The key principle I have chosen that I believe to the most important aspect of working with others to improve quality practice is……………………………….. Celebrating and recognising the uniqueness of each individual

Everybody is different. We all have different values, beliefs, experiences, training, knowledge and personalities. I believe the key aspect to working effective with others to improve quality is to recognise that we are all different. When we respect and value the individual differences we allow them to shine and flourish. This allows them to grow in self confidence and self awareness (“I am different but still valued, have something to offer and can achieve”) When staff members, parents/carers, children and other professionals are allowed to flourish in this way they are in a position to offer us more support, get involved in their child's development will be more likely to approach us with ideas and I believe are happier human beings. They will also feel more confident to get more involved in the setting as they would feel they have something special to offer.

Carl Rogers I have recently discovered and been blown away by the work of Carl Rogers who was an American psychologist and one of the founders of the Humanistic Approach. He believed for a person to grow they need to be seen with unconditional positive regard and listened to and understood. Like me he believed people are inherently good and only become bad when they are not allowed to develop self actualisation and a good self concept. Carl Rogers (1959) believed that humans have one basic motive, that is the tendency to self-actualize - i.e. to fulfil one's potential and achieve the highest level of 'human- beingness' we can. Like a flower that will grow to its full potential if the conditions are right, but which is constrained by its environment, so people will flourish and reach their potential if their environment is good enough. However, unlike a flower, the potential of the individual human is unique, and we are meant to develop in different ways according to our personality.

In my setting we recognise the uniqueness of each individual by: Viewing them as a whole human being and do not try to fragment them into areas of development, specific skill sets or personalities. Building each individuals self confidences and self awareness through games and activities that look at our own strengths and differences. Celebrating the differences. Be it cultural celebrations, different forms of communication (Makaton, Polish, etc), different colour hair, etc,etc. This has impacted my setting by: The parents/carers feel confident to approach members of staff, get involved in the setting and develop themselves (evidence from parent questionnaire). Visitors to the setting notices how happy, comfortable and confident the children are in the setting. I believe the children leave us with a fantastic self worth, an awareness of who they are and what makes them special and the confidence in the future as they know that what makes them different should be celebrated. Improving it massively for everyone involved.

Quick Example from Setting ( Peers may be bored by now ) When I started all this people told me this is a bit cloud coo coo land and would be very difficult to do all of the time. I admit it is because as I said everyone is different and “there's naught as queer as folk” as my dad says. One parent and child arrived in the setting 16 months ago both not very confident. Dad had left them, Mum was on benefits but not doing well financially and couldn’t find a job. Child was developing well but was quiet, not good with new situations and quite grumpy/angry. Now mum has got a job working in a local petrol station and has gone back to college 1 day a week. The child is much more confident, smiley, happy and has got “100 friends” he tells me. The staff team and I worked hard for this family, we rang people (Early Help Advisors) to get the family support, we helped mum with her college application, we helped her identify her strengths (art and creativity) and she came in and did some activities with the children. We focused on the child as a unique individual who was more than just developing in the 7 areas but developing as a whole human being. We did much much more but it is worth it because it has improved their lives and it has also improved us as a setting.

Stephen Brookfield said “To some extent, we are all prisoners trapped within the perceptual frameworks that determine how we view our experiences” I say “By celebrating the uniqueness of others and recognising that we all have something special and unique to offer we can break out of this prison. We must ensure that everyone is valued, respected and listened to.”

On this boat of mine heading down the quality improvement river we welcome everybody. We celebrate the fact that each individual has different skills but is more than that, they are a different person all together. We show them the equal amounts of respect, admiration (love) and care that they deserve. We all work together to keep this boat moving towards Outstanding, towards Quality Practice and towards the best possible outcomes for every child and family involved.