Charter of educational services 0-3

assessorato all’eduCazione

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Charter of EducationalServices 0-3

Assessorato all’EducazioneDirezione IstruzioneServizio Servizi all’infanzia

Contents and structure definition Dirigente Servizio Servizi all’infanzia Coordinamento pedagogico servizi educativi 0-3

TextResponsabile Coordinamento pedagogico servizi educativi 0-3Coordinatrici pedagogiche servizi educativi 0-3

with the contribution ofResponsabile Amministrativa Asili nidoUfficio progetti speciali

Graphic design and layoutAngela BalliAntonella Ortolani

The Charter of Educational Services is the product of a joint effort of parents Samantha Pratesi, Monica Gelambi, Ermira Banaj, Valerio Marangolo, Francesca Mancini, Mara Feb-braro, Annette Hoffmann, Letizia Gambino, Beatrice Bernini, Laura Di Benedetto, Adriana Allegranti, Pamela Quercioli, Claudia Mearini, Sara Pini, Enrico Paoletti, Lian Pellicanò, Silvia Bologni, Vania Rossi, Sofia Mazzoni, Andrea Cossu, Blerim Zeqiri, Silvia Malenotti, Antonella Tundo, Claudia Santella, Silvia Donnini, Loriana Armellini, Stefania Becherucci, Raffaele Bordoni, Massimo Calamante, Rita Moretti, Enrico Lo Pizzo, Simona Ugolini, Elet-tra Morini, Caterina Del Buffa, Gianmaria Federico Romano, Marco Giachetti, Giovanni Genta, Maria Gabriella Santagada, Anna Palamidessi, Fabrizio Giannasi, Adele Tognacci-ni, Donatella Sterlicchio, Silvia Cipriani, Monica Cherici, Roberta Speronello, Marco Mar-tusciello, Ciro Amendola, Salvatore Alberino, Caterina Canavese, Barbara Agresti, Sara Sasi, Rita Traina, Maria Cicciopastore, Elisa Cirri, Caterina Brizzi, Elvira Bargagni, Stefano Asdrubali, Matteo Bertieri, teachers Cristina Bertolani, Antonella A. Campanile, Emy Ben-venuti, Paola Fabbri, Simona Frassineti, Rossella Gussoni, Letizia Piergiovanni, Anna Graz-zini, Daniela Cencetti, Francesca D’Auria, Laura Minunno, Eugenia Paleologo, Federica Dani, Angela Toncelli, Gianluca Ugolini, Luca Borsetti, Marina Cieri, Annalisa Pontiroli, Maria Isabella Donati, Gabriella Anzivino, Serenella Viviani, Paola Tirinnanzi, Luigi Pon-ti, Elisabetta Petrucci, Maria Armentano, Elisabetta Faustini, Simona Bellandi, Alessandra Ballerini, Monica Conato, Luana Aiuti, Mery Gomboli, Moira Galardi, Antonella Ciampi, Giovanna Mazzariello, Angela Fossi, Francesca M. Garau, Maria Antonietta Pierucci, Sere-na Velocci, Claudia Fioravanti, Patrizia Cattini, Lucia Raviglione, Marzia Morandi, peda-gogical coordinators Barbara Agresti, Beatrice Falcini, Anna Tomaselli, Liliana Dainelli, Silvina Mateo, Lucia Casini, Francesca Nutini, Gabriella Mazzoni, Aurelia Caino, Giovan-na Malavolti, Silvia Soverini, Alessandra Zocchi, Paola Checchi, Barbara Giacomelli, Silvia Dini, Maria Cristina Coragli, Mariella Manetti, Francesca Bernocchi, Alessandra Bagni, Stefania Sarti, Sonia Romagnoli, Lucia Boncristiani, members from both public and private schools Simona Boboli, Alba Cortecci, Aldo Fortunati, Nicoletta Vergari, Sura Spagnoli, Chiara Lanni, Paola Cecchi, Marzia Emmer, Leonardo Amulfi, Lina Mannucci. Our heartfelt thanks go to Elisabetta Carlini and Anna Brebbia for their technical and organizational support, to Angela Balli and Antonella Ortolani for the graphic layout design, to ISI Florence at Palazzo Rucellai (in particular its Director, Professor Stefano U. Baldassarri, and staff members Emma Bartolini, Serena Giorgi, Christina Infantino, Nienke Scholten, and Irene Schiatti) for the English translation of this text and to He Jing and Maria Omodeo (COSPE) for translating it into Chinese, to Prof. Laura Giorgi for translating it into French, to the Office of Social Services, Family Services and Integration of the Municipality of Florence and to Cooperativa C.A.T for translating it into other languages.

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Contents

PrefaCe 09

1. Charter of eduCational serviCes 0-3 years: goals and PrinCiPles 11

2. the network of eduCational serviCes 172.1 Educational services 0-3 years in the Florence area: main features 202.2 The public educational offer: typologies 22

3. aCCess to eduCational serviCes ProCedure 253.1 Calendar and timetable 273.2 Enrollment 273.3 Fees and payment procedures 283.4 Ranking criteria, withdrawing from programs and transfers 29

4. the eduCational ProjeCt 394.1 The pedagogical and educational project 414.2 The educational context 424.3 Staff and their professional behavior: the team at a glance 444.4 The coordination of pedagogical services 474.5 Welcome to our services: becoming acquainted 474.6 Welcome to our services: equal opportunities for kids with special educational needs 484.7 Family involvement 484.8 Enjoying kindergartern/play space 49

5. ComPlaints 65

6. Current regulations 69

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As usual, children show us the way. In order to do our best for them, we believe in the importance of perceiving them as citizens from the very moment they are born. To the same purpose, we find it cru-cial to keep investing in projects and resources for babies and toddlers. The notion of transparency characterizes this Charter of Educational Services 0-3 Years. In keeping with it, we wish to emphasize cultural, pedagogical, social, and organizational principles, so as to raise the level of our city’s edu-cational offerings. These are in turn translated into good, clear practice for all families to check and verify. We believe that maintaining and adding services for this age group through the creation of a combined public and private system, as carefully described in the following pages, stands out as a specific choice and a consistent project. The latter has been implemented thanks to a combination of ideals and strategies that the Municipality of Florence has forcefully supported from the start. Our city believes in all this, as shown by its investing both money and efforts to reach this goal. During the past few years, in my capacity as city councilor for such important matters as education and learning, I had the opportunity of seeing new services being offered. At the same time, I realized that in oder to yield results, there must be dialogue, exchange, interaction, care, and willingness to change. This rests on the conviction that it is not just the children who must be educated but the community as a whole. In sum, this document becomes another unifying tool, modelled as it is on those very features that are peculiar to this area and to the needs of those who live here. The Charter of Educational Ser-vices thus represents a sort of identity document of our educational system, focused on the youngest and yet no less important citizens of this city. It is a system based on the work experience and the professionalism of all those who, in various ways, contribute to it. Obviously, it also depends on the active collaboration and the educational support of the children’s families. Through the Charter of Educational Services one can understand how crucial it has been, in our effort, to identify qualified activities and practices, thus having the opportunity to rely on all those professionals who have the necessary resources and skills to contribute to this system. I also wish to add that the goal of this system is to offer equal educational opportunities to all, and to do so in everyone’s interest. The following pages outline a diversfied, composite scenario attesting to the history of the educational services in the Florentine area. It’s a story dating back to some forty years ago and yet still in great shape, as it were, thanks to the efforts of many. Once again, the underlying notion is that children should be the rationale behind all present and future choices. The mutual efforts that led to this Charter can be seen in its many components; each one has contri-buted a piece to create such a complex, rich puzzle. Thoughts, feelings, beauty, and joy all surface from the wonderful pictures of children that are published here, alongside those measurable criteria that guarantee the agreement signed between the citizens and this Municipality. In conclusion, I wish to thank all the people who have contributed to bring this document to life with their minds, their hearts, and with the experience that they have gathered in many diverse yet always intense ways together with our children and through our services. Cristina Giachi City Councilor for Education and Learning

When adults deal with you they must do what’s best for you(from ‘Childrens’ Rights Made Simple’ by The Italian UNICEF Committee)