Evaluation of work delivered by Alison John & Associate for Rochdale Borough (DCATCH) January – March 2011.

Inclusion training is inspirational
32 participants from 29 settings around the Rochdale borough have recently successfully completed the accredited Play4All Training, which was run as part of the Disabled Children’s Access to Childcare (DCATCH) Pilot.

The course was delivered by two trainers over three months and included four teaching days, assignments and peer mentoring visits. The aim was to promote and support the development of inclusive management practice in play and early year’s settings by:

▪ Exploring language and terminology used in relation to disability
▪ Reflecting on principles of inclusive management
▪ Giving an overview of legislation that supports inclusion
▪ Reviewing policies which can be used to promote and support inclusion
▪ Identifying a range of strategies for managing intimate assistance for disabled children
▪ Exploring risk in children’s play and the need to ensure these opportunities allchildren
▪ Experiencing Peer Mentoring and observational visits

Evaluations and feedback from the training has been excellent with many Participants commenting on the hands on approach to learning in a fun and friendly environment with lots of thought provoking games and activities.

“Fab course, very hands on and I now understand far more than I used too. I have improved and developed my setting and made plans to further develop areas to accommodate all children that may wish to access the setting”

“Absolutely brilliant course that should be made mandatory to ensure all settings understand their responsibilities to inclusive practice. Very playful, fun course delivered really well with a very strong and powerful message to all who work in childcare.”

“I have found the course thought provoking and informative. I have enjoyed the games — they kept me energised and focussed and I have made connections with other practitioners. BRILL!!”

“Very informative and fun training which makes you more aware how easy change can be and how to gain confidence when suggesting change. Easy to convey meaning to others when discussing inclusive and effective practice.”

Inclusion Conference
Rochdale hosted its very first Inclusion Conference in February as part of the DCATCH Project. Taking place on a Saturday at Hopwood Hall the event was attended by 74 participants from play and childcare settings across the borough.

A full day was dedicated to the event giving participants the opportunity to attend all four of the following workshops entitled sensory storytelling, behaviour that challenges, adapting what you know, labels are for jars not children.

The workshops were designed as a taster session giving participants the opportunity to think about and develop their current practice.

Each participant received a resource bag for attending which was compiled to ensure they could continue with inclusion following the conference.

Following on from the Sensory storytelling workshop participants were given the opportunity to enter a competition where they could demonstrate how they had put their learning into practice when returning back to their setting.

“A brilliant day, really fun and enjoyable, lots of fab ideas and very informative”

“ I have really enjoyed the day and feel the knowledge I have gained will be easy to take back to my setting”