational programme in which they work one day a week at Warberries Care Home in Torquay.

The group takes their minded children to the home after the school run and spends the day creating intergenerational learning opportunities for their children within the care home and its grounds.

In partnership with Torbay Early Years Advisory Team, and using sponsorship from Yellow Door, Warberries Care Home established and equipped a dedicated intergenerational learning environment in 2018, enabling childminders to bring children in on a daily basis.

The intergenerational programme has inclusion at the centre of everything it does – from planned activity sessions that offer opportunities for children and adults to learn from each other, to informal shared lunches, stories and cuddles.

Despite the arrival of Covid-19 and the closure of the care home to the community, the childminders have worked hard to keep the children in safely-distanced contact with their elderly friends and are now planning an autumn of reconnection with a view to resuming the programme in person as soon as it is safe to do so.

The new opportunities provided for the local area’s youngest and oldest residents has had huge mutual benefits. For the elderly residents, the children provide a sense of purpose, a motivation to be active and engage, and a strong relationship that has been maintained over a significant period of time. Meanwhile, the children have learnt kindness and patience, and benefited from conversations and connections.

Warberries Care Home has been consistently pro-active in working with the local early years team to overcome any barriers to setting up the provision, and the staff’s can-do attitude has also inspired other intergenerational projects across the Torbay area.

HIGHLY COMMENDED

SEND to Learn Nursery

SEND to Learn is the only bespoke specialist setting in Northumberland that provides opportunities, care and education for children with special educational and complex medical needs.

Staff work closely with many different organisations to produce multi-agency support plans for each child, often taking on additional specialist training on topics such as gastronomy, oxygen, the use of specialist seating and standing equipment, and augmented communication training.

The nursery’s approach is, ‘tell us what your difficulties are and we will work together to address these and provide a solution’. This inclusive approach also helps community acceptance of difference and diversity.

HIGHLY COMMENDED

The Interactive Music-Making (IMM) Training Course and Network

Interactive Music-Making (IMM) is a charity run and funded training programme enabling early years practitioners to deliver powerful targeted musical interventions for vulnerable children in their care.

There are currently 54 Interactive Music-Makers working across 28 settings in the UK, and the Awards alone have created opportunities for more than 10,000 children to access music as part of their care, 22 per cent of whom have special educational needs, and 53 per cent English as a second language.

FINALISTS

International Gingerbread Travels – Child’s Play Nursery

Mark’s Gate Nursery Food Bank & Community Outreach – London Early Years Foundation

CRITERION

Open to services or projects that promote equality of opportunity and the best outcomes for all children, regardless of ethnic origin, special needs, background or disadvantage

SPONSORED BY

• Read all about our Nursery World Awards 2020 winners in our digital magazine at https://reader.exacteditions.com/issues/91928/spread/1