Nursery World - New possibilities

In another of our series looking at the philosophy of early excellence centres, Julian Grenier finds out what inclusion of special needs really means Julie Vaggers believes that all children have the right to attend their local nursery setting, and as headteacher of Rowland Hill Centre for Childhood in the London Borough of Haringey she has spent the past two years putting this ideal into practice. 'It is not enough to mind if children with special needs are in your nursery,' she says. 'You must mind if they are not.'

Julie Vaggers believes that all children have the right to attend their local nursery setting, and as headteacher of Rowland Hill Centre for Childhood in the London Borough of Haringey she has spent the past two years putting this ideal into practice. 'It is not enough to mind if children with special needs are in your nursery,' she says. 'You must mind if they are not.'

Two years ago, councillors in Haringey voted to move the borough's only special needs nursery into the community. St Ann's Special Needs Day Nursery would, it was decided, move from its hospital base to a new building on the same site as Rowland Hill. After great discussion, staff decided that all of the children would be together all of the time. The new centre would include children with profound and multiple disabilities, children with severe emotional and behavioural difficulties and children with speech, language and communication delay.

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