3,4,5 Learning Years
3,4,5 Learning Years
(aimed at children aged 3-5, parents and early childhood service providers)
3,4,5 Learning Years service staff - click here
The youngballymun Early Years Service has two strands:
- Strand I is an area-based strategy aimed at supporting quality practice through the implementation of Siolta – the National Quality Framework For Early Childhood Education.
- Strand II supports school readiness in preschool children through the delivery of the Highscope curriculum.
Strand I works with early childhood development and education services to enhance quality service provision through supported implementation of Síolta - The National Quality Framework for Early Childhood Education. This service is designed in collaboration with local children’s services providers and is delivered in partnership with Barnardos.
A Siolta Early Years Quality Coordinator (Joanne Waters) supports Early Years Settings in the Ballymun area to engage with the Siolta Framework & to implement the formal quality assurance programme. The service will contribute to outcomes for children and their parents and strengthen the knowledge and practice base of early year’s service providers.
Strand II is in service design; this phase will be completed in September. Key action areas identified to date in service design include; training, implementation supports and ongoing coaching.
What is Siolta?
Siolta is a set of national standards for Early Childhood Education involving a quality assurance programme (QAP) which is intended to provide support and guidance for all those working with, and on behalf, of children.
The framework is applicable to different types of childcare services working with children from 0-6 years.
It is a unifying Framework for the diverse range of Early Year’s provision in Ireland and different manuals are available for different types of settings:
- Full and Part-time Daycare
- Sessional Services
- Infant Classes
- Childminding
It is intended that Síolta can add value at many levels in practice situations.
For example as:
- A support for individual professional practice and development
- A focus for team work and team development
- A tool for management, strategic planning and policy development
Siolta implementation in Ballymun
Early Years Services in Ballymun are among the first nationally to implement Síolta. youngballymun is one of three projects established through the Prevention and Early Intervention Programme (PEIP) jointly supported and resourced by the Office of the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs and the Atlantic Philanthropies.
The Siolta Quality Assurance Programme which consists of 12 steps - click here to view
All 7 Early Years Settings have now reached the developmental work & portfolio building phase of the Siolta Quality Assurance Programme.
Some areas of developmental work being supported within settings include:
- Developing reflective practice skills
- Enhancement of adult/child interactions within settings
- Development & implementation of systems of child observation, assessment & individual planning
- Enhancement of indoor & outdoor environment
- Development of relevant policies
- Increasing opportunities for children to make choices & decisions and to be independent
- Review, development & documenting daily routines
- Development & implementation of a key worker system
In response to identified needs within services through engagement with 3/4/5 Learning years a core training programme has been developed and was delivered in Autumn 2011. This includes training in areas related to health & safety and is being accessed by practitioners from a range of settings. The training programme covers:
- Occupational First Aid
- Child Protection
- Fire Safety
- General safety awareness
- Basic food hygiene
- Manual handling
- Designated persons child protection
- Managers health & safety awarenes
Integration of HighScope & Siolta
Five of the seven settings engaged with the 3/4/5 Learning Years are engaged with both strands of the programme i.e. implementation of both the Siolta QAP & implementation of the HighScope curriculum.
It is extremely important for settings that Siolta & HighScope is approached in an integrated way in order to have the best possible opportunity for successful implementation and to lead to lasting quality. It is crucial that this happens in a way that settings can see and experience connections between HighScope & Siolta at both a theoretical and practical level. Both of the 3/4/5 Coordinators work closely together to ensure an integrated approach. Read more ...
HighScope
The first round of HighScope preschool training began in October 2009 and was completed in October 2010. The Managers and senior staff of 5 early year’s services successfully completed the first IHA (Implementing the HighScope Approach). The second IHA preschool course commenced in October 2010 and ended in October 2011. A total of four services have completed their second round of Preschool IHA training and the remaining service (who began later in the process) has also successfully completed their IHA training. As part of the certification process the five services also successfully completed their programme quality assessment (PQA) visit. The PQA visits assessed implementation of the HighScope curriculum in the 3 key classroom areas
- Physical learning environment
- Daily routine
- Adult /Child interactions
The PQA findings from the visits measured implementation levels from the baseline assessment (2009) on each service prior to the start of Year 1 of the programme through to the end of Year 2 of implementation in December 2011. The findings have now been presented to each service (January 2012). A total of 34 staff have now been trained in the HighScope approach in Ballymun. The scores from the PQA visits are very positive and demonstrate each service’s ability to deliver on high quality levels of curriculum quality in the preschool rooms. The reports have been shared with staff and boards of managements to discuss achievements and plan future actions. The findings also provide quantitative data as part of 3,4,5 Learning years service evaluation process.
Advanced Curriculum Training
The HighScope advanced preschool training programme began in June 2011 and will end in April 2012. The training has been designed in response to the emerging themes and needs of all 5 services. Read more...
Click here to view further information on HighScope curriculum
