BARNARDOS ONLINE SAFETY TRAINING PROGRAMME
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http://www.barnardos.ie/learning-development/training/online-safety-programme/for-parents
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http://www.barnardos.ie/learning-development/training/online-safety-programme/for-parents
The Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth have extended the closing date for the Capital 2021 Fire Safety Grant.
The new Closing Date is Tuesday 2nd March at 6pm.
Please note the following information for applicants:
Should you have any queries in relation to the information outlined above please contact the Early Years Provider Centre by raising a Request on Hive and selecting the following category:
A new national day to celebrate reading, Ireland Reads is all about promoting the power of reading for enjoyment and well-being.
Children who read a lot when they are young are more likely to become lifelong readers.
Ireland Reads is encouraging everyone, young and old, to squeeze in a read on Thursday, 25 February.
The tipsheet under the banner Playing at Home and videos below have been designed to engage, inspire and support children and their families to read together.
The funding agreement for ELC/SAC funding measures covering the period 1 February – 5 March closes at 5pm tomorrow, Friday 26 February.
Important: There are two steps services must successfully complete in this process. If your service has completed only one of the below steps, then your application is still in ‘draft’ and requires action.
1.Go to My Account > COSP Emergency Measures and complete the calendar that is available on the My Account tab; and
2.Go to Programmes, select Covid-19 Operating Supports, complete each page and accept the Contract Activation.
Please the Technical Guidelines for further assistance with completing the application process. This document is available under the Funding Measures heading on Useful Links.
Kind regards
Early Years Comms Team
Click for Link to Press Release
Minister O’Gorman announces gradual lifting of restrictions on delivery of early learning and childcare services from 08 March
From Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth
Published on
Last updated on
Since January, early learning and childcare services have been restricted to children of essential workers and vulnerable children only and the ECCE pre-school programme has been suspended.
As part of a careful and cautious reopening of priority sectors of society and the economy, early learning and childcare services will open for other groups of children throughout March on a phased basis.
From 08 March, there will be a return to normal funding arrangements under Department funding schemes. A Covid-19 Operating Support Payment (COSP) introduced in February will be extended until 26 March for eligible services. This will help to offset loss of parental fees for services which are highly reliant on private income.
Services continue to be eligible for the Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS) and are exempt from the turnover rule. The EWSS has been extended until end June.
Outlining the arrangements, Minister O’Gorman said:
“Since January, the early learning and childcare sector has continued to operate for priority groups. This has been a difficult period for everyone across the country, and I would like to pay tribute to staff, service providers, and parents for their efforts during this time.
“It is our intention that the ECCE pre-school programme will resume from 08 March. This Programme significantly contributes to children’s early learning and development experiences and is particularly beneficial to children who have additional needs or experience disadvantage. It is also an important foundational stage that will prepare children transitioning to primary education this September.
“Subject to public health advice, other restrictions on access to early learning and childcare will be lifted on 29 March so that all other children can return to services. This cautious and phased reopening schedule is essential as we work towards a safe resumption of all early learning and childcare services.
“Additional funding, based on the funding arrangements which were introduced from 01 February to 05 March, will continue until 26 March so that services can remain open, even at very low levels of occupancy. This will ensure services can continue to waive fees for parents not using a service at this time.”
We encourage any service that wishes to apply or who has an application in draft to complete and submit their application as soon as possible.
Application guidelines can be found below and are also under ‘ELC and SAC Capital Programme 2021’ on the Useful Links page of the Early Years Hive:
Should you have any queries in relation to the information outlined above please contact the Early Years Provider Centre by raising a Request on Hive and selecting the following category:
PLEASE NOTE: If you contact Pobal with an ICT issue within 48 hours of the closing date and time Pobal cannot guarantee that your ICT issue will be resolved in time for you to submit your application.
Exploring & Thinking is about children making sense of the things, places and people in their world. They do this by interacting with others, playing, investigating, questioning and forming, testing and refining ideas.
Playing at home – Baking & cooking together
Click on the link First5 Baking & Cooking together
ELC/Sac Providers please note there is a support helpline for Covid related queries for suspected and confirmed cases.
We would like to remind all services that the funding agreement for ELC/SAC funding measures covering the period 1 February – 5 March is currently available on the Early Years Hive until close of business on Friday, 26 February.
Please review the below important information in relation to the Covid-19 Operating Supports.
Application and funding agreement process
There are two steps services must successfully complete in this process. If your service has completed only one of the below steps, the process is incomplete and requires action.
See the Technical Guidelines for further assistance with completing the application process. This document is available under the Funding Measures heading on Useful Links.
Important: An application cannot be amended once it has been submitted. Please ensure that all information is correct before submitting.
Service Types
Service providers must ensure that they identify themselves under the correct service type on the application.
EECE only | ECCE only services include services that provide ECCE only with no more 30 minutes of additional of childcare paid for by parents. |
ECCE and other programmes | A childcare service that provides ECCE and one or more additional childcare programmes i.e. NCS, CCSP or children attending in a private capacity etc. |
Other Programmes but no ECCE | A childcare service that provides other childcare programmes i.e. NCS, SAC or children attending in a private capacity but does not provide ECCE. |
For example, a full time service that is contracted under ECCE but also has fee-paying children would be service type: ECCE and other programmes.
Closures
Mid-term closures
Service providers should ensure that the mid-term closures correlate to the scheduled midterm week on their ECCE calendars. Pobal check these before approval. If a service indicates they are closed for mid-term but have indicated they will be open on the ECCE calendar, we will decline the week and payment will not issue for that week.
Force Majeure closures
If services have previously submitted a force majeure for one of the first weeks in February, and have now indicated that they are open on the COSP Emergency Measures application, the week will be declined and payment will not issue for that week. Pobal will check against previous submissions.
Force majeure closures due to no demand will only be approved up to this week, and then on a weekly basis thereafter. Services are still required to submit weekly applications through Hive for the weeks after they submit the form.
Voluntary closures
All closures with a reason ‘Closed voluntarily’ will appear as declined on the Hive.
COSP Reviews
The window to submit COSP review requests closed on Monday 15th February. Review requests submitted after this date will not be considered.
Service providers with an outstanding COSP review should not submit the application form until the query has been resolved.
Payment schedule
Services that contracted by Monday, 15 February, and who have confirmed that they will be open for all weeks in the period, will be paid on Friday, 19 February. Service Providers who have indicated closed weeks in the period, will require review and on approval will be paid in the subsequent weekly payment runs.
Payments will be issued on a weekly basis from 19 February onwards.
Help and support
Please see the Funding Measures heading on the Useful Links page on the early Years Hive for guidance.
Should you have any queries in relation to the Covid-19 Operating Supports outlined above please contact the Early Years Provider Centre by raising a Request on Hive and selecting the following categories: