Westbourne Early Years Centre in Islington describes the work they have done to promote equality throughout their curriculum and the setting. Originally inspired by a same sex parent visiting the setting who asked, “How will my child feel like he belongs and is reflected in your nursery?”, the setting has been on a long journey of growth and development.
Westbourne Early Years Centre was awarded the Gold Pride in EDI award for our equalities work and curriculum development in June 2024. We were the first education provider in Islington to reach Gold. We have also achieved our Healthy Early Years Gold award with one of our case studies for the HEYL detailing our LGBTQIA+ journey and the impact on mental health and wellbeing.
Pride in EDI is a recognised Award Programme for educators implementing an LGBTQIA+ inclusive curriculum, environment, and culture. We had begun this journey more than three years before Pride in EDI when a same sex parent visited Westbourne and asked the question ‘How will my child feel like he belongs and is reflected in your nursery?’
This led to much growth and development including a co-produced parent/centre statement that outlined our belief in everyone’s right to be their true self and real change to the way we delivered our Educational Programmes.
When it came to Father’s Day that year, we recognised that over half of our 50 children had a family dynamic that challenged heteronormative views.
This diversity began our family days, from planting to bread baking, art to sport, we have celebrated everyone that makes up our uniqueness. This last year has been an intense piece of work with Pride in EDI where we were supported and mentored through a three-phase programme (Bronze, Silver, and Gold) that was driven by change to extend and promote equality.
This built on our existing values and the work we had already begun and included all aspects of our curriculum from our books to our ethos, our family days to our recruitment and leading within the Early Years community. Our Head of Centre has presented at events sharing our journey and growth to other providers.
A lot of investment went into training our staff and giving them the confidence to challenge inequalities with knowledge e.g. Protected characteristics and our Statutory Framework. We have invited LGBTQIA+ story tellers into our centre, have attended events with our children and hosted our own Pride parade.
We also invested in supporting children’s voice and their right to be heard, be their true self and be treated with dignity at all times. From the minute you step into Westbourne you are greeted with our child created ‘values’ that outline our children’s expectations proudly highlighting ‘I’m free to be me’.
The journey has been difficult and painful at times, but this is what has driven and motivated our team to keep going. We are completely invested in educating our children to be a more accepting and open community and continue to progress equality.
August 2024
Westbourne Early Years Centre is truly proud to be an ally to the LGBTQIA+ community.
- We use kind words
- We use kind hands
- We ask first
- We help others
- I'm free to be me
Compiled and agreed by Westbourne children 2023-2024.
Everyone has the right to feel safe, be their true self and be treated with dignity at all times.
Click on the link below to watch a film where Wendy, the Executive Head and Mel, the Head of Nursery talk about their approach to inclusion. A parent and a member of staff also feature.
Westbourne Early Years Centre: a champion of inclusion and belonging
[A video about Westbourne Early Years Centre]