Archives: Scéalta Blog

This weeks Scéalta, written by Máire Corbett from Early Childhood Ireland, is prompted by John Bowlby’s assertion that if we value children, we must cherish their parents. Máire connects this idea to a recent Scéalta post about the impact transitions can have on parents and outlines some thoughts on how settings can and do cherish parents.

In our Scéalta blog this week Helen Carey and Vivienne Murtagh from the Early Childhood Ireland EYES team provide information about the Quality Action Plan required as part of Core Funding. This is timely as we move closer to the review and amend window due to take place in quarter one of 2023. This will provide an opportunity for those that need to amend or update their Quality Action Plan actions.

In this weeks Scéalta, Paula Bradley, Digital Media Officer with Early Childhood Ireland and parent to two young children, talks about transitions in her daily role as a parent and discuss the strategies she uses to lessen the transitional impacts on both her and her children.

The concept of Universal Design includes the design and layout of environments. We have explored in previous blogs, ways in which we can recognise and support the diverse ways in which people learn. In this week’s Scéalta blog Debbie Mullen, from Early Childhood Ireland, looks at the concept of Universal Design for Learning.

Having looked at decluttering environments in the Scéalta blog post last week, this week Kathleen Tuite and Máire Corbett have a look at what the Universal Design Guidelines have to say about maintaining interesting environments for young children.

In this weeks scealta, Kathleen Tuite, Early Childhood Specialist, with Early Childhood Ireland, discusses the topic of decluttering! How it is good for children and adults children in early years and school age childcare settings.

In the first Scéalta blog post of 2023, Maire Corbett, from Early Childhood Ireland reflects on five key questions that can be a good new year resolution, to support children to be happy, confident and competent learners.

We all celebrate Christmas in different ways or maybe not at all. Christmas might not be a celebration for everyone from a cultural point of view. And even for people who do observe Christmas, there are as many traditions as there are families and individuals. But it may be a time of year that is hard, bringing up challenging feelings. Or it could simply be a time we might not feel like celebrating. In a country where we have wall-to-wall Christmas from September (or even earlier) every year, this can be very tough. These weeks it seems you can’t open a magazine, or a newspaper, turn on a radio or TV without some ‘helpful’ article telling us the way to a perfect Christmas dinner, set of gifts or house and garden decorations.

With the festive season in full swing, it can be hard to find the time to consider the environment. But it’s not an exaggeration to say that Christmas, as well as being the ‘most wonderful time of the year’, is also one of the most wasteful times of the year. Luckily, being sustainable can actually

Back in 2017, our former colleague here at Early Childhood Ireland, Elaine Hynes, wrote a seasonal blog called Celebrations: new traditions and shared stories. Her opening sentence was: ‘Early childhood settings bring children, families and educators from different cultures and backgrounds together and with each child and family comes a unique story. The wonderful thing