NSLF student employment record and applications training invite

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Dear Service Provider,

You and your staff are invited to attend training on the Nurturing Skills Learner Fund (NSLF) Registrations, Employment Record and Student Applications training. The sessions will be held on 10 and 11 March 2025, as applications for the NSLF for the academic year 2025/2026 will open shortly.

 
As part of this training, we will be demonstrating the following: 
  • What is the Nurturing Skills Learner Fund
  • Registering to the NSLF Portal
  • Completing the Employment Record
  • Student Applications
  • Demonstration of the NSLF Portal
 
Please see below the links to register with Microsoft Teams: 
NSLF Registrations, Employment Record and Student Applications Session 1
 
Monday 10 March from 10.30am to 12.00pm   
 
 
NSLF Registrations, Employment Record and Student Applications Session 2
 
Tuesday 11 March from 2.30pm – 4:00pm
 
   
NSLF Registrations, Employment Record and Student Applications Session 3
 
Tuesday 11 March from 6:30pm – 8:00pm
 
 
A recording of one of the webinars will be made available on the Early Years Hive and the NSLF Student Portal along with the PowerPoint slides once the training has been completed. 
 
We kindly ask that questions asked on the day are kept to the topic of the NSLF Student Application. 
 
Please ensure all staff are made aware of this training and the relevant times and dates and to assist with this please note the following regarding eligibility
 
Eligibility
Those wishing to make an application must meet the following eligibility criteria for the NSLF:
 
  • be working with children in a Tusla-registered Early Learning and Care (ELC) or School Age Childcare (SAC) service,
 
  • the service in which the applicant is working in, must have a current signed Core Funding contract with DCEDIY.
 
  • Applicants must have worked within an ELC or SAC service for the six months prior to their application.
  • Applicants must have a current application/offer for 2025/26 entry to a Level 7/8 Degree course approved by the Qualification Advisory Board (QAB) that is eligible for NSLF.
  • be a new entrant to an Approved Course for the academic year commencing 2025/2026 (Autumn 2025)
  • not be an ELC educator or SAC practitioner currently undertaking the completion of an Approved Course or an equivalent degree; and
  • not be an ELC educator or SAC practitioner who has already completed an Approved Course or equivalent degree.
For clarity purposes, at time of application an applicant must not hold (or be undertaking) an Approved Course at level 7 or level 8 in Early Learning and Care
 
Continuing Students
Continuing Students (existing students who successfully received NSLF funding for Academic Year 2024/2025 and wish to continue to receive funding for NSLF for Academic Year 2025/2026)
Pobal will contact continuing students directly in early summer asking individuals to verify their continuing eligibility for NSLF.  Once eligibility is confirmed a new letter of Conditional Funding will issue to the student for the academic year 2025/2026.Training for continuing students will happen at a later stage and you will be notified.

Kind Regards,
The Early Years Team 

 

 

AIM Level 5 Equipment – Transfer of Ownership process is now open

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Dear Service Provider,

The AIM Level 5 Transfer of Ownership process is now open, Friday 28 February 2025.

Services with AIM Level 5 equipment which is due to transfer at the end of the ECCE 2024/2025 programme call will receive a notification on the Early Years Hive.

A How to Guide and recordings of the Training Webinars are available in the Help & Support section on the Early Years Hive.

Should you have any queries in relation to AIM Level 5 Transfer of Ownership, please contact the Early Years Provider Centre by raising a Request using the following categories:

• Programme: AIM Level 5

• Request Type: Equipment

• Request Type Detail: Transfer of Ownership

Regards,
The Early Years Team

Scheduled updates to the Early Years Hive on Thursday 27 February 2025

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Dear Service Provider,

The Early Years Hive will be temporarily unavailable on Thursday 27 February 2025 at 4pm for up to 5.5 hours.
During this time, a number of updates to the Early Years Hive will be released to ensure that both the system runs as smoothly as possible.
Afterwards you may need to refresh your web browser to access the portal again.
We try to hold these releases out of hours to reduce disruption. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause and thank you for your cooperation.
Regards,
The Early Years Team

‘Children’s Promise’ Grants Programme 2025 is open!

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All children are born with the potential to thrive and the ‘Children’s Promise’ Grants Programme aims to support community-based organisations working to protect that potential and to support the wellbeing of their families.
The ‘Children’s Promise’ Grants Programme is a funding programme within Katharine Howard Foundation (KHF). KHF focuses on prevention and early intervention initiatives, to support the best life outcomes for young children. This grants programme is a collaboration with Community Foundation Ireland and we are grateful for their support. In 2025, we are delighted to welcome the support of the Sunflower Charitable Foundation for the grants programme.
The ‘Children’s Promise’ Grants Programme is a promise from KHF to provide financial and other supports to selected organisations, to support and develop the potential of the children engaged with the organisations.
The Programme aims to build on the powerful work taking place at community-level to address child poverty with a grants programme of €1,000,000 in financial and non-financial supports over the duration of the programme 2023-27.
The 2025 Grants Programme is now open, and organisations are invited to apply. The closing date for all applications is 20 March 2025 at 1pm.

For further information and to apply please visit the website here

All queries should be made by email only to info@khf.ie

AIM Level 5 equipment – Transfer of Ownership process opens on Friday 28 February 2025

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Dear Service Provider,

The AIM Level 5 Transfer of Ownership process will open on Friday 28 February 2025.

Services with AIM Level 5 equipment which is due to transfer at the end of the ECCE 2024/2025 programme call will receive a notification on the Early Years Hive.

A How to Guide and recordings of the Training Webinars are available in the Help & Support section on the Early Years Hive.

Should you have any queries in relation to AIM Level 5 Transfer of Ownership, please contact the Early Years Provider Centre by raising a request using the following categories:

  • Programme: AIM Level 5
  • Request Type: Equipment
  • Request Type Detail: Transfer of Ownership

Regards,
The Early Years Team

Please review and update your service’s contact details on the Early Years Hive

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Dear Service Provider,

From time to time, the Early Years Provider Centre (EYPC) may be required to contact your service by phone for urgent matters.

To ensure we have your service’s up-to-date contact details, we ask that you please review your details on the Early Years Hive and let us know if either your phone number or email address needs to be updated.

To review your service’s contact details:

  1. Go to the Manage Service Providers page of your Early Years Hive, which is under the My Account menu.
  2. Here you will see the services associated with your organization (i.e. multi-service organisations will see multiple services listed here). Click on your service’s name.
  3. Review the phone number and email address listed in the General section.
  4. If this information is incorrect and needs to be updated, please raise a Request using the User Account Management category, outlining what needs to be changed.

Once we receive your request, we will update your information as soon as possible.

You might also choose to take this time to review your service’s user roles and its Primary Authorised User (PAU) on the Manage User Roles page.

You can add new users by clicking the Create New User button and remove users by clicking the yellow arrow beside that user’s name and then selecting Remove.

To set a new PAU, follow the steps in this guide available in the Help & Support section of the Early Years Hive.

Regards,
The Early Years Team

Childcare Survey of Parents 2022

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From Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth

Published on 

Last updated on 

This details research conducted to understand parents’ and their children’s use of childcare, and their views and experiences.

Childcare Survey of Parents 2022

AIM level 4 Observation Tool

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Dear Service Provider,  

Please note the process for reviewing and accepting an AIM Level 4 Observation tool has changed. A Child Observation Tool or a Service Observation Review tool (SOR) is now completed by your Early Years Specialist (EYS) directly online and can be reviewed by you directly on the Early Years Hive after is has been created by your EYS. 
 
Your review and accepting of the AIM level 4 Observation Tool is required within 7 days of receiving a Hive notification. If the contents of the Child Observation Tool or a Service Observation Review tool (SOR) is not accepted by you within 7 days, the system will automatically accept to ensure the child’s application for AIM is progressed. 
 
The Observation Tool is used by the EYS to gather information about the child they support. The tool includes the following areas of the child’s development: physical, communication, social and behaviour and health. The information gathered is used with the manager, key person, inclusion coordinator (INCO) or the Educators to plan for the child’s inclusion in their Early Learning and Care (ELC) service and the ECCE programme. For an on-site observation, the EYS will complete the observation tool during the child’s attendance at their ELC service. If an on-site observation is not possible, the observation tool will be used as a Service Observation Review (SOR). The EYS will gather the information from the service provider on Microsoft Teams video call online or by phone. If required, the EYS may complete both an on-site observation and a Service Observation Review. 
 
The information gathered is a starting point for Level 4 Educational Advice and Mentoring. It informs the mentoring, goal development and the application for Level 7 Additional Assistance in the ELC service, if requested. 
 
A guide on reviewing and accepting an AIM level 4 Observation Tool can be found here.
 
If you have any queries on the above, please submit a request on the Early Years Hive by selecting the following categories:  
 
  • Request Programme: AIM Level 4
  • Request Type: How To
  • Request Type Detail: Application
  
Regards,   
The Early Years Team