EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES POLICY
Our Approach
Monkey Music is committed to promoting equal opportunities for children and their families across all of its Monkey Music experiences and expects its franchisees to do the same. We are an equal opportunity organisation and this policy sets out our approach to the avoidance of discrimination in the provision of the Monkey Music experiences whether by us or our franchisees.
There should be no discrimination and equal treatment should be offered regardless of age, disability, gender, ethnicity or background, marital or civil partner status, pregnancy or maternity, race, colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation (these are all Protected Characteristics).
Our award-winning franchise prides itself on its family friendly reputation and successful network of franchise business owners. Our franchisees come from all walks of life, and we aim to promote this same level of diversity and inclusion at every Monkey Music experience. We expect our franchisees to advocate for diversity, inclusion and accessibility in their own Monkey Music business and they in turn can expect the same from us.
We recognise that every child is unique and has individual wants and needs and that this may extend to their carers or families also. We strive to cater to those needs in accordance with the core values and principles of our franchise.
We aim to provide a welcoming environment that will offer support and guidance for every child and their carer.
Discrimination
The following forms of discrimination are unlawful and prohibited under this policy:
- Direct discrimination: treating someone less favourably because of a Protected Characteristic.
- Indirect discrimination: a provision, criterion or practice that applies to everyone but adversely affects people with a particular Protected Characteristic more than others and is not justified.
- Harassment: this includes sexual harassment and other unwanted conduct related to a Protected Characteristic, which has the purpose or effect of violating someone's dignity or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for them.
- Victimisation: retaliation against someone who has complained or has supported someone else's complaint about discrimination or harassment.
- Disability discrimination: this includes direct and indirect discrimination, any unjustified less favourable treatment because of the effects of a disability, and failure to make reasonable adjustments to alleviate disadvantages caused by a disability.
Children with special needs and/or disabilities
It is important that the Monkey Music experiences and activities are open to all without discrimination. We (and our franchisees) comply with the two main duties set out in the Equality Act 2010. These are:
- Not to treat a disabled child 'less favourably' and
- To make 'reasonable adjustments' for disabled children.
Reasonable adjustments
Those who are disabled or become disabled, are encouraged to tell us (or their franchisee as applicable) about their condition so that we or their franchisee can consider what reasonable adjustments or support may be appropriate.
Reasonable adjustment means taking actions to enable children with disabilities to access the Monkey Music experiences and as far as reasonably possible, to the same level as children without disabilities. This should involve working in partnership with parents/carers, to identify needs and support strategies.
We ask parents and care givers to give as advance notice for a child with disabilities or special/additional needs, to enable us to explore how we can provide most effectively for that child and what reasonable adjustments or support we may be able to implement.
We believe that no matter the problem, an optimistic and solution-oriented attitude is the best way to understand and address the needs of disabled children to help ensure they can enjoy the same level of access to safe, supportive and nurturing environments as their peers.
Additionally, we welcome any feedback from our franchisees and their parents and care givers as these might offer valuable insights into what we as an organisation can do to create spaces that work for children of all levels of ability.
We take the safety of our classes very seriously and our franchisees are required to use a teaching kit which meets our safety criteria. Therefore should special aid devices or other equipment have been proposed or ecommended to us, we will consider these against a rigorous safety criteria before making a recommendation to our franchisees.
Breaches of this policy
We take a strict approach to breaches of this policy.
If a teacher, parent or carer feels that they, or a child in their charge, have been harassed or discriminated against due to a disability or any other reason we wholeheartedly encourage them to report the incident and so should our franchisees. Complaints will be treated in confidence and investigated as appropriate.
No one should be victimised or retaliated against for complaining about discrimination.