Kildare County Childcare Committee

09/06/2026

Minister for Children, Disability and Equality, Norma Foley - TD today welcomed the publication of a new review which highlights the benefits of Government funding for parent and toddler groups.

The Parent and Toddler Group grants support weekly meet-ups for hundreds of parents, guardians, grandparents, childminders, and young children across the country.

In 2024, almost 400 parent and toddler groups received grants worth €912 on average to support their work.

The full press release can be found here: https://www.gov.ie/en/department-of-children-disability-and-equality/press-releases/minister-foley-welcomes-new-review-highlighting-the-social-benefits-of-funding-for-parent-and-toddler-groups/

09/06/2026

Hi everyone,

I’d like to share a little update regarding our Parent Peer Support group.

The group will continue to run on the first Wednesday of every month from 10:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. in the Parish Centre, Newbridge.

In addition, we have decided to extend the sessions to every other Wednesday from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.

These sessions are open to parents with babies and toddlers, offering a welcoming and supportive space to connect, chat, and share experiences.

Free entry for all.

08/06/2026

✨Dear Service Provider,

We are delighted to announce the process for Nurturing Skills Learner Fund (NSLF) Continuous Students to confirm their eligibility for the coming academic year 2026/2027 opens today 8 June 2026 at 9am and will close on 26 June 2026 at 5pm. Can you please advise your staff of these details.

Continuing students: are existing students who successfully received NSLF funding for academic year 2024/2025 and/or 2025/2026 and are eligible to continue to receive funding for NSLF for academic year 2026/2027.

Important: It is the responsibility of the student to confirm their eligibility and failure to do so will result in NSLF funding being withdrawn. Once eligibility is confirmed, a new letter of Conditional Funding will be issued for the academic year 2026/2027.

Resources

Resources from the recent training sessions held on the 26 May 2026 and 27 May 2026 can be found in the resources section of the NSLF Student Portal.

Support

If you have any queries, please email [email protected]

About NSLF

The Nurturing Skills Learner Fund (NSLF) is co-funded by the European Union through the European Social Fund+ and by the Government Ireland through the Employment, Inclusion, Skills and Training programme (EIST) 2021-27.

NSLF aims to assist early year’s educators to pursue early learning and care (ELC) qualifications at level 7 and level 8 that have been approved by the Qualifications Advisory Board (QAB) while continuing to work in the sector.

Regards,
The Early Years Team

08/06/2026

Dear Service Provider,

The application process for the Core Funding 2026/2027 programme year will open at 12pm today.

You can submit an original Core Funding Application Module for the 2026/2027 Core Funding programme year by navigating to the Core Funding Application page under the Programme menu.

Partner Services contracted into the 2025/2026 Core Funding programme year, who have completed the May Review and Confirm process and their Review and Confirm record is at an ‘Approved’ status, will have the option to auto-populate their original Core Funding Application Module for the 2026/2027 Core Funding programme year using the information from the most recently ‘Approved’ 2025/2026 Core Funding application record.

Where a Partner Service has a retrospective Update Due Dates(s) for the 2025/2026 Core Funding programme year, these must be actioned prior to starting the submission of their original Core Funding Application Module for 2026/2027 programme year.

Once you have submitted your original Core Funding Application Module, you will have a 21-day window to accept the Core Funding Partner Service Funding Agreement 2026/2027 which will become available in the All Programme Applications section under the Programmes menu.

If your service requires support, additional resources are available under the Help and Support section on the Early Years Hive. Your local City/County Childcare Committee (CCC) are also available for guidance to assist you in completing your Core Funding Application Module.

If you require any further assistance or clarification on any of the above, please contact the Early Years Provider Centre (EYPC) by raising a Service Request.

Regards,
The Early Years Team

08/06/2026

✨Dear Parents

The next parent support meeting organised by Kildare Autism Network is as follows:

Friday 12th of June at 11-12.30pm at Naas library in room 3.

The website for Kildare Autism Network is -

Providing a peer group for parents and family members to share experiences and information in a positive and supportive setting since 2015.

08/06/2026

Final Reminder - CPD Mapping Survey Closing Soon

Dear Provider,

Practising professionals from the Early Learning and Care (ELC), School‑Age Childcare (SAC) and Childminding sectors are reminded to complete the national CPD mapping survey commissioned by the Department of Children, Disability and Equality (DCDE).

The survey explores current CPD opportunities, access and engagement across the sector and will help shape future CPD planning.

🗓 Survey closing date: 8June 2026
🔗 Survey link: DCDE CPD Mapping Exercise - Educators Survey https://ireland.crowesurvey.com/index.php/443798?lang=en

We encourage all eligible professionals to participate and share their experiences

There are still places available within the focus group sessions for all educators, practitioners and childminders, please contact Robert O’Connell @ [email protected] directly if you are interested in availing of the focus group.

Kind regards,

Early Learning and Care and School-Age Childcare Division

Survey options Load unfinished survey You have completed 0% of this survey Caution: JavaScript ex*****on is disabled in your browser or for this website. You may not be able to answer all questions in this survey. Please, verify your browser parameters. DCDE CPD Mapping Exercise - Educators Survey T...

05/06/2026

✨Dear Service Provider,

Thank you to all who attended our recent Nurturing Skills Learner Fund Completing the Employment Record for Existing Students 2026 training sessions.

For those who may have missed the training sessions, you can watch the recorded webinar and view the training slides via the links below.

Additionally, we have added a recorded webinar and slides from the sessions to the Resources section of the Early Years Hive and NSLF Student Portal.

Please see links below:

NSLF Completing the Employment Record for Existing Students Webinar
NSLF Completing the Employment Record for Existing Students Training Slides

Kind regards,
The Early Years Team

05/06/2026

Did you know? You can claim additional hours of National Childcare Scheme (NCS) subsidy during the summer holidays?
Visit www.ncs.gov.ie/faqs today for more details!

05/06/2026

Dear Service Provider,

This announcement provides further information regarding the AIM application process for the 2026/2027 programme call.

AIM Level 4 and Level 5 applications opened on 06 May 2026. All applications should continue to be submitted in line with existing application processes.

AIM Level 4:

As outlined in previous communications, as part of the AIM Level 7 redesign, the level of support allocated to a child is now determined following the submission of their AIM Level 4 application and the subsequent review of the child’s needs by Better Start. It is therefore important that an AIM Level 4 application is submitted as early as possible for any child intending to access AIM Level 7 supports for the 2026/2027 programme call. Please note, preliminary decisions on the level of support determined at the AIM Level 4 application stage will be issued from early July.

It is equally important that all information provided within the AIM Level 4 application is accurate, as this directly informs the level of support awarded. In addition, please ensure that the AIM application acknowledgement form is completed correctly to avoid any delays in processing. The AIM application acknowledgement form can be found here. Where an AIM Level 4 application has been referred back to you for further information or clarification, please update and resubmit it promptly to ensure processing can continue without delay.

As previously advised, where a child has an existing AIM Level 7 application under the 2025/2026 programme call and remains eligible for an additional year of support, no action is required at this time. Service providers are asked not to withdraw these applications in advance of the 2026/2027 programme call and can expect preliminary decisions to be issued from early July.

Summer Period:

As we enter the summer months, we would like to remind service providers to submit all AIM Level 7 Non-term applications at the earliest opportunity for the current programme call.

Contact Us

If you have any queries regarding the AIM programme, please contact the Early Years Provider Centre (EYPC) by raising a request on Hive using the following categories:

Programme: Select the relevant AIM level
Request Type: Application
Request Type Detail: How To

Regards,
The Early Years Team

05/06/2026

Programme Readiness for ECCE, NCS, and CCSP Saver Programme 2026/2027

📣Providers-

The first stage of Programme Readiness for ECCE, NCS and the CCSP Saver Programme 2026/2027 is now available for services to complete on the Early Years Hive.

Please note, Core Funding 2026/2027 will be available soon. Further details will be posted on the Early Years Hive.

Activating Funding Agreements

Before you can activate a funding agreement, your service must ensure that the following information is up to date for 2026/2027:

· Organisation details
· Service Provider details
· Primary Authorised User (PAU)
· Portal users
· Bank account
· Tusla registration
· Minimum numbers (ECCE only)

Also, that you have submitted the following:

· 2026/2027 Fee Table
· 2026/2027 Service Calendar (per programme)

Once these steps are completed, the Primary Authorised User (PAU) of your service can activate a funding agreement on the All Programme Applications page of the Early Years Hive.

You must also update your Parent Statement for the 2026/2027 programme year, but this step can be completed either before or after you activate a funding agreement.

Fee Table/ Parent Statement and Service Calendar for 2026/2027

You will need to submit your Fee Table and Service Calendar(s) for 2026/2027 before activating a funding agreement for ECCE, NCS, or the CCSP Saver Programme.

· Information on creating your Fee Table and your Parent Statement is available here, https://earlyyearshive.ncs.gov.ie/how-to-guides/how-to-guides-hive/create-fee-table/

· Information on creating your Service Calendar for 2026/2027 is available here, https://earlyyearshive.ncs.gov.ie/how-to-guides/

Guidance

· Copies of the 2026/2027 funding agreements and programme rules for ECCE, NCS and CCSP Saver Programme can be found under the relevant programme heading on the Programme Documents page.

· Guidance on completing programme readiness steps and activating a funding agreement for ECCE, NCS and CCSP Saver Programme can be found under the relevant programme heading on the Help and support page.

Supports

A recording of one of the training webinars and the PowerPoint slides are available here, https://earlyyearshive.ncs.gov.ie/how-to-guides/training-videos/

The questions from the webinars are currently being reviewed and, on completion, a Q&A document will be added to the Early Years Hive.

Checklists: Programme Readiness checklists for each programme can be found by clicking the links below:

· ECCE Checklist
· CCSP Checklist
· NCS Checklist

Help and support: If you have any questions about programme readiness, contact the Early Years Provider Centre (EYPC). Simply raise a Request on the Early Years Hive by selecting the relevant programme and request type from the dropdown menu.

Regards,
The Early Years Team