Pictured: Families who use Uxbridge College Children's Centre with Hilary Goddard - Regional Associate for the EQualities Award (second left, standing) presenting the plaque to Uxbridge College Children's Centre Staff including Rachida Saidia - Administrator, and Rose Alphonse - Manager, and behind them Nisha Harris - Early Years Practitioner, and Samantha Clifton - Administrator. In the back row on the right is Gavin Hughes, Director - Learning & Support Services
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Uxbridge College Children’s Centre is celebrating after achieving the EQualities Award.
A plaque was presented on 27 November by Hilary Goddard, Regional Associate for the EQualities Award, to staff and families at the Centre in Hayes.
Uxbridge College Children’s Centre is part of a network of centres which support the health, welfare, education and development of families with children aged five and under. There are 18 children’s centres in Hillingdon borough and Uxbridge College Children’s Centre is one of just three to have received the award.
The Centre provides a range of support including play and story time sessions, health clinics, employability workshops, literacy, ICT and advice.
Feedback from Award assessors on the Centre’s work included:
* Uxbridge College Children’s Centre clearly goes out of its way to come up with new and imaginative ways in which to promote diversity including through displays and around the Centre, the Diversity Tea Party event and Diversity Forum.
* Policies and services are regularly reviewed to ensure everyone feels included and that there are equal opportunities for all.
* Staff have access to thorough training around equality issues with internal training days including equality specific workshops and a commitment to staff CPD.
* The centre has clearly developed some excellent links with other local services to ensure families have access to the support they need.
* The centre has excellent provision to support families with English as an additional language.
* Uxbridge works extremely hard to encourage participation from everyone at the Centre. Parents and volunteers are heavily involved in the development of services.
Rose Alphonse, Uxbridge College Children's Centre Manager, said: “This is an enormous achievement for Uxbridge College Children’s Centre and we feel very proud to be able to display the EQualities Award plaque.
“Since we opened in 2008 we have done everything we can to help every family we work with benefit from the best possible support and opportunities. Receiving this award, and the positive feedback we’ve had about the work we’ve been doing, gives independent confirmation that we are maintaining high standards which is exactly what we want to hear.
“It has been a demanding process which required commitment from the team and I would like to say a huge thank you to everyone involved.”
The EQualities Award is a national scheme aimed at schools and children’s centres which want to demonstrate their commitment to equality. The award rewards and celebrates the outstanding work that already exists in many schools and children’s centres.
Through supported self-evaluation, the process helps organisations demonstrate compliance with the Equality Act 2010 and showcase good practice for the attention of Ofsted and other interested stakeholders.