Little Hippos Nursery in Birmingham has been working hard behind the scenes to achieve the Positive About Disabled People kitemark, which displays its commitment as a setting to provide an equal environment for able and disabled people. This means it welcomes children into the setting who may have a disability and it is positive about employing adults with a disability well.
Manager and proprietor Irshad Ahmed says, 'I believe Little Hippos is the first nursery in the West Midlands area, or maybe even further afield, to be awarded this, and it is a great achievement for us.
'Initially, we had meetings with an advisor from our local Jobcentre Plus and then underwent training. We had to explain our reasons for doing it and how we saw it benefiting our local community.'
Over the ensuing months Little Hippos worked steadily towards a list of outcomes that had to be evidenced in a final appraisal.
'This involved how we advise staff to work with children and colleagues with disability, and the policies we have in place to support them,' says Mr Ahmed. 'All staff have been very enthusiastic about achieving the kitemark, and during the final meeting we had a team member to represent the whole team and explain their understanding of it.'
The setting has also been adjusted to cater for anyone with a disability, with ramps for wheelchair access, a chairlift, and is awaiting a response for its application for a disabled toilet.
Mr Ahmed says, 'All our job vacancies with Jobcentre Plus will be flagged up with the kitemark. We are also registering more staff for the training to raise awareness about inclusiveness and its importance for all who come here.'
Positive commitments
Employers who use the disability symbol make five commitments across recruitment, training, retention, consultation and disability awareness:
- to interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for a job vacancy and to consider them on their abilities
- - to discuss with disabled employees, at any time, but at least once a year, what both parties can do to make sure disabled employees can develop and use their abilities
- - to make every effort when employees become disabled to make sure they stay in work
- - to take action to ensure all employees develop the appropriate level of disability awareness needed to make these commitments work
- - to review these commitments annually, assess what has been achieved, plan ways to improve and let staff and Jobcentre Plus know about progress.
Further information: www.skillset.org
