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.
'In the run-up to the merger, adults struggled with the concept of including all children,' says Julie. 'The children did not. They made new friends, learned new ways of communicating, accepted each other for what they are -different. And they celebrated it.'
At the Rowland Hill Centre, staff believe that they must adapt their ways of working to meet the children's needs, rather than finding ways to help children 'fit in'. A key part of this approach is their 'child-initiated resource-based programme' - the nursery is resourced and planned so that all children can be involved in play activities which they have chosen. Children decide how to create and complete tasks, and adults become involved in children's play to support and extend it.
'The role of adults in the nursery is vital,' says Julie. 'They cannot simply provide the resources and then stand back. They must engage with the child in order for the child to reach her or his full potential.'
Good curriculum planning has been crucial to the success of Rowland Hill. Plans are designed to meet the needs of all the children. Many different ways of communicating are used, including Makaton sign language, photographs, electronic aids and 'objects of reference (children can point to a wooden block to mean 'I want to play in the construction area', for example).
'We have a play-based, differentiated curriculum,' Julie explains. 'Our planning is in line with early learning goals but we do not work to topics or activities, since these can force a child to conform and imitate learning rather than initiate it.'
With its new status as part of Haringey's Early Excellence Network, Rowland Hill has received national recognition for the quality of education it provides. The network comprises three centres which support each other and share and exchange examples of good practice with local providers.
The future for Rowland Hill is to share its approach to inclusion. For example, a new network of special needs co-ordinators is going to be appointed to support local under-fives centres and the private and voluntary sectors.
'The providers locally do want these children,' says Julie. 'What we are doing now is creating new realities, new possibilities and a new society where all children can attend their local nursery, because their local nursery expects them to be there.'
Julian Grenier is deputy headteacher of Woodlands Park Nursery Centre in Harringay, London, an early excellence centre.