A major new programme aimed atproviding supports to children withdisabilities in free pre-school wasannounced by the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs Dr JamesReilly, along with the Minister forEducation and Skills Jan O’Sullivanand Kathleen Lynch, Minister ofState from the Department ofHealth whose responsibilities include the area of disability.

The new model was developed onfoot of extensive consultation, across Government Departments and Agencies, as well as, most importantly, the parents of children with disabilities; the Inter Departmental Group drew on national and international evidence and experience todevelop the model of support.

Critically – as many children don’t have a formal diagnosis when they start pre-school– the seven level programme doesn’t rely on diagnosis, but focuses on children’s developmental level, their abilities and their needs. This is a model of support thatis built up around the needs and abilities of each child, and their parents. Disabilityis obviously a broad spectrum, with different levels of complexity. The seven levelsof supports range from universal supports to highly targeted ones based on the needsof the individual child.

Summary of Support Levels:1. An Inclusive Culture - Considered to bethe critical foundation for the model, it setsout a strong culture of inclusion to be fostered and embedded in the delivery system. Development of a national inclusionpolicy for ECCE settings with the identifica-tion of Inclusion Co-ordinators together withfunding being made available for trainingare among the recommendations being putforward.

2. Information for Parents and Providers -Recognising the requirement by all for clear and consistent information, thedevelopment of a national website linked torelevant children’s services are among therecommendations being put forward.

3. A Qualified and Confident Workforce -Recognising the need to continue to developa qualified workforce that can confidentlymeet requirements in this area, one of thekey recommendations made is to continueto raise the minimum qualification for employment in the sector to include training of a formal and informal nature.

4. Expert Education Advice and Support -The recommendation is to enhance the existing Early Years Specialist Service, established in 2014, so that early yearspractitioners can have timely access to therequired advice and support on a nationalbasis.

5. Equipment Appliances and Minor Alterations Capital Grant - Recognising theneed by some children for enhanced equipment and appliances and that someservice providers may need to make particular provision on their premises, therecommendation is for a provision of annualfunding for this with the establishment of aminor alterations capital grants programmetogether with the development of an application process.

6. Therapeutic Intervention - Further enhancement of the HSE Therapy Services,(50 posts) is the recommendation which willsupport full participation for those childrenwho need this support with priority beinggiven to this sector.

7. Additional Assistance in the Pre-school -The recommendation of an additional capitation fee to some service providersrecognises that for a small number of children (1.0% -1.5% ) they will need additional resources in the preschool setting, outside of levels 1-6, in order to ensure the child’s optimal participation.

If funding is identified in late 2015, some elements of the model could be in place bySeptember 2016 and built on over 2017 and2018.

‘

MAYOCounty Childcare Committee

Coiste Chúram LeanaíChontae Mhaigh Eo

nuachtli

tirISSUE

41 • Winter 2015

1

Accessible pre-school for children with special needs

1 National Funding Programmes Update

Accessible pre-school for children with special needs

2 National Funding Programmes Update• Early Years DCYA

Recognised Qualifications

• Parent & Toddler Grants

3 Mayo County Childcare Comittee, Staff Update• Childminding Update

4 Aistear in Practice

6 Irish Resource......

7 Coirneáil Gaeilge - Irish Corner

8 Upcoming Events - Imeachtai Beartaithe

Contents - Clar

Keep an eye on the MCCC website/Facebook for updates

2

by Jim Power, Co-ordinator

National Funding Programmes Update

Hello all, and welcome to the Christmas edition of the MayoCCC newsletter. Hope this note finds you well.

Here are some updates regarding the main elements of thenational childcare funding programmes.

As the local agent of the Department of Children & YouthAffairs, Mayo CCC aim to provide early

years services in Mayo with as muchsupport and guidance as possible,

to provide positive out-comes for the children at-tending early yearsservices. Please do not

hesitate to contactMayo CCC (or Pobalwhere appropriate)

for this support andguidance.

From September 2016, every child in Ireland will be able tostart pre-school at age three, and to remain in pre-schooluntil they start primary school. Currently, children betweenthe age of 3 years and 2 months, and 4 years and 7 months,are eligible for a year’s free pre-school (38 weeks) throughthe Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme.Children will be able to enroll in pre-school at three differ-ent points in the year – September, January and April. In linewith this expansion of free pre-school, capitation paymentsto providers will be fully restored to pre-2012 levels.

It is hoped that this initiative will better integrate the educational experience of young children, providing asmoother transition between pre- and primary school.

Early Years DCYA Recognised QualificationsA list of Early Years DCYA Recognised Qual-ifications for the purposes of meeting theminimum qualification requirement in thepending Early Years Regulations and formeeting the contractual requirements forthe DCYA Childcare Funding Programmeshas been published.

This list enable's employees working in theEarly Years sector in Ireland to verifywhether the qualifications they hold willbe recognised.

This list also sets out the qualificationsthat will be recognised for the purposes ofthe DCYA Childcare Programmes, in partic-ular, that of the qualification requirementfor the room leader in the ECCE programme and for a service to receive theECCE Higher Capitation rate.

Where a qualification is not published onthe list of DCYA Early Years RecognisedQualifications but the holder considers it

to be an appropriate Major Award at Level5 on the NFQ or equivalent, the holder canapply to have their qualification assessedfor approval. If it is approved for recogni-tion the details of the qualification will beadded to the list of DCYA Early YearsRecognised Qualifications.

The Published list of DCYA Early YearsRecognised Qualifications can be down-loaded from the DCYA web site. Simplyvisit the DCYA website. To the left of theDCYA web site home page you will see aheading called 'childcare', click into this.This will give you a drop down menu. Thesecond last heading in the menu is 'Qualifications'. Click into this. About halfway down this page there is a link to the'DCYA Early Years Recognised Qualifications'document.

Currently staff who wish to obtain a level5 ECCE qualification , can apply for funding support under the Learner Fund 3programme. For further details please contact Mayo CCC.

Parent & Toddler GrantsMayo County Childcare Committee ( MayoCCC) welcomed the announcement duringthe summer to provide €12,430 to Parent &Toddler groups in Mayo.

There were 28 successful applications, andthe applicants were informed as to theoutcome of their application. Congratula-tions to all those groups who were successful in their applications. We wishthem every success in 2016 and hope thatthey have a really beneficial and enjoyableyear.

In conclusion may we wish you all a veryhappy and enjoyable Christmas and NewYear. 2015 has been another very busy andprogressive year for the early childhoodcare & education sector. We wish to acknowledge your fantastic work in verydifficult conditions, to achieve better outcomes for our children. Thanks againand looking forward to working with youduring 2016. All the best and happy Christmas.

Mayo County Childcare Comittee, Staff Update

3

I wish to bring to your attentionsome recent changes to staffing inMayo CCC.

Firstly , we would like to welcome ournew member of staff Michael Graven.

Michael is our new clerical officer and soyou will be coming into contact withMichael quite a lot when you contact MayoCCC office.

Mary Conway's role will now be more concentrated on the 56 Voluntary NotifiedChildminders and the 59 Parent & ToddlerGroups, administration of training and oninformation provision.

Angela Cope and Michelle Basquille's rolewill now be more concentrated on the implementation of the national quality initiative encompassing MCCC designedAistear Training, mentoring & consultancyand on the delivery of child protection &welfare training.

Angela & Michelle will now be workingwith approximately 60 services each.

Olivia Donohoe is currently on leave.

If you are one of the services who hadbeen supported by Olivia, you will behearing from us shortly to let you knowwhether you will now be supported byMichelle or Angela.

I would like to take this opportunity tothank all of you for your patience and forhelping us with our work by e mailing inqueries.

As you have experienced yourself, it'sbeen very busy since September with thefurther implementation of the PIP

system, the changes in the registration systems for ECCE, CCS, & TEC, and the impact of the changes announced in thenational Budget in October.

As you can imagine with 121 services inthe county these changes generated a lotof queries, so it really helped us to dealwith everyone in a fair and consistentmanner when the queries were e mailedin. Your cooperation was greatly appreciated by all the team here.

We look forward to continuing to workwith all of you towards the developmentof quality , affordable & accessible earlychildhood care & education for every childin Mayo .

Currently there are approx 59 Voluntarynotified childminders in Co Mayo. As youmay have seen above Mary Conway is currently supporting these childminders aspart of her role in Mayo Co Childcare Committee. Mary is carrying out the Voluntary Notification visits for any

childminder who wishes to become voluntary notified and going through thisprocess with them which includes a startup pack.

Mary is also currently undertaking renewalvisits to the Voluntary Notified childmin-ders currently on our database and alsocarried out the visits in relation to thechildminding grants in 2015 and will carryout childminding grant visits also in 2016.

We hope to bring childminders togethernext year for some information talks,which will also include a chance for child-minders to network with their peers.We are looking at various topics thatwould be of interest to childmindersand Mary has been collating ideasfrom visits carried out, however if

you have any ideas on topics youwould like to see covered pleaseemail them to Mary.

As resources are limited for childmindingwe are limited to what we can do but weacknowledge the great work you the child-minders are doing and we want to supportyou as best we can as regards informationupdates, training, etc and hope to im-prove on these supports in the comingyear.

Mary will use email, Mayo CCC Facebookpage and Mayo CCC website ie www.mayochildcare.ie to keep childminders informed on relative updatesand encourages you to keep an eye onthese resources for information updates.

We would like to congratulate you on theexcellent work you are doing in the child-minding sector as it is a vital componentof the childcare sector not just in Mayobut nationally.

If you have any query regarding child-minding or wish to highlight anythingplease contact Mary on 094 9047010 oremail: maryconway@mayococo.ie and shewill do her best to answer same or lookinto any queries you may have.

Childminding Update:

4

Aistear in Practice

In our Autumn 2015 edition we provided a brief introduction to theAistear Síolta Practice Guide explain-ing the purpose of the guide , who theaudience for the Guide is and outliningthe meaning of the word ‘curriculum’as used in Aistear, in Síolta and in theGuide. We also gave an overview ofthe structure of the Practice Guideand described the aspects of Aistearand Síolta that it focuses on. If youmissed this article or you wish to re-visit it, just give us a call, we can getmore copies to you.

Just to remind you also that all of thisinformation can be found on the NCCAwebsite, or simply 'google' 'AistearSiolta Practice Guide'. If you don'tknow how to 'google' just ask a son,daughter, niece, nephew , grandchild,or anyone who is currently of the ageto be a fan of the band One Directionand that young person will show youhow...

This article gives an overview of thepillar, Building Partnerships with Parents. This pillar has a range of resources to help early years practi-tioners build stronger partnershipswith parents in their setting. These resources can be accessed by simplylogging onto the aistear siolta practiceguide.

There are many different ways inwhich parents and practitioners canwork together. The Aistear Sioltaguidelines focus on four ways:

1. Supporting learning and development

2. Sharing information

3. Contributing

4 Making decisions and advocatingdifferent approaches and courses ofaction.

In this article due to space constraintswe will just go into more detail on'Supporting learning & Development'.However, to find more details aboutthe examples listed above simply logonto the Aistear siolta practice guide

Supporting learning and development

Parenting involves giving children thecare, education and attention theyneed to learn and develop. Parentsprovide children with their first learn-ing experiences and they help ensure

that children reach important developmental milestones such as sitting, walking, becoming toilet-trained, talking, cutting, doing up buttons, cycling, reading, and so on.As children go on to spend time in out-of-home settings parents continue tosupport their learning and development. This is more effectivewhen parents complement children’sexperiences in a particular setting.Likewise, learning is more meaningfulwhen practitioners use informationfrom parents about children’s interests, skills, abilities, and dispositions as a starting point for newexperiences. Below are some ways inwhich parents can support their children’s learning and developmentat home, and how practitioners canhelp them to do this.

Parents You can support your child’s learningand development at home in the following ways:

Ask the practitioner for suggestions forwhat you can do at home with yourchild.

Involve your child in everyday activities like cooking, shopping,

working in the garden, going to thelaunderette, and travelling on thebus. Talk to your child about what

5

he/she is doing, sees, and how he/shefeels.

Give your child opportunities to usehis/her senses—to see, smell, taste,touch, and hear different things.

Read to your child. Join your local li-brary, and help your child to choosebooks to enjoy together.

Sing songs, tell stories and play gameswith your child. Have fun together.

Talk to your child. Encourage him/herto ask questions. Let your child knowyou don’t always have the answer.Find things out together.

Limit the amount of time your childspends watching television. Talk tohim/her about what he/she watches.

Find out how children learn and develop. Ask your child’s practitionerabout useful books or websites for information.

Look at Aistear: the Early ChildhoodCurriculum Framework for ideas aboutwhat you can do to support yourchild’s learning and development. Thesample learning opportunities in the four themes and the learning experiences in the guidelines suggestlots of activities that you can do together.

PractitionersYou can help parents to support theirchildren’s learning and developmentin the following ways:

Share information about the curriculum with parents.

Use a notice-board to let parents knowwhat activities children do on a particular day. Pictures might be useful in sharing this information withparents who have little English orIrish.

Send home photographs of the children with captions which describewhat they have been doing and learning.

Let parents know about topics that interest their children. Find out whattheir interests are at home and buildon these.

Invite parents to share informationabout their culture and traditions thatmight be useful in supporting theirchildren’s learning and development.

Organise information sessions for parents. Some of these might be especially important before and/orafter children join the setting. A session might focus on Aistear’s fourthemes and what you do to support

children’s learning and developmentin these. In the case of children in junior and senior infants, the informa-tion session might focus on the Primary School Curriculum and Aistear.Another session might highlight theimportance of play and how childrencan learn through it.

So, in conclusion, in this short piecewe have looked at the Curriculum Pillar 'Building Partnerships with Parents'.

In our Autumn edition and now in ourChristmas edition we have providedsome information on

• Curriculum Foundations

• Curriculum Pillars

• Building Partnerships with Parents

Please remember that for a more comprehensive study of these and all aspects of the Aistear Siolta Practice Guide simply log intowww.aistearsiolta.ie at anytime.

In the next edition of our Mayo CCCnewsletter we will concentrate on theCurriculum Pillar Creating & Using theLearning Environment. Look forwardto hearing any feedback you mayhave.

6

Established in 1980, Údarás na Gaeltachta is the regional authority responsible for the economic,

social and cultural development of the Gaeltacht. Theoverall objective of Údarás na Gaeltachta is to ensure that Irish

remains the main communal language of the Gaeltacht and is passed on tofuture generations.

The authority endeavours to achieve that objective by funding and fostering a wide range of enterprise development and job creation initiatives and by supporting strategic language, cultural and communitybased activities.

Cultural missionAll of the organisation’s activities have theaim of preserving and promoting the Irishlanguage at their core. Údarás funds arange of strategic language and culturalinitiatives as well as supporting the Irishlanguage through its own practices.

Údarás supports a range of initiatives andcollaborates with individuals, communitygroups and companies which embrace Irishand provide the everyday settings in whichthe language flourishes, such as:

Language Services Centres

Irish Language Pre-schools

Irish in Business

Language Learning Incentives

There are 55 Irish language pre-schools established throughout the Gaeltacht withsupport from Údarás na Gaeltachta.Comhar Naíonraí na Gaeltachta Teo is the independent company founded to administer and manage the pre-schools ornaíonraí (as they are called in Irish) in theGaeltacht.Comhar Naíonraí receives funding fromÚdarás na Gaeltachta and currently employes four full-time employees andfour part-time employee. 132 naíonra directors are employed in the running ofthe day-to-day pre-school activitiesthroughout the Gaeltacht.Over one thousand 3-4 year-old childrenattend 55 established pre-school groups ornaíonraí in the Gaeltacht where the Irishlanguage is a natural part of the children’sday-to-day activities.Children have the opportunity to learnIrish in their early years in an environmentthat also helps them to play, learn and so-cialise with other children through themedium of Irish.The naíonraí have an important role toplay both as a support mechanism for pre-school education for native Irish speakersand as a learning resource for Gaeltachtchildren whose first language is not Irish.Children with varying levels of languagecompetency including those with no Irishavail of these pre-school provisions.

Irish Resource......

Má labhraíonn tú Gaeilge le do pháiste ón lá a saolaítear é/íSpeaking Irish to

your child from birth

beidh tuiscint níos fearr ag do pháiste ar athimpeallacht/timpeallacht

agus a chultúr/cultúrgives your child a greaterunderstanding of his/her

environment and culture

beidh do pháiste chun tosaigh agléitheoireacht, ag

scríobh agus ag cuntasplaces your child at an advantage when learning to read, write and count

Saibhreoidh an Ghaeilge a shaol/a saolenriches your child's life experience

cuirfidh sé feabhas ar a scileanna

cumarsáide agus beidh sé níosfusa teangacha eile a fhoghlaim

improves your child's communication skills and there-fore will be easier to learn

other languages

tabharfaidh sé deiseanna níos fearr do dopháiste fostaíocht a fháil

amach anseoprovides your child with

better chances of gaining employment

when oldertabharfaidh

sé deis dó/di a bheith rannpháirteach i mbreisimeachtaí sóisialta agus gníomhaíochtaí spóirtgives your child more

opportunities to participate in social and sporting

activities

For further information about a naíonra (pre-school) in your area, please contact your local Údarás na Gaeltachta Language and Culture Officer, click on the map or contact:

Comhar Naíonraí na Gaeltachta TeoCuileán, An Cheathrú Rua, Co na Gaillimhe

Tel: +353 (0) 91595337 Fax: +353 (0)91 595529Ríomhphost: naionra@eircom.net www.comharnaionrai.ie

Coirneáil GaeilgeIrish Corner

7

Maigh EoNaionra Thuar Mhic EadaighAn tSraithClar Chlainne Mhuiris Co.Mhaigh Eo087 7778947

Naionra Chois FharraigeAn DruimO.P. An Clochar Beal an AthaCo. Mhaigh Eo097 80985

Naionra Naoimh SheosaimhBun an Churraigh AcaillCo. Mhaigh Eo087 9602765

Naionra Dhun ChaochainAn tSeanscoil Ceathru ThaidhgBeal an AthaCo. Mhaigh Eo097 88877

Naionra Ghleann na MuaidheBun AltaiGleann na Muaidhe Beal anAthaCo. Mhaigh Eo097 87838

Naionra na hEachleimeAn Eachleim An Fod Dubh Co.Mhaigh Eo086 1647578

Irish Resource......

beidh níos mó muiníne aige ann féin/aici inti féin de bhrí go mbeidh sé/sí in ann é féin a chur in

iúl i dhá theangaincreases you child's

confidence because he/she can communicate in

two languages

beidh tú ag tabhairt deis iontach

dó/di a bheith dátheangach

lays firm foundations for your child to become bilingual

beidh meas níos mó aige/aici ar

theangacha agus ar chultúir eile in Éirinn agus thar lear

increases your child's appreciation of other languages and cultures

in Ireland and abroad

Saibhreoidh an Ghaeilge a shaol/a saolenriches your child's life experience

láidreoidh sé féiniúlacht do pháiste

strengths your child's identity

Coirneáil Gaeilge – Irish CornerBronntanas – Gift

Crann Nollag – Christmas treeCuileann – HollySneachta – Snow

Daidí na Nollag – SantaMaisiúcháin – Decorations

Dreoilín – WrenTurcaí – TurkeySaoire - HolidayCoinnle – Candles

Calóga sneachta – Snow flakesFear sneachta – Snowman

Píopa – PipeScairf – Scarf

Cárta Nollag – Christmas cardLá Nollag – Christmas Day

An Fear SneachtaTá srón deas dearg ormIs caipín ar mo cheannTá píopa i mo bhéal

Ach níl tabac ar bith ann

Tá scairf ar mo mhuineálIs scuab i mo lámh chlé

Bhfuil a fhios agat cé hé mise…Is fear MÓR sneachta mé!

Upcoming Events - Imeachtai Beartaithe

8

Mayo County Childcare Committee,First Floor, Chambers House, Ellison St., Castlebar, Co. Mayo.Tel: 094 9047010 • Email: mayochildcare@mayococo.ie • Website: www.mayochildcare.ieJim Power, Co-ordinator Email: jpower@mayococo.ieMary Conway, Administrator Email: maryconway@mayococo.ieAngela Cope, Development Worker Email: acope@mayococo.ieOlivia Donohoe,Development Worker Email: odonohoe@mayococo.ieMichelle Basquille,Development Worker Email: mbasquil@mayococo.ieMichael Graven Email: michaelgraven@mayococo.ie

DisclaimerEvery effort has been made to ensure that the information in this publication is accurate and up to date.

No responsi-bility for loss or distress occasioned to any person acting or refraining from acting as a result of material in this publication can be accepted by MayoCounty Childcare Committee and/or their respective

servants or agents.

WHERE TO FIND US

Check out our websitewww.mayochildcare.ie

for a complete list of training events organised by MCCC and other organisations

MAYOCounty Childcare CommitteeCoiste Chúram LeanaíChontae Mhaigh Eo

Keep an eye on the MCCC website/Facebook for updates on this exciting event & other information updates

Date for your diary!Mayo Early Intervention Service in partnership withMayo County Childcare Committee are excited to announce plans to host an Early Years Inclusion Daywhich will take place in Mayo on 5th March 2016(venue to be confirmed)

The theme of the Inclusion Day is “Practical ways to include all Children”.

We are delighted to be in a position to respond to theneeds highlighted by childcare practitioners aroundhow to and where to access information and ideas oninclusion. We received this feedback from recent training events, 1:1 individual consultation with childcare practitioners, membership of the Early Years Disability Social Inclusion working group and consultation with childcare representatives at the MayoCounty Childcare Committee Meetings.

Some common themes from the feedback include

“I am looking for practical idea’s”

“No lectures!”

“How to involve children with communication difficulties or language barriers”

“How to talk to parents about concerns with a child’sdevelopment”

The Inclusion Day will showcase many of the servicesand supports in Mayo who work together to ensure allchildren are included in their local community. Theaim is to provide a day full of resources, information,

activities and idea’s that practitioners and parents canuse to improve children’s early experiences. We wantto empower those who attend to access these resources and to create their own unique tool boxwhich will assist in the inclusion of all children regardless of their ability, socio economic or culturalbackground.

We will be asking local childcare services to submit pictures from their own setting to showcase the wonderful examples of inclusion within the county ofMayo on a slideshow to take place on the day.

Guest speaker on the day will Dr. Geraldine French. Dr. Geraldine French is a specialist in early childhood education. Her doctoral thesis is in the area of pedagogical interactions between adults and veryyoung children in early childhood settings with a particular focus on educational inequality. She hasworked for a variety of govern-mental and voluntary organisations, nationaland international, in conducting continuedprofessional develop-ment, research, needsanalysis, evaluations andconsultancy for strategicplanning.

There will also be workshopson the day, with the theme ofeach workshop being inclusion.

'Early Years Inclusion Day'