Blog

27 May, 2022

School Aged Childcare - Programme of Activities & STEM

Hi everyone…. Welcome back to our series of blog posts on the National Quality Guidelines for School Age Childcare. This is our first post of 2022, but if you want to catch up on last year’s posts – see:  Environment in School Aged Settings;  School aged childcare: Nurturing relationships and supportive interactions   If you haven’t already got a copy of the Guidelines – you can download them from here: https://www.gov.ie/en/publicatio...

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14 January, 2022

Things to know when dealing with Covid 19 in your childcare service

Our blog this week contains helpful links and reminders for a childcare service dealing with a confirmed case of Covid19 in their service. *updated 21st January 2022* We have had a lot of enquiries this week about the rules for close contacts, as everyone is aware the guidance regarding Covid 19 has changed frequently over the last month in particular. Please note: - The guidance from HSE regarding close contacts has changed on 14th January 2022, you can view the most recent ...

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22 October, 2021

Your staff are the most valuable component of your business!

What is the most valuable component of any business? The answer is simple, it’s the employees. Your employees are what drives your business. They make it possible to operate on a day-to-day basis. One of the biggest issues in the childcare sector at the moment is staff retention. We all know that in this sector, HR can be a bit of a minefield. We are all trying to do right by our staff, all the while ensuring our businesses are running to their full potential. It can be tough. Here,...

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21 May, 2021

Risky Play - for beginners!

If you were able to tune in to last weeks Event Risky Play, you will have enjoyed a fantastic presentation with Tim Gill, exploring Risky Play and the concept of risk benefit analysis in early years care and education settings. This event allowed us to tap into our own values and beliefs on the outdoors and recall our own memories of outdoor play from childhood. While we are now living in a different time and indeed a different world, outdoor play and the opportunity for risk taking and risk ana...

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14 May, 2021

Why Stay In?

Why Stay In? Was the message from Éanna ni Lamhna, well known Biologist, author, and expert on Irish ecology and wildlife, at last evenings talk ‘How to Go Wild in the Great Outdoors’, hosted by KCCC. Éanna kept everyone entertained during her talk, great storyteller that she is. She also shared a lot of knowledge with us about insects and wildlife. Her argument is that children find nature and the outdoors fascinating, spending time with them learning about nature is a win ...

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05 May, 2021

Environment in School Aged Settings

                   Hi everybody!! Welcome back to our series of School Age Childcare blog posts. This week, we are going to focus on Guideline 3 from the document which was recently distributed to services National Quality Guidelines to School Aged Childcare Services – The Environment. Amy Dempsey, Development Officer, KCCC Our environment is so important to us, for our health, well-being, comfort and enjoyment. As adults, ...

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30 March, 2021

School aged childcare: Nurturing relationships and supportive interactions

Hi everybody and welcome to the first in a mini series of Blog Posts for School Aged Childcare (SAC) providers. The National Quality Guidelines for School Aged Childcare Services were introduced in November 2020 and should be distributed over the coming weeks (until then, you can download the guidelines in PDF format here ) We felt that such an important document deserved some attention so over the course of the next few months, we will have a series of Blog Posts which will reflect on the gu...

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19 October, 2020

Community of Practice: How to handle a confirmed Covid case in your service

Last night Kildare County Childcare Committee and Early Childhood Ireland hosted a Community of Practice online, which was attended by childcare providers from Kildare. During this Community of Practice two Kildare providers kindly shared their experience of having a Covid positive case in their service, and how they dealt with this situation.   The first person to speak was the manager of a school aged childcare service who had this experience in September, when a child who attend...

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10 June, 2020

Tunes for Tiny reminds us that music is a gateway to learning in the Early Years

Teaching Tunes for Tiny   “Music engages the whole brain”   Music ignites all areas of child development and skills for school readiness, including intellectual, social-emotional, motor, language, and overall literacy. It helps the body and the mind work together. ... Dancing to music helps children build motor skills while allowing them to practice self-expression. (https://www.brighthorizons.com/family-resources/music-and-...

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22 May, 2020

Tunes for Tiny @ Kildare!

Tunes for Tiny (Week 1 19th May) These workshops are being run as a collaboration with Riverbank Arts Centre and Kildare CCC for childcare educators in the county. These sessions booked up quickly but we hope to run the series again in the near future!  I had the pleasure of being invited to attend the Tunes for Tiny sessions part sponsored by Kildare CCC every Tuesday for 4 weeks from 19th May.  I had no idea what to expect particularly when asked to arrive with e...

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