This Week in Childcare

Dear Colleagues,

These are the deadlines, information, and announcements for the week of 11^th-15^th December 2023.

DEADLINES / IMPORTANT DATES:

15^th December 2023 *Today

AIM L7 2022/23 Extension Application Deadline

FOR YOUR INFORMATION:

NCS End of Year Maintenance

Pobal have published the following reminders:

NCS Service Calendar (adding closures)- If your service is closed over the Christmas and New Year’s period, you must mark the closures on your NCS service calendar on the Early Years Hive accordingly – this must be done in advance of the Christmas period, NCS calendars cannot be adjusted retrospectively. You must also note whether it is a subsidised (paid) closure or not.

NCS Weekly Returns- As per the NCS Funding Agreement 2023-2024, NCS returns must be submitted on the Hive each week. Returns become available from the last day (Sunday) of the reporting week and must be completed by the following Tuesday and are based on the previous week’s attendance. If a return is not submitted within the required timeframe, all subsidy payments will be suspended until it is submitted. All service providers should ensure any outstanding returns are submitted before the end of the year. For guidance on returns, please see the NCS Attendance Returns Guide on the Hive. This year both Monday 25th and Tuesday 26th December are bank holidays, therefore the deadline for submitting Returns has been extended that week until the evening of Wednesday 27th December. If your service is closing over Christmas, returns for these weeks must still be submitted. If you are unable to submit returns during a closure period, please see the below section on Bridging Payments.

NCS Bridging payments- A ‘Bridging Payment’ is available to service providers during periods of subsidised closure, if they are unavailable to submit their weekly NCS return i.e., Christmas holidays, mid-term breaks, etc. When submitting the NCS return that is two weeks before the subsidised closure period, the Hive recognises the closure coming up and asks the following: “You have an upcoming closure, do you want to request a Bridging Payment for the dates from “X” to “Z”? (Yes/No)” If Yes is selected, the payment is made during the week the service is closed i.e. when they are unable to submit their returns. The service must then submit “Fast returns” for this period when they return after the closure. For guidance on returns, please see the NCS Attendance Returns Guide on the Hive.

Resolving Conflict with children in 6 Steps

Clare County Childcare Committee have recently launched a short video animation in English and Ukrainian languages.  It is designed to support Parents, Guardians, Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) Practitioners, Educators and Teachers towards ‘Resolving Conflict with Children in 6 Steps’.

Nurturing Skills Learner Fund Pilot

The Nurturing Skills Learner Fund was recently announced by Minster O’Gorman. It will run as a pilot scheme in 2024. Applications will open in May 2024, for early years educators who have applied to an approved higher education institution with a view for the selected educators to receive financial support for studies starting/commencing in September 2024. The pilot scheme will run in conjunction with the current Learner Fund scheme which will continue to be administrated by the Childcare Committees. The Learner Fund bursary award contribution for 2024 will rise from €750 to €1000 to assist those who are not part of the pilot Nurturing Skills Learner Fund. Further information is available in the Press Release, which you can access here.

Pobal Christmas and New Year Payment dates

AIM L7 Extension application.

The application process on HIVE to submit an AIM Level 7 extension application for the 2023/24 programme call will be closing today. This is only for children who had an approved AIM Level 7 application during the 2022/2023 programme call and are still attending your service. An AIM Level 7 extension application must be submitted before 15^th December 2023.

Building Blocks Capacity Grants

The main focus of the Expansion Grant and Extension Grant is to increase capacity in the 1-3 age range for full day or part time care. The Expansion Grant will be made available from early 2024, projects of between €50,000 and €100,000 will be funded to deliver additional capacity. The Extension Grant will be made available later in 2024 to facilitate larger scale expansions. Projects of between €100,000 and €500,000 will be funded. Match funding will be required by private providers for both grants, with a max contribution by DCEDIY of 50% of total project costs.

Further information is available in the Press Release attached.

Critical Incidents in Early Learning and Care and School Age Childcare Services: Planning and Responding

All Early Learning and Care (ELC) and school Age Childcare (SAC) services are required to have a service level Critical Incident Plan as outlined in the Tusla Quality and Regulatory Framework (QRF) and the National Quality Guidelines for School Age Childcare Services. A guide has been developed from previous guidance on critical incidents planning, including the Critical Incident Plan Toolkit and the extensive work of the National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS), to support ELC and SAC services to think about and plan for critical incidents and to have practical supports in place should it be necessary to respond to a critical incident. Please see guidance attached.

Covid case advice

Please find below links to information from the HPSC in relation to Covid-19 and information from the HSE for ELC and SAC providers on preventing the spread of Covid-19 and children returning to ELC and SAC settings. We would be grateful if you share this information with parents, guardians, and staff. https://www.hpsc.ie/news/title-23357-en.html (updated11thAugust2023) https://www2.hse.ie/conditions/covid19/preventing-the-spread/ https://www2.hse.ie/conditions/covid19/preventing-the-spread/child-returning-to-school-or-childcare/

In addition, please find link below to the Management of Infectious Diseases in Childcare Facilities guidance resource. https://www.hpsc.ie/a-z/lifestages/childcare/File,13444,en.pdf Management of Infectious Disease in Childcare Facilities and Other Childcare Settings (2012)

For general Covid-19 queries you can contact HSE on 1800 700 700 between 8am and 8pm Monday to Friday and 9am – 5pm Saturday and Sunday or visit the HSE website https://www2.hse.ie/conditions/covid19/

Should you have any queries on any of the above, please do not hesitate to contact us on 04493-35454 or info@westmeathchildcare.ie