Our system allows for the addition of content through the easy to use "dashboard". You will be able to choose from a series of designs for your site or have a new template created especially for you (at an additional cost).

Our basic website will consist of up to 7 pages e.g:

1. Home
2. About Us
3. Tour (photo)
4. Programs
5. Our Staff
6. Curriculum
7. Contact Us

We will also include the following additional pages as standard:

1. Terms and Conditions
2. Privacy Policy
3. Site Map

We will also link your site to your choice of Social Media profiles including: Twitter, Face Book, MySpace and YouTube etc

Your website will also be search engine friendly with full SEO optimisations applied (you would normaly be required to pay for this service but it is included free of charge with your website). This means that your new childcare site will appear on Google, Yahoo and Bing.

This service will be launched in early February and we will be offering special discounts for the launch. Please sign upto our website to be notified when this exciting new service is launched.

Thanks

Paul Matthews

Childcare Management Systems

When you manage a childcare business, it is important to choose childcare furniture and childcare supplies that are designed to keep children safe – while making your job easier.

Childcare Furniture: Safety Considerations

Keeping in mind the old adage that prevention is the best cure, choose childcare furniture with your children in mind. Purchase the proper height tables and chairs so that getting up and down from the table is safe and easy for your children. Avoid furniture with sharp edges and corners; rounded edges are best and will prevent many accidents.

Slippery floors can also be an avoidable issue. The best flooring for a childcare center is carpeting. If you have hardwood floors or tile, cover it with non-slip area rugs to protect children when they fall. The rugs will also provide a warm, soft place to play.

Book shelves and toy shelves are essential childcare furniture, as they provide for organization and create more space within the room. However, they can also be hazardous if you have children in your childcare who like to climb. Avoid this issue by only using shelves that are about the same height as most of the children in your care, and be certain that all shelves are secured to the wall behind them.

Another consideration when choosing childcare furniture is how well the furniture is constructed and what types of materials were used. In general, avoid using painted furniture or furniture made from pressed board that is known to off-gas such as mdf. In addition, periodically check all childcare furniture for loose screws, protruding nails and splintering wood.

Childcare Supplies: Important Details

When picking out childcare supplies such as toys and games, keep the safety of the children foremost in your mind. Avoid childcare supplies that are made cheaply and don’t contain a list of ingredients. Purchase well known brand name childcare supplies whenever possible. This especially holds true for art supplies such as paints and play dough.

Cheaply made toys and games present other concerns. Small, easily broken plastic parts can be dangerous to young children. A good rule of thumb is not to purchase any childcare supplies with parts small enough to be put in a child’s mouth. Wooden blocks, toys and puzzles are often the best choice in childcare supplies because they are safe, sturdy and will last a long time.

Other childcare supplies to consider are cleaning supplies. While it is important to clean and disinfect all areas of the childcare, including toys and games, on a regular basis, avoid cleaning supplies made with harsh or toxic chemicals.

Childcare Safety Plan

The emergency safety plan is a critical component to keeping your students safe. While a first-aid kit is a good place to start, you need to create a plan in case of an emergency, such as a natural disaster or fire. Once you have a plan, communicate it to the families served by your childcare.

Another important safety measure is to conduct background checks on every individual you employ, including yourself. This will give you and the families you serve peace of mind.

In addition, be wary of strangers coming to pick up a child from your childcare. Be prepared to place a phone call to a parent and demand photo ID if the person picking up a child is unfamiliar to you. It’s always better to be safe than sorry when children are concerned.

These tips are a simple, yet helpful guide for childcare providers when choosing childcare furniture and childcare supplies, as well as developing safety guidelines and emergency plans.

For the first time in Ireland you will be able to purchase a software application that is not modular in nature and at a resonable cost. CMS 2.0 will transform the management of key tasks that are required for the administration of a successful childcare facility. CMS 2.0 has all the functionality that you need and will grow with your business. There is no need to upgrade or change your licence as CMS 2.0 handles:

 

You can download a free demo and try this amazing application in your service for 30 days.

    

Please Download Me

 

CMS 2.0 is the only software you will ever need to manage your child care business. Our childcare management software is not provided in modules and you are not charged for each module that you need.  But, for less than the cost of one of these single "modules", you get the complete CMS 2.0 childcare package.

 

For the month’s of December and January you can receive a discount of €100.00 off the regular price of €199.00.  You cannot afford not to buy CMS 2.0 it will pay for itself in the hours it saves you on boring admin.

 

CMS 2.0 is available now and you can get full information at our sales page.

 

 

 

Unlimited Clients

 

 

Unlimited Children

 

 

It’s not everyday that you get the chance to communicate with your students’ parents. This is why you need an effective communication medium like a poster to keep them updated about your preschool. However, you need to use your prints properly in order to achieve an effective communication between you and your clients. Here are a few tips to help you in your poster printing campaign:

What to do with Posters?

Announce upcoming school events. Gain more participants for your preschool’s events by promoting them using posters, because a poster has the ability to reach as many people as possible. For instance, you can announce school programs, field trips, or school fundraisers. Always make sure that all the essential information about the event is included on your posters so as not to inconvenience the readers.

 Provide information about your pre-school. Posters can also serve as trusty tools for reinforcing your brand. Make your pre-school more visible to the market by promoting your pre-school’s mission, vision, accreditation, or milestones. The positive review you got from your local newspaper for instance can be the main message of your posters. A positive review can help convince parents to enroll their children in your preschool. This translates to an increase in enrollment rate and profit for your business.

Share helpful parenting tips. Provide substantial information for parents so they can benefit from your poster’s content. And what’s the better content to use than smart parenting tips? Parents will definitely be impressed with the effort you put on sharing tips that can help them in raising their children.

Keeping the following tips in mind enables you to come up with an effective poster campaign for your pre-school. Remember that it is also important to invest in high-quality poster printing from a reputable online printing company to make sure that your posters come out just the way you wanted.

Why? The center you choose will ultimately be responsible for your child’s well being and safety the 5-9 hours a day they are left in the care of the center.
 

Whether you are looking for a home child care provider or an official daycare center, there are several things you should keep in mind before signing your children up for care.

Location – first and foremost, you have to decide where you would like to have your child cared for. This could be in a center close to your home, your job, or you may even prefer care in your home. Once you have decided on location you can start investigating the available centers or providers in that area. In Ireland you can get a list of childcare providers from your local Childcare Committee .

Ask for References – Ask your friends and other family members with children for references about good daycare centers. These are often the most reliable source of information about daycare.

Interview Daycare Staff – Never place your child in a daycare center without first meeting the staff. Make a point to meet the director and the caregivers that will be looking over your little one. Feel free to ask them questions about their standards, disciplinary procedures, sleep and even feeding routines. You should be looking for staff members that are enthusiastic, dedicated, warm and caring. Their love of children should be evident in everything that they do. If you are not comfortable with the staff, look somewhere else.

Check References – As we mentioned you should check with your family and friends for references to a decent day care center. You should also ask the center for a list of references you can call to confirm their qualifications. One thing you might also inquirer about is staff turn over. The higher the rate of turn over the more likely there is to be trouble.
 

Remember that a good day care center will have a clean environment, a good reputation, solid rules and a curriculum that includes lots of playtime, physical activity, learning activities and even quiet time.

 
When determining whether a daycare is good or not, also keep in mind staff ratios. The ratios vary from country to country and I have listed ratios for the Republic of Ireland :

Check to see if the ratio falls within recommended guidelines but are they acceptable to you and for your child..

You should also make sure that the daycare facility is registered with the relevant autorities e.g. HSE, OFSTED etc

I found the following review of the U-play mat on Woman Tribune website by
Sandie Lee of Family Matters.

Looking for a fun, engaging and educational way to spend time with your child? Then look no further, the U-Play Mat is here. Designed by Pediatrician (and mom of two sets of twins), Dr. Jennifer Canter, or Dr. Jen as she likes to be called, designed the U-shaped mat and accompanying picture cards “with the goal of enhancing interactive floor play between toddlers and parents.”

The U-Play Mat is a U-shaped, 4ft x 3ft deep mat with 15 large, clear pockets on its surface. The innovative “U” shape allows the child to sit inside the opening of the “U” with full access to the 15 pockets. Your child now has full visual and tactile access to the whole surface, without having to crawl atop the mat. The see-through pockets are child-safe and secured to the mat surface. U-Play Mat comes packed in a cute tote, with 8 outer pockets to store the cards in. Plus, a handy instruction booklet to help get you started. To begin play sit across and engage the child in a variety of exercises using the adorable theme-based card decks, (ie. Food, Home, Play, Dress). There is no writing on these durable cards, so you can play/teach your child in any language. Here’s a look at some of the things you can do with U-Play Mat:

Exercise 1: Identification, works on receptive vocabulary

Exercise 2: Labelling, works on expressive vocabulary

Exercise 3: Matching Skills: understanding same/different

Exercise 4: Same

Exercise 5: Different

Exercise 6: Yes/No

Exercise 7: Wh’ Questions: ‘who, what, where, why, when; foundations of conversation

Exercise 8: Using More Words: improves on communication skills

Exercise 9: Making Connections; helps with recalling information

Exercise 10: Following Directions process information skills

If you are interested in purchasing this amazing educational toy please click on the banner below. The current exchange rate and great shipping charge makes this a steal and will be great addition to your home or childcare service. Would also make a great Chrismas Pressie!!!  I do get paid a commission for any sales that are made from the link below and other affiliate links on my site. For this reason I am very particular about any products that I promote and recommend to you. That is why I recommend the U-play mat because I believe it provides a really useful learning/educational toy for both your home and childcare business. 

!

Hello there  

This is my second video the Childcare Management System 2.0 software application which I am launching this month.  This short video explains how easy CMS 2.0 is to use in your service.  

You can download a demo of CMS 2.0  from my site at www.childcaremanagement.net/CMS. This demo is fully functional for 30 days and if you want to continue using it you can purchase a licence and register the programme. We have it on Special Offer for the month of December and if you mention this blog when you purchase I will send you a full set of childcare polocies and procedures which you can adapt to your service, these will saves you days of work.  Please sit back and view the video below please note that this is the 2nd of a series of videos on CMS 2.0. I would love to have your comments or questions.  

Thanks  

Paul  

CMS    

  I have produced my first  video about the Childcare Management System 2.0 software application which I am launching this month.  

You can download a demo of CMS 2.0  from my site at www.childcaremanagement.net/CMS. This demo is fully functional for 30 days and if you want to continue using it you can purchase a licence and register the programme. We have it on Special Offer for the month of December and if you mention this blog when you purchase I will send you a full set of childcare polocies and procedures which you can adapt to your service, these will saves you days of work.   Please sit back and view the video below please note that this is the first of a series of videos on CMS 2.0. I would love to have your comments or questions.  

Thanks  

Paul

CMS    

The idea for this series of blogs came from the Childcare Professionals Discussion forum on www.rollercoaster.ie  (join this excellent site it is completely free only after you have read all of my blog posts!!!)  

The year was 2004 and we decided that we should setup a small pre-school in our home. We had no idea about setting up a business. The only saving grace was that Orla had 10 years experience in childcare and also worked as a child protection officer in one of Dublin’s most notorious estates. I secretly rubbed my hands with glee at the prospect of earning millions as a child care provider, sitting back while the workers looked after the kids for the minimum wage! I really believed that and we would be getting in €1000.00 per child per month! The media was full of horror stories about the cost of childcare in Dublin in particular and I loved it! I wanted a piece of the childcare gravy train. I was going to retire a few years later with a string of childcare centres around Dublin.  Yes, I really did think like this and this was my initial motivation.   As I hope that you realise this is not the right reasoning to open a childcare business, parents will see through you quickly if all you are interested in is how much you can get per child. Finance of course is important but if the service that you provide suffers because money is your only motivation then you will get a bad name and your service will be in trouble. Before you even contemplate opening a childcare service you need to ask yourself some important questions (there are lots more but I have listed a few and not in order of importance):  

Do I like kids particularly working with them? (this is really important and if you don’t I would suggest you look at a different career!)  

Am I creative enough to help children grow when they are in your service? (I am not creative enough at all when it comes to kids but I can read stories to them and be the bouncer at the door and debt collector, Orla and I had different skills which collectively made it work).  

Am I motivated enough to devote time to curriculum planning, seasonal preparation etc?   Can I deal with parents? (they can be emotional, petty, unrealistic, OTT, not pay fees, complain about everything etc)  

Can I deal with staff? (they can be emotional, lazy, petty, OTT, steal from you, complain about everything etc)  

Can I deal with state bodies? (Revenue, HSE Inspectorate etc)  

Do I hate doing admin? (there is plenty of records to be kept for your service, we can provide you with a software application that greatly reduce the amount of time that you spend on admin, please contact me for more details)  

Do I want to be self employed? (being an entrepreneur is not for everyone)  

Once you have answered these questions honestly then you need to do your research, is there a need for another childcare service in your area?  How many pre-school, wobbler’s, toddlers, babies are there in your area now and in the next 5 years? What makes you different to all the other facilities?  

I have spoken with some clients of mine who are only getting into childcare because of the ECCE scheme (they see it as guaranteed income), if this is your only motivation I would suggest that you look at the list above again and be sure that this is the area that you want to get into (we do not need to get into the same situation that the Hotel business now finds itself in!). The ECCE scheme is not the saviour of childcare in Ireland as some think. I am personally worried with the  poor implementation of the ECCE scheme, lack of leadership from the government especially the children’s minister. Who knows what changes this government will make over the next few years particularly to the fees paid to providers (we are an easy target for the government). Please do not be surprised if the rules change and the fees paid by the government to providers are lowered and you will be forced to make up the fees with extra charges (some parents will not be able to pay any extra fees).  I do hope that the scheme works but wait to be convinced.  

It is hard to believe how badly prepared we were when we first setup in our home. We were enthusiastic and between us we had enough skills to make it work. It was a rough start but 5 parents believed and trusted us enough to leave their kids in our care.   Things to learn:   You will probably not become an overnight millionaire if you open a childcare facility particularly by the time the taxman, local council, ESB, Board Gais, staff costs et eat into your profit The current recession will reduce the level of fees (ECCE will also reduce the fees for some facilities)  that can be charged. Things are even worse in 2010 with the advent of the ECCE scheme most services are experiencing a slowdown in the number of children that attend the service in the run up to January. In previous years we were always guaranteed that by the end of September our  service would be full. We always had a waiting list by the end of September.  

 Things that you must do and we didn’t at first: (we will deal with each over the next few posts)

• Research the childcare market adequately.
• Contact the local Childcare Committee.
• Contact the HSE inspectorate, get an advisory visit.
• Put together a meaningful business plan.
• Join the IPPA or NCNA.
• Create policies and procedures especially a child protection and fees policy
• Attend Children’s First Training
• Create a term timetable so that parents can plan when your service is closed
• Register your business name

    We did do the following :

• Obtained insurance (cost us a fortune because we were not members of the IPPA)
• Put advertisements up in the local shops, churches, chemists, gave out leaflets at the local school, where ever there was a notice board we put a small leaflet up!
• Designed a corporate image especially a logo and then a letter head, leaflet design etc.
• Bought equipment, toys, books (both new and second hand) etc
• Developed our own Curriculum (it really was very good)
• Prayed like crazy!!!!

The above picture is an example of one of our advertisements it was produced by me in Microsoft Publisher. The Logo consisted of a number of clip art images from Publisher and took me about three hours to design. I would strongly suggest that you get your logo professionally created if at all possible (please see the advertisement for Logonerds on this page who can design a fantastic professional logo to your requirements for you at an amazing price). We were able to use this advertisement as either postcard sized great for the post office or shop or as a laminated A4 advertisement for outside lampposts etc. Our tag line was "Learning through play". The font we used for the logo was Chick. The fonts used in the advertisement were Chick, Elephant, Arial Narrow and Ariel Black. As we are members of the IPPA we also used their logo on all of our documentation.  

One big mistake that we made when we first opened was not having a parents handbook and term timetable ready to give to the parents. We were also too nice to the parents and because we wanted to please them so much they got away with late payment of fees, picking up their children late and lots of other things!   We also got inspected in our first moth which was a revelation to us and the inspector was so helpful. We had to make numerous changes to the room but with her advice we were approved for 9 in the room. She advised us to join the IPPA which we did and registered with the local county childcare committee.   In part 2 we will discuss how we setup the room and the changes that we made to be approved for 9 in the sitting room alone. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask in the comments section.  

Thanks for reading and I would really value your comments particularly if this information is useful to you etc..    

Paul

Childcare Management Systems