Wicklow County Childcare Committee
Suit 5, Block 6,
Broomhall Business Park,
Rathnew,
Co. Wicklow,
A67 AH39
With a focus on increasing the quality of childcare provision in the County, WCCC deliver a range of training courses for Childcare Providers and Childminders throughout County Wicklow since its first training programme in Autumn 2003. For information on our current courses, workshops and events, see the list under the training tab.
If you require any further info or have any queries about our training courses please email judy@wccc.ie.
The Pre-Hospital Emergency Care Council (PHECC) has established the First Aid Response standard. It offers training to individuals and groups who require a first aid skill set, including ‘cardiac first response’ – that is, providing first aid to someone having a heart attack or other heart-related issue. The PHECC standard is designed to meet first aid and basic life support (BLS) requirements that a person known as ‘First Aid responder’ may need in emergency circumstances.
Tusla recognises PHECC’s First Aid Response Education and Training Standard when delivered by a training provider approved by PHECC. It sees it as meeting the required standard for compliance with the revised regulation in Early Years registered services. All successful course participants are given joint PHECC /Recognised Institution FAR certificates. The certificate expires after two years.
From the 1 November 2021, to meet the regulatory requirement for Regulation 25, there must be at least one person who is FAR certified (First Aid Response) available to the children at all times. The number of people trained in FAR and available for first aid response is based on the service’s risk assessments, including the size of the service and the hazards identified. Where a service provides evidence of a person certified in FAR and being available to the children at all times, the regulatory requirement will be deemed to be met.
PHECC is the regulator for emergency medical services (EMS) in Ireland whose role is to protect the public. PHECC is an independent statutory agency with responsibility for standards, education and training in the field of pre-hospital emergency care. PHECC also maintain a statutory register of emergency medical services (EMS) practitioners. Further information available at: www.phecit.ie/.
The list of training providers below is not exhaustive, and you are not obliged to use a trainer from our list. You can use the PHECC approved training provider of your choice.
| Bryan Higgins First Aid Services | 087 9489709 |
| First Aid 4 All | 086-8568315 |
| Early Years First Aid | 059-9162924 / 085-8393441 |
| Health and Safety Training Ireland | 089-4128681 |
| Canavan & Byrne | 01-6235908 |
| First Aid Coaching | 087-9723753 / 021-2398647 |
| Responsive Training | 087-6300544 |
| Platinum Safety | 087 648 7556 |
| Optima Training | 061-514744 |
| Focus Training Ireland | 089-4009937 |
| Learn How Training | 086-8865470 |
| James Maye Occupational First Aid Services | 087-6269214 |
Online Resources
There are a number free on-line resources available to providers and practitioners. Below is a link to each.
Aistear Síolta Practice Guide
There are lots resources in the Practice Guide including examples of good practices, resources for sharing, self-assessment tools (where you can take the time to reflect on your practice) and action planning tools.
You can access the Aistear Síolta Practice Guide here: http://aistearsiolta.ie/en/
Check out Mo Scéal resources on the NCCA website. Mo Scéal, (My story) supports the child’s transition from Preschool to Primary school through a range of resources and examples of good practice:
AIM Inclusive Play is a set of resources to support inclusive practice within pre-school setttings. These resources, which include equipment, toys and materials, also support the development of coordination and audio, visual and tactile skills among all children, and in particular, children with a disability.
Follow the link below for video demonstrations and learn how to introduce and use resources with young children.
Lámh supports communication – between parents and child, between siblings, between friends. It can be a stepping stone to communicating with the world. Lámh is a manual sign system used by children and adults with intellectual disability and communication needs in Ireland.
https://www.lamh.org/
Lámh on Instagram:
Check this out. A great way of learning new Lámh signs in a fun way. The stories and themes are topical and updated daily.
https://www.instagram.com/lamhsign/?hl=en
Lámh on Twitter:
Another way of brushing up on your signing.
https://twitter.com/lamhsign?lang=en
Hanen offer some free articles to Parents and Early Years Educators. Explore fun activities using the Hanen approach, ‘Tips for Parents’ and ‘Research’ summaries: http://www.hanen.org/Helpful-Info.aspx
Book Nook – The Hanen Centre
The Hanen Centre have a youtube channel where they share some of their favourite children’s books and talk about ways you can use them with young children to promote their emergent literacy skills.
Follow the link below to see what books you can find and learn new ways to support children’s emergent literacy skills:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAIbqGJPRH1nJiyukLKrgkj3rLpEfGufZ
The Barnardos Learning and Development Service offers a comprehensive range of innovative training which supports best practice and is suitable for anyone working with or caring for children.
See their website for a list of current training:
Inside Education is a weekly podcast for educators interested in teaching. It is released every Wednesday during the school year. Suggestions for and feedback on the podcast are always welcome at insideeducationpodcast@yahoo.com. You can text the programme on 086 8962665.
Podcasts of previous programmes are available at www.insideed.com and from http://seandelaney.com/podcasts/.
The programme is presented and produced by Seán Delaney.
Early Childhood Ireland have a fantastic practice blogs which sharing learning and practice from around the country. Take a look for some inspiration and ideas.
Scealta – The Early Childhood Ireland Blog – Early Childhood Ireland
Julia Donaldson, Author of The Gruffalo, is hosting a weekly session from her home, full of stories, poems and songs. It can be accessed through the official ‘Gruffalo’ facebook page and would be a great resource to share with Parents too. https://www.facebook.com/OfficialGruffalo/
This website has interesting resources to share for free. Go to the ‘Resource’ section to find ideas on providing a range of creative experiences for different age groups. The ‘Research’ section to find articles on the impact of creative experiences on the development of young children.
The National Federation of Voluntary Bodies with the support of the HSE have developed this resource for professionals who work with families where a child has a disability. The course takes one hour.
Tusla has worked with the DCYA and HSE to developed a universal e-learning training programme called ‘Introduction to Children First’. The programme has been written to support people of all backgrounds and experience in recognising concerns about children and reporting such concerns if they arise. The programme is based on Children First: National Guidance for the Protection and Welfare of Children and the Children First Act 2015.
The programme takes approximately 1.5 hours to complete but it can be done in a number of sittings. The programme will allow you to log back in and resume where you left off.
https://www.tusla.ie/children-first/children-first-e-learning-programme/
