Better Start Quality Development Service

The Better Start Quality Development Service

The Better Start Quality Development Service is an additional resource to support and drive quality improvement. It provides a highly skilled and experienced Early Years Specialist team to work directly in a mentoring capacity with Early Years services, complementing and adding to other quality resources such as training, CPD programmes, networking, cluster type support groups and individual or team based development work.

The Quality Development Service will operate on a national, rather than regional or county basis. Requests for the service can be made through your local CCC and will be processed centrally. Early Years Specialists will be allocated to ECEC services on the basis of availability, skills and experience, as far as possible matching the service profile. You can learn more about the  Better Start Quality Development Service by clicking here.

Please see below 10 steps for the engagement process with the Better Start quality service

Ten Steps to Completing QRF with CCC

Service Criteria and Priorities for the Better Start Quality Development Service

Click here to read the latest criteria for engaging the Better Start Quality Development Service.

Services must meet one of the following criteria:

1. Full daycare services (birth – 6 years) catering for a minimum of 40 children on a full daycare basis
2. Services catering for 20 full and/or part-time children with at least 40 children overall
3. Group or chain providers with services under the same ownership
4. Sessional services for children with at least 40 children in total

If your service meets the criteria above and would like to engage the Quality Development Service in your setting, please read this document to learn more about what is involved and contact WCCC to express your interest.

Priority Request

• Inspection issues or Inspection issues relevant to quality development

• Access to quality support has been very limited

• A combination of factors such as location of service, high levels of disadvantage, rural isolation or the needs/profile of children

• Significant staff turnover

Please see our Steps to Quality Development Infographic

City and County Childcare Committees (CCCs)

The City and County Childcare Committees roles include childcare funding programme support, identification of local support needs, provision of local support, commissioning of local support and liaison with the Quality Development Service.

Your local CCC is the first point of contact locally to source quality support opportunities.

Contact us at 0404 64455 or info@wccc.ie for more details or click here to view the range of training workshops and supports on offer currently by WCCC and VCOs.

Aistear Síolta Practice Guide

A practice guide based on Aistear: The Early Childhood Curriculum Framework and Síolta: The National Quality Framework for Early Childhood Education has been developed by the National Council for Curriculum Assessment (NCCA). It is an online resource which is available to all early years providers, mentors, trainers and students. Click here to read more.

Voluntary Childcare Organisations (VCOs)

Voluntary childcare organisations offer a range of quality development supports also funded through DCYA. These include: training and mentoring; information and advice; evidence based research and innovation; print and online publications and practice resources as well as specific membership benefits to groups of early years providers. Contact details for VCOs are included below.

• Childminding Ireland info@childminding.ie www.childminding.ie

• Early Childhood Ireland See Website for staff contacts www.earlychildhoodireland.ie

• Irish Steiner Kindergarten Association iskanc@gmail.com www.iskaireland.org

• St Nicholas Montessori Society of Ireland info@montessoriireland.ie www.montessoriireland.ie

• Barnardos info@barnardo.ie www.barnardos.ie

• Border Counties Childcare Network* info@bccn.ie  www.bccn.ie

*National Childhood Network from March 2015