Monday, February 18, 2008

Galway Childminders Newsletter Spring 2008

The Galway Childminders Newsletter Spring 2008 is now available to download, click here to download our PDF file

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Relief Panel of Childcare Workers

Relief Panel of Childcare Workers

Galway City and County Childcare Committee is establishing a Relief Panel of qualified Childcare Staff that will be available to Childcare Services to provide cover for holidays, sick leave or occasional, unforeseen emergencies.

Galway City and County Childcare Committee invites applications from suitably qualified and experienced Childcare Workers to join the Relief Panel.

For an Application Form log on to:  www.galwaychildcare.com or phone 091-752039.

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Garda Vetting

The Child Care (Pre-School Services) (No 2) Regulations 2006 and the Child Care (Pre-School Services) (No 2) (Amendment) Regulations 2006 require pre-school childcare services to obtain references and Garda vetting for all staff, students and volunteers who have access to children.

If an NCNA member - forms may be obtained from:

Tel: 01 460 1138 ext. 6 or email camilledaly@ncna.ie

For further information see www.ncna.ie

If an IPPA member – Forms may be obtained from:

Tel: 01 463 0010

For further information see www.ippa.ie

If not a member of either of the above organisations – forms may be obtained from:  Barnardos Vetting Service, The Bowling Green, White Street, Cork  or email vetting@barnardos.ie

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Resources Available

Wednesday, December 05, 2007

Ballybane library to lend toys to local children

Children in Ballybane who use the local library now have a choice between books and educational toys under a joint initiative of the Galway City and County Childcare Committee and Galway County Library Services.  

Sunday, April 15, 2007

National Childminders’ Week sees the Launch of New Supports for Childminders and Parents

The Galway City and County Childcare Committee has launched a number of new supports for parents and Childminders. The supports were launched as part of National Childminders’ Week which runs from 14th April – 21st April.

A Parent’s Guide to Choosing a Childminder assists parents when seeking a good quality Childminding service. The Guide explains the regulations affecting Childminding, suggests what parents should look for in the home based service and provides a list of questions to ask.

For Childminders, the supports will help develop additional quality childminding services and include:

1. Childminders’ Start-Up Pack

2. National Guidelines for Childminders

3. Childminders’ Support Pack for Voluntary Notification

Sheila Garrity, Childminder Advisory Officer with the Galway Childcare Committee said “We are delighted to see a full house of Childminders at this launch and one of the things we’d like to see this year is more Childminders notifying us about their services. For the Childminders who contact us under the Voluntary Notification Scheme, there are lots of benefits including tax relief, referrals and training.

“There are currently 1,500 Childminders nationwide who have signed up for Voluntary Notification and we look forward to Galway Childminders boosting that number in the coming months.”

At the launch, a number of Galway Childminders were presented with Voluntary Notification Certificates by Moire O’Mara from the Office of the Minister for Children. Speaking at the event Ms O’ Mara said “the Childminders Pack is to be commended in that it provides concise, relevant and local information to Childminders, as well as very useful information for parents to help them to find the right Childminder for them”. She added “Galway City and County Childcare Committee should be given special thanks for their contribution to the Voluntary Notification process for childminders and to the recently published National Guidelines for Childminders.”

Alex MacLean, Chairman of the Galway Childcare Committee said “Our Committee plays a key role in developing quality childcare throughout Galway and we are delighted that so many Childminders have adopted such a professional approach. More and more Childminders are moving from the informal to the formal economy – a trend we support as it is better for children, better for parents and better for childminders.”

€315,000 funding for four Galway childcare services will provide new childcare places

The Galway Childcare Committee has welcomed the announcement of €315,000 in grant aid for four Galway Childcare services.

The recipients are the NUI Galway Crèche, the Village Crèche in Ballinasloe, Ballinderry Childcare and After School in Kilconnell and Let’s Play in Riverside. The funding will be used for expenditure on new capital projects and equipment.

Speaking at the announcement Fionnuala Foley, Development Officer with the Galway Childcare Committee said “This is great news for the four services as it will help to provide new quality childcare places. It’s also a timely reminder to other childcare services that they can apply for funding through the Galway Childcare Committee. Friday April 13th is important – it’s the next closing date for receipt of funding requests.

“We’re looking forward to applications from prospective childcare providers – both private and community operators - in areas where there is a demand for new services. Private providers can apply for capital funding, while community services can apply for funding to help with capital and staffing expenses.”

Fionnuala added “People who are interested, both individuals and community operators, can apply for funding by contacting us on 091 752039 or emailing mail@galwaychildcare.com.”

The grand aid is funded by the National Childcare Investment Programme. Launched in 2006, the Programme has already seen over €500,000 in grant aid for childcare services in Galway. The previous programme which ran from 2000 to 2007 approved over €33 million for Childcare Services in Galway City and County.

For further information please contact:

Fionnuala Foley, Galway City & County Childcare Committee, 091 752039 / 087 617 6788

Or

Angela Bane, Bane Mullarkey, 087 286 5217

Notes to editors about Galway City & County Childcare Committee

The Galway City & County Childcare Committee was established in 2000 to assist in developing integrated, high quality, accessible and affordable services for children in Galway city and county. Its key aims are:

1. To coordinate, support and assist in the development of a range of quality childcare services in Galway

2. To coordinate the implementation of the National Childcare Investment Programme on behalf of the Office of the Minister for Children at local level

3. To work with other agencies in developing and implementing special initiatives to support children and families

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Link to revised Pre-School Regulations

http://www.dohc.ie/publications/pdf/si20060505.pdf?direct=1

Monday, March 12, 2007

Galway City & County Childcare Committee 4th Annual Childcare Conference

Powerpoint Presentations:

Preschool Standardisation Project (1.93mb)

Childcare (Pre-School Services) Regulations 2006 (104kb)

Galway ChildCare Committee 4th Annual Conference (862kb)

Sunday, March 11, 2007

Further information on Training

For further information on training in the City and County click on the link below:
http://www.galwaychildcare.com/training_cal.asp

Thursday, February 22, 2007

Provider’s Forum Contact Details

The role of the Galway Childcare Providers’ Forum is to identify needs and issues within the childcare sector to be addressed by the Galway City & County Childcare Committee.

If you have any issues you would like to bring to your Forum representative, please contact:

Rita Gilmore, Galway City 091 581900

Michelle Shevlin, Headford 086 1525100

Loyola King, Tuam 093 26397

Veronica Stephens, Galway City 091 762623

Jean Register, Galway City 091 768406

Mairéad Hanbury, Portumna 090 97 49102

Sunday, February 18, 2007

Supporting Quality Childcare in Galway

The HSE Pre-School Services Department, the Galway City & County Childcare Committee and the Childcare Providers Forum work in collaboration on an ongoing basis in an effort to improve the quality of childcare available locally.

Supports available to childcare providers at local level include:
Ongoing in-service and accredited training facilitated by Galway City & County Childcare Committee in conjunction with the VECs, FÁS, HSE and the National Voluntary Childcare Organisations (in Galway City and County approximately 90% of all staff in notified Child Care Services have accredited childcare training)

• * Assistance to providers to access funding to enhance and improve childcare premises
• * Assistance to providers in developing policies and procedures to improve quality
• * Collaboration with HSE Pre-school Inspectors to support existing services to meet the childcare regulations
• * Workshops provided on the most common breaches encountered in childcare services, to enable them to meet regulations.
• * Advisory visit to support existing services, by HSE Preschool Inspectors and Galway City & County Childcare Committee staff
• * Theme Boxes and Resource Library
• * The Annual Childcare Conference, in November 2006, hosted by the Galway City & County Childcare Committee in conjunction with the HSE and the Childcare Providers’ Forum, will focus on the newly revised Pre-School Regulations and their implementation in childcare services.

Parents should give careful consideration to the type of service they want for their child and how they will measure the quality of care their child will receive. The following supports are available to parents:

• * Pre-School Inspectors encourage parents to view a copy of the most recent inspection report when they visit a prospective service.
• * “Choosing Childcare: A Parent’s Guide Video and Information Booklet available from HSE Preschool Services and Galway City & County Childcare Committee
• * List of childcare providers notified to the HSE Preschool Services
• * List of School-Age childcare services on the Galway City & County Childcare Committee database.
• parents to access Voluntarily Notified Childminders through the Childminder Advisory Officer

The Galway Childcare Providers’ Forum is made up of six elected members representing more than 400 childcare services in Galway City and County. Three of the Forum members are members of the Board of Galway City & County Childcare Committee. The role of the Forum is to identify needs and issues within the childcare sector to be addressed by the Galway City & County Childcare Committee.

For further information on supports available to childcare providers and parents please contact Galway City & County Childcare Committee, tel: 091-752039, mail@galwaychildcare.com or HSE West Preschool Services, tel: 091-771928, Preschool.Services@mailn.hse.ie

Sunday, February 11, 2007

NATIONAL CHILDCARE INVESTMENT PROGRAMME 2006 - 2010

The EOCP will continue to be operational in parallel with the New Programme until all applications on hand are processed and commitments are honoured, and the drawdown & verification of existing grant allocations are fully complete.

From 1 January 2006, both the Childcare Programme 2006-2010 and the EOCP will be managed by the Childcare Directorate.

The Childcare Programme 2006-2010 aims to provide a proactive response to the development of quality childcare supports and services which are grounded in an understanding of local needs. The County and City Childcare Committees will play a key role in the implementation of the new Programme to enable greater flexibility and responsiveness to local needs.

Details of the new programme are being finalised and will be available shortly from:

Galway City & County Childcare Committee
9b Liosban Retail Centre
Tuam Road
Galway
(091) 752039

or mail@galwaychildcare.com

Monday, January 29, 2007

Grants for Childminders

The Galway City and County Childcare Committee is implementing the National Childminder Initiative locally. This new initiative includes the first grants scheme to be developed specifically for Childminders. A grant of €630 is available to Childminders or to those who intend to set up a service for the purchase of toys, safety equipment, books or any other items that will enhance the quality of the service.

• * The Quality Awareness Programme associated with this grant scheme in will be held at various locations throughout the city and county during the year. (Check the training calendar at: http://www.galwaychildcare.com/training_cal.asp
• * Groups are invited to contact Sheila Garrity, Childminder Advisory Officer to make arrangements to suit their needs.