The Government is inviting parents, teachers, early years, and education practitioners to participate in workshops to build a new Inclusion Charter for Education and Early Years in Jersey.
All children and young people on our island have the right to reach their full potential and feel included.
To do this, the entire community needs to work together to support them.
The Children, Young People, Education and Skills Department (CYPES) is creating a Vision and Charter for Inclusion in Education that will enable inclusive education across the Island.
The Charter will comprise principles that will help everyone who works with children and young people understand how to best support all children and young people and ensure they feel involved.
Parents, practitioners, and anyone who is interested are requested to sign up for any one of the free workshops in May.
During the workshops, participants will be able to learn more about the work CYPES has done so far in inclusion and early years.
Participants will discuss and identify practical solutions to include more children and young people; and help develop the content of the Inclusion Charter.
Minister for Children and Education, Deputy Inna Gardiner, said: "We'd like to thank all the children, parents, practitioners and everyone in the community who took part in the online surveys, which CYPES conducted early this year, on their experiences of inclusion in the island.
Your responses have helped us tremendously to create a baseline and to evaluate our strengths and where we need to work harder to develop more inclusive practice.
The workshops are the next stage, and we want as many of you as possible to get involved in helping us co-design the Inclusion Charter.
Our aim is for our definition and principles of Inclusive Education and Early Years to reflect the views of Jersey’s whole community.
I am confident that together we can create an inclusive education system in Jersey where every child and young person is supported to reach their potential."
Research shows that inclusion has academic, social, and emotional benefits not only for children with special needs but for all children.
It leads to more cohesive societies which respect diversity and difference, and contributes to the educational, social, cultural, and economic wellbeing of society.
The workshops will take place at the Jersey Library, Haute Vallée school and online via Teams.
All workshops are free to attend and we invite people who want to be involved to register via Eventbrite by searching the term “Vision and Charter workshops.”
• Tuesday 16 May from 12-2pm at Jersey Library
• Thurs 18 May from 5-7pm, online via Teams
• Tues 23 May from 6:30-8:30pm online via Teams
• Wed 24 May from 5:30-7:30pm at Haute Vallée School