2007年7月17日星期二

Westminster Children's Society

Westminster Children's Society

Westminster Children’s Society (WCS) is a true example of a business with a social purpose working to deliver lasting social and cultural change in a surprisingly challenging environment. Most people don’t realise that Westminster is the 39th most deprived of 354 local authorities in the UK where over 30% of residents belong to black or minority ethnic communities and over 100 first languages are spoken.

WCS is London‘s only registered charity providing subsidised comprehensive early years childcare & education for children aged six months to five years - and operates from 15 locations in the City of Westminster.

As one of the leading voices in nursery childcare & education in the UK, WCS is the chosen partner for Westminster City Council and works in direct partnership with SureStart.

The WCS ethos

WCSs guiding principle is that all children deserve to be treated with care and respect and to have the opportunity to develop a passion for learning, regardless of their background.

The WCS ethos of developing a passion for learning in a multi-cultural and socially responsible way is backed up by accepted research which shows that by the time they have reached three years of age, children have already formed a deeply embedded understanding of societal and cultural issues. So for example, if children are exposed to class, racial or disability-based prejudice (even in a fairly subtle way by a simple lack of exposure to people from different walks of life) they can begin to reflect those prejudices in a negative way from a very early age. But in an eclectic setting that is positive about different nationalities, ethnicities, languages, faiths, disability and socio-economic needs, children have entirely the opposite experience and become far more caring and understanding people for it.

Children from all backgrounds have similar hopes, aspirations and needs. This is a vitally important message for children to hear from their earliest years; the more they realise that children are basically the same everywhere, the more grounded, thoughtful and positive individuals they will become. Care, respect and education are inseparable.

Each WCS nursery creates a culturally connected environment that reflects this philosophy and makes the organisation unique in its area. The WCS programme is based on the early childhood principle that the curriculum is the sum total of the childrens direct and indirect learning experiences - and that a caring, sensitive, responsive adult who understands how children develop and learn is key to its delivery.

WCS believes that children need to be respected in order to respect. They encourage children to flourish through choice and self-development in a safe, secure, stimulating and fun environment.

The WCS social enterprise business model

As the only significant provider of care & education for young children in central London that also has charitable status, WCS manages to subsidise all its pre-school places by a determined fundraising effort, with children from lower income parents receiving the largest subsidies. In this way, the income from wealthier parents helps subsidise part of the fee for lower income parents which in turn helps foster the inclusive understanding WCS strives to achieve.

Long term, we hope to drive home this message as widely as possible both within the direct geographical area of our operation through the work we do, and more widely through education and information, i.e. that parents' choice of nursery care and education for their children is a vitally important choice for world society as a whole - and that that choice carries at least as much moral responsibility as buying a socially-conscious brand of coffee, tea or chocolate for example.

Our ambitions for improved outcomes for the children of Westminster depend on the hard work and commitment of those people who work every day with the children and their families. Consequently, WCSs guiding principles run through the whole organisation and a great deal of effort goes into recruiting, retaining and developing staff at all levels in line with our ethos. We try to release the creative core in every individual staff member by giving them internal and external learning and development opportunities to help them meet and exceed their personal expectations.

http://www.socialenterprise.org.uk/Page.aspx?SP=2005

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