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Barnardos Annual Report and Financial Statements 2015
No full textAnnual ReportWe owe it to our children and to the future of our country to ensure that every child in Ireland has the chance to hope and dream – and that every child has the opportunity and support they need to make those hopes and dreams a reality. In order to do this we must make sure that every child has equal access to all they need for a happy, healthy and safe childhood. And that support means access to health services, to education, to suitable housing and nutrition. These are the basics a child needs to survive and thrive. As a nation, we must ensure that every child has that. And that every parent is supported to be able to provide that. That may mean changing the way we think about services and how they are provided. It means ensuring that every child has equal access to the things that we often regard as simply the basics. As the saying goes – our children are our future. If we don’t invest in them now we will surely regret it later. I would like to thank the people that make up Barnardos. Those who spend every day working to make sure that children have happy, healthy and safe childhoods by working with parents and carers to help them be the best parents they can be. And to all those who support Barnardos by volunteering their time, supporting our campaigns, or donating money – Thank You. You are making Ireland a better place for our children, and our children’s children
Note: This is a Legacy Copy of this Publication. Supporting Young Children’s Behaviour Skills
No full textBookChildren naturally learn about the world through play and, as they mimic the world around them, they develop an understanding of everyday life. Through play they keep house, run shops, drive cars and then move to fantasy worlds, sometimes even with superhero powers. Humans are social creatures and, by preschool age, children are eager to play with others, and thus begin to learn early friendship skills. Playing and interacting with others, however, involves complex processes such as sharing, cooperation and negotiation, all of which can elicit powerful emotions. Friendships are rewarding, but playing with someone of a similar age can be much harder than playing alone or with an older child or an adult – it requires communicating, sharing and cooperating. Tantrums, blow-ups and/or meltdowns are common in young children.
Regulating emotions is very challenging for young children. Emotions can take over and shift in an instant. Preschool-age children are only starting to develop empathy for others and are egocentric about most things and generally they want their own way. When children are not able to compromise, frustration, jealousy, anger and disappointment may be displayed and it can be challenging for adults to respond appropriately to their behaviour.
The early years is a critical period for all learning, in particular social-emotional learning, and early years educators play a central role coaching and supporting children to develop the skills required to understand and manage their emotions and be accepted by and play well with their peers.
Emotional and social development occurs across all stages of childhood and children are learning from birth. This publication focuses mainly on preschool-age children (3–4 years), but every experience for the child up to attending an early years setting has impacted on the child’s social and emotional development.
Social-emotional skills are as important as cognitive skills for learning and development. Children with friendship skills, who are good at understanding their own and others’ emotions, who can self-regulate when needed and who are able to solve social problems do much better in primary school as well as in their everyday lives than children who have not developed these socialemotional skills. By having fewer behavioural issues they will find it easier to make friends and be more content in school.
It is essential to remember that being a young child is just as important as being older and to recognise the early years as a stage in life that is as worthy of value as any other life stage. Early years educators can, nevertheless, help young children to prepare for their next stage of development by supporting their social and emotional development and guiding their behaviour skills, giving them a solid foundation on which to realise their full potential
Early Years eNews: Issue 4
No full textNewsletterAs we await the upcoming Budget, there have been a number of significant developments in the early years sector over the last few months, in particular the formation of the Early Years Forum. This Forum will allow for consultation between the Department of Children and Youth Affairs and key representatives from the sector, which is greatly welcomed. Another key development is the establishment of a Childminding Collaborative Working Group which will focus on the future for Childminders in Ireland. This issue of Early Years eNews also has information about a number of reports recently launched
Annual Newsletter 2016 (Better Finglas)
Get PDFNewsletterHave you heard that 221 students in our primary schools in Finglas have been improving their reading by working with trained volunteers (86 of them, and all over the age of 55 ) following the Wizard of Words (WOW) reading programme? Or have you heard about the baby massage classes running in Finglas or our Baby Stay and Play Group? If you want to tweak your parenting strategies there are Triple P Parenting programmes running all through the year. For expectant and new parents we offer a home visiting programme called Preparing for Life and ante-natal support delivered by our community midwife in the local area. Local preschool settings are supported through our Early Years Programme with staff receiving training and resources. All of these initiatives and many more are available to the people of Finglas through the Better Finglas Programme. Huge credit must go to the Project Team who have developed and managed the programme and who work tirelessly to improve things for the people who live in the community. All Better Finglas programmes are overseen by Implementation Teams made up of more than 50 organisations in total, who work with children and families in the area. Barnardos, the lead agency for the project, and the Better Finglas Steering Committee manage the entire project
Early Years eNews: Issue 2
No full textNewsletterIn this issue of Early Years eNews we bring you details of the launch of our new publication for early years educators - Supporting Young Children's Behaviour Skills. There was a great turn out at the launch with Jenna Russell from Barnardos Brighter Future Centre sharing information, stories, guidance and tips on working with young children and behaviour. We also bring you information about the recently published report by Unicef which highlights the worrying inequality and deprivation experienced by many children in Ireland today. There is also information of the new national education programme on best practice for the inclusion of children with a disability in preschool and reform of the higher capitation payment
Presentation to TD briefing on Public Health (Alcohol) Bill for Alcohol Action Ireland
Get PDFPaperBarnardos welcomes the main provisions in the Public Health (Alcohol) Bill which aim to tackle Ireland’s harmful relationship with alcohol and bring about significant improvements in public health, safety and wellbeing. The particular measures that will make a positive difference to children include:
• Labelling: Clear labelling will help drinkers understand the health risks associated with alcohol, such as the risks of drinking during pregnancy as well as allowing people to track their alcohol and calorie intakes.
• Restrict prices based promotions: Tactics such as 2for1 are designed to attract price sensitive customers such as students and those on low incomes.
• Stricter rules around alcohol advertising and marketing such as 9pm watershed and having just descriptive details of products rather than selling positive imagery of drinking.
• Introduce minimum pricing – prevent selling alcohol as a lost leader or selling strong alcohol very cheap.
Barnardos has over 40 projects across the country offering a range of services to parents and children. Alcohol dependency is a common theme affecting many families we work with however, we have two specific projects in Tallaght and Dun Laoghaire where we work directly with parents affected by substance and / or alcohol abuse. We offer practical and emotional support to parents to improve their parenting capacity. Through our experience, we know most parents do not deliberately intend to harm their children or to develop behaviours that are likely to have a negative impact on them. They often feel guilty about their behaviour and ability to cope with their alcohol addiction. However, as alcohol is so widely available and culturally acceptable in Irish society it is perceived to be less harmful than illegal substances with the result that the effects of its misuse on children can be underestimated
ChildLinks Issue 1: Child Care Regulations (the Child Care Act 1991 (Early Years Services) Regulations 2016)
No full textBarnardos journal ChildLinksThere have been a number of welcome developments in the early years sector in Ireland in recent months. The new Child Care Regulations (the Child Care Act 1991 (Early Years Services) Regulations 2016), prepared to underpin a number of key reforms to the sector to improve quality standards, came into effect in Ireland on a phased basis on 30th June 2016. The new regulations provide for pre school services, that is, those services catering for children under the age of six who are not attending primary school. There are a number of changes from the previous regulations, most notably in the requirements around registration, policies and procedures, management and staff, records and qualifications among others. These new demands will make services safer for children and will be reassuring for parents. One notable omission from the new Regulations, however, is that there is no mention of a Child Protection policy among the list of mandatory policies, which means Tusla is not inspecting early years services for child protection policies. This is a serious issue, given that the age of the children involved, some of whom are not yet verbal, makes them particularly vulnerable. Another development in the early years sector in Ireland is the commencement of the education-focused inspections in pre-schools participating in the government’s Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme. These inspections are the topic of the first article in this issue of ChildLinks from Mary Immaculate College, Limerick, which highlights the acknowledgement in the Early-Years Education-focused Inspection Quality Framework that play is central to children’s learning and development. Placing play firmly on the agenda will support the development of sustainable pedagogies of play in the early years. In the second article in this issue, Jenna Russell from Barnardos Brighter Futures in Cork describes her experience working with children who struggle with behaviour challenges and the support these children need to participate in the routine and benefit from the curriculum. Parents of children with behaviour issues will also need support and advice to understand the strategies used in the early years setting and how best to ensure the strategies used are consistent and effective in the home environment. A second article from Barnardos highlights the impact on children living with parental substance misuse and the importance of being open and willing to discuss the issue. An article from the National Childhood Network outlines the Healthy Ireland Smart Start Programme. The programme covers a range of topics such as health promotion; emotional well-being/literacy; physical activity; nutrition/healthy eating; oral health; and health and safety. The aim of the programme is to build the capacity of pre-school practitioners working with children aged 3–5 years to promote healthy lifestyle practices in children and families. Other articles in this issue look at the effect of labour market activation on child wellbeing and the impact of children’s transition from pre-school to formal schooling on schools and early years practitioners
Quality Adult-Child Interactions in Early Years Services
Get PDFFlyerThe aim of this training is to assist participants to understand the importance of adult–child interactions for the development
and day-to-day learning of young children. Participants will have the opportunity to practice a variety of interactions and explore the
concept and practice of “sustained shared thinking”
ChildLinks Issue 2: Barnardos' School Costs Survey
No full textBarnardos journal ChildLinksAs we begin the new academic year, parents across the country are facing the high costs of educating their children. Education is not free in Ireland. That is the overwhelming message from parents who took the 2016 Barnardos’ School Costs Survey. For more than a decade, thousands of parents have been using the Barnardos’ School Costs Survey to speak out about the high cost of sending their children to school and this year is no different. Ireland’s education system is lauded by Government as free to access; but the responses to this year’s survey tell us otherwise. Under-investment in schools during prosperity and cuts during the recession have left parents shouldering the cost of an underfunded system. It is a burden many parents can ill afford. Parents told us they are scrimping on household bills, forgoing necessities and even going into debt to pay for their child to go to school in Ireland’s supposedly free education system. No child or family should have to suffer in order to access education. The Government has the power and the means to reduce the burden on parents and Barnardos is committed to making this happen. The first article in this issue of ChildLinks examines the results of Barnardos School Costs Survey, looking at the costs of school books, extra school fees and contributions, and school transport. It outlines Barnardos’ recommendations to Government to ensure that all children are on a level playing field with the same opportunities as their peers. The article that follows focuses on children making the move from preschool to primary school and the need to support this transition, which can be stressful and daunting for both young children and their parents. The third article gives an overview of a study that looks at the understanding and implementation of Aistear: The Early Childhood Curriculum Framework by early years educators. The Nurture Programme – Infant Health and Wellbeing is a programme that has been developed with the aim that every parent in Ireland receives the best possible advice, information and support from conception to the child’s third birthday so that each child gets the best possible start in life. An article from Programme Manager Francis Chance outlines the rationale for the Nurture Programme, the policy context for the programme and some of the key developments planned. The next article looks at the changing expectations of the role of fathers, who now often share in the caring role for their children and are fully involved in their lives. The article looks at this involvement from a child’s perspective through a series of interview questions asking children what they like to do with their fathers and why. The final article in this issue looks at the New Children First Act 2015 and the role of the Early Years Child Protection Programme in preparing the sector for new legislation