🧒Children’s Rights and Entitlements

This policy was adopted on 30 August 2022 and is reviewed annually

Policy statement

Natural Nurture Nursery promotes children's rights to be strong, resilient and listened to. We create an environment within our nursery that encourages children to develop a positive self-image, which includes their heritage stemming from their colour and ethnicity, their languages spoken at home, their religious beliefs, cultural traditions and home background.

We promote children's right to be strong, resilient and listened to by:

• Encouraging children to develop a sense of self-determination and independence.

• Enabling children to have the self-confidence and vocabulary to resist inappropriate approaches.

• Helping children to establish and sustain satisfying relationships within their families, with peers, and with other adults.

• Working with parents to build their understanding of, and commitment to, the principles of safeguarding all our children.

What it means to promote children’s rights and entitlements to be ‘strong, resilient and listened to’.

To be strong means to be:

Secure in their foremost attachment relationships where they are loved and cared for, by at least one person who is able to offer consistent, positive and unconditional regard and who can be relied on;

Safe and valued as individuals in their families and in relationships beyond the family, such as within the nursery;

Self assured and form a positive sense of themselves – including all aspects of their identity and heritage;

Included equally and belong within the nursery and in community life

Confident in their abilities and proud of their achievements

Progressing optimally in all aspects of their development and learning

To be part of a peer group in which to learn to negotiate, develop social skills and identity as global citizens, respecting the rights of others in a diverse world

To participate and be able to represent themselves in aspects of the provision that affect them, as well as aspects of key decisions that affect their lives.

To be resilient means:

To be sure of their self worth and dignity

To be able to be assertive and state their needs effectively

To be able to overcome difficulties and problems

To be positive in their outlook on life

To be able to cope with challenge and change

To have a sense of justice towards self and others

To develop a sense of responsibility towards self and others

To be able to represent themselves and others in key decision making processes.

To be listened to means:

Our staff members:

Recognise children’s needs and rights to express and communicate their thoughts, feelings and ideas;

Are able to tune in to their verbal, sign and body language in order to understand and interpret what is being expressed and communicated;

Respond appropriately and, when required, act upon their understanding of what children express and communicate and

Respect children’s rights and facilitate children’s participation and representation in imaginative and child centred ways.