New childcare scheme launched in region

A new childcare initiative, which has been funded to the tune of €300,000, was launched this week for Westmeath and Longford. Minister for Children Frances Fitzgerald launched Tús Nua in the Sheraton Hotel, Athlone, on Monday afternoon. The Tús Nua project will work to support families and childcare services across the two counties. The project will support parents to access the free ECCE pre-school year for children; support young children's transition from home to pre-school and childcare services; support visits with families to determine the best and most appropriate service for their family and update newsletters and websites regularly. Chairperson of the National Early Years Access Initiative (NEYAI) Consortium Maria Larkin explained that the initiative had been funded by the Atlantic Philanthropies, the Mount Street Club, Pobal and the Office of the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs and it was a local inter-agency programme. She said Tús Nua is one of eleven projects around the country to be granted funding under the scheme and to date it has a staff of three - two early years workers and an administrator. Ms Larkin said the aim of the scheme was to increase the awareness of the importance for all children in participating in pre-school services to ensure their readiness for school. Collette Murray of the Equality & Diversity Early Childhood National Network (EDENn) was next to speak and said she was delighted to be part of the Tús Nua project. She explained that diversity, equality, identity and belonging are a huge part of early childhood education and that a sense of identity is important for all children, both those in the majority and those in the minority. She said that childcare practitioners often talk about 'culture' in the context of new communities, but said culture and identity is important for all children and also for adults working in the service. Collette said that children as young as two and three are aware of differences and it is at this age that their opinions are reinforced and so it's important for adults to look at their own attitudes first. She said all children benefit from a sense of belonging. She said it was important for practitioners not to be afraid to address difficult issues and training in diversity and equality can help them with this. Carol Duffy of Early Childhood Ireland spoke about the importance of play in early childhood education, as opposed to strict, structured education for young children. Launching the scheme, Minister Fitzgerald said she was delighted to launch the project and said it was great to see childcare that focused on diversity and the importance of play for children, rather than strict learning regimes. Minister Fitzgerald said she had recently returned from a conference in Norway, where the focus is on play in education for children up to the age of six before there is more structured education. She said it was good to see that we were taking more care with early childcare education in this country and her department was committed to providing the free pre-school year. She congratulated all involved and wished them well with the project.