Zero-8-Teen Annual Report 2024
25 Years Of Zero-8-Teen
In May this year we celebrated 25 years of our Children’s Centre in Moylinn House, Legahory. Our origins are back in 1993 when Brownlow Play Association was launched, a committee set up to improve play provision in the area with voluntary & community groups, the local Education Board and Craigavon Borough Council.
The Association hosted many events such as annual Play Days for local families and the committee worked to support Drumgor,
Monbrief and Tullygally Playgroups.
Zero-8-Teen eventually grew from this. Various fundraising events were held to help get the centre up and running including a pub quiz, a sponsored walk and many local businesses made donations to assist.
The centre was initially registered to care for 36 children and we had our official opening with Nobel Laureate MP John Hume in attendance in May 1999.
Currently, our 30 full and part time staff care for 73 children across the daycare and our after school facility at St Anthony’s Scout Hall. The Contact Centre was added in October 2008. Here, twice weekly we provide a neutral venue at our centre for around a dozen children to meet with their non-resident parents, build relationships and eventually find a pathway to positive contact in the wider community. The Contact Centre has a small committed staff team who work with a wonderful group of volunteers, who give of their time to support this valuable service. Many are Health & Social
Care students who we support with training and work experience to complete their placements as part of their studies.
In addition, Zero-8-Teen continues to provide a support service for Childcare Member Groups in our area.We are an Access NI Registered Body enabling local groups to obtain Enhanced Disclosure Certificates.
We cntinue to operate within a Social Economy Framework, so we are a registered charity and reinvest our profits back into the centre, to keep our fees as low as possible for our families.
Our Children’s Play Event & Coffee Morning at St Anthony’s Hall. 6[th] June 2024.
25 Year Celebration Dinner Edenmore Golf & Country Club. 29[th] June 2024
Message from our Chairperson
Welcome to the 2024 Annual Report for Zero-8-Teen, Totz ‘n’ Teenz and the Child Contact Centre.
Having been involved on the periphery of Zero-8-Teen since 2011, it was a privilege to be involved with the organisation in this special year when it celebrated its 25-year anniversary. I really enjoyed learning about how Zero8-Teen came into being; it surely is a testament to what can be achieved when communities join together, have a vision and take bold steps to make that vision come to life. It was lovely to meet up with the great women who made this dream a reality; women such as Janice Geary, Carol Halforty, Carol Haughian and Yvonne Smyth, to name but a few. It was also lovely to be in contact with one of the founding patrons, Lady Brownlow. Unfortunately, she was unable to attend any of the events but she sent an encouraging, congratulatory letter and a generous donation. I am delighted to report that throughout the 25 years of operation, Zero-8-Teen has grown has and continues to flourish. Let's hope that the next 25 years are as successful.
The Operations Manager, Mrs Sinead Young, is still quite fresh in her role since her appointment in August 2022. However, she has continued to make an extremely positive contribution overseeing everything that happens in the setting. It is a varied and challenging role which she has continued to successfully take in her stride. I take this opportunity to thank Sinead for all her endeavours as I appreciate working with so many sectoral bodies and making so many grant applications can be painstaking. I especially thank her for taking the lead in organising all the events for the 25th anniversary. I appreciate that organising such events was time consuming but nonetheless rewarding. I thank all the other managers, Noeleen, Linda, Christine, Lee and Michaela who have continued to support Sinead in her role.
The Contact Centre largely operates independently under the Co-Ordinator, Mrs Linda Lyness. Linda works tirelessly with a small band of dedicated and committed volunteers who turn up weekly; and without these volunteers the Contact Centre would not function. For these young volunteers there is often the opportunity to progress their learning through college or university. Linda has been ably assisted by staff members Olga, Andrew, Lee and Adam. Although Linda was absent for a few weeks, the staff members ably stepped up to seamlessly manage the Contact Centre; this is evidence of excellent teamwork! Well done everyone and we wish Linda a continued good recovery and all the best for her second operation.
I congratulate Noeleen Simpson, Day Care Manager, for her hard work, dedication and commitment and that of her staff. I personally am indebted to her for the amount of work she carries out daily. The job is varied and demanding and Noeleen works diligently to ensure that it is a success. Her hard work has been rewarded this year with another very good inspection report – well done! Noeleen has been working at Zero-8-Teen for a very long time, just after its set up, and she was key in helping to celebrate all the 25-year anniversary celebrations. Sticking with the setting for all these years, must also be congratulated!
The afterschool has also continued to grow from strength to strength under the newly married Mrs Michaela Henderson. Michaela continued to make a positive impact and she has upskilled herself and implemented positive changes. The incredibly positive Annual Inspection Report also recognised her talent and capabilities. Well done to Michaela and all her staff!
As you read all the managers’ reports, you will notice that many of the staff have availed of the opportunity to upskill themselves, both to continue to develop professionally and to bring their newly acquired skills to further improve the setting.
As Chairperson, I would also like to thank all those who attended the Executive Management Committee meetings. Without these volunteers, Zero-8-Teen could not exist. Tributes must also be paid to our Treasurer, Mrs Grainne McConville, who has many meetings and produces many spreadsheets to ensure that we make sound decisions and remain within budget.
Finally, I thank all employees, volunteers and Executive Committee Members, who work together to make Zero-8Teen work for the benefit of the community, parents and most importantly for the children. Zero-8-Teen remains firmly dedicated to giving these little ones the best possible start in life!
Teamwork makes the dream work! Everyone involved with Zero-8-Teen should feel proud of what has been achieved this year and be inspired by what more we can achieve in the incoming year!
Well done to everyone!
Jill Neill
Chairperson
Operations Manager Report
2024 has been a busy year, with our 25[th] anniversary celebrations. It has been wonderful to take the opportunity to connect with our families and the many people who have contributed to the life of the centre both past and present.
Outside of the festivities we have worked hard this year to improve the nursery environment. We have been fortunate to receive a grant from the Childcare Partnership Small Grants Scheme to allow us to refresh the décor in Nurseries 1 & 2, the pre-school bathroom and kitchen corridor, plus funds to resurface all our display noticeboards on site. The interior of our After School site at the Scout Hall was also fully repainted which has given the space a much needed lift. We are grateful to the St Anthony’s Parish for undertaking the work. The space looks bright and inviting.
Outdoors we have refreshed our beautiful planters at the front entrance, with thanks to Action Mental Health’s Nursery at Tannaghmore Gardens. We also renewed elements of our large play frame in the courtyard to keep it safe & maintained. All this contributed to us passing our Statutory Health & Safety Inspection with flying colours.
Our funders have continued to support us this year and with thanks to the Southern Trust, The Pathway Fund and Bright Start Schemes we have been able to keep changes to childcare costs for our parents to a minimum.
We once again bid for ABC Council funding through the Take 500 Participatory Budget. The daycare received funds for it’s 25 year celebration event and Contact Centre received over £700 for new resources for play and furniture in the play space. Lurgan Credit Union continue to support us and this year, they funded 2 new Samsung tablets for staff to use on-site to communicate with parents and record the children’s activities and observations through our Famly app.
To support our staff in their Continuous Professional Development the whole team has been offered Jabadao training on different aspects of physical play, sensory, motor development and setting up an indoor Movement Play Area.This is being funded through our Pathway grant. All staff have been offered a choice of modules depending on the age group they are working with.
Our Child Contact Centre was assessed this year by the NI Network of Child Contact Centres ( NINCCC), this is a new link for us and we received very positive feedback regarding our sessions. We are now accredited to the NINCCC and continue to communicate regularly with our partners in Contact Centre’s across N. Ireland to maintain best practise in our approach.
Noeleen and Christine have continued this year to support local childcare member groups in our locality with advice on funding opportunities, policies & procedures and supporting their committee work on a regular basis. I have also continued our links with Splash Surestart as a part of their committee.
Our wonderful staff team have been as busy and committed as ever. In addition to recognising the superb wider team of staff and volunteers across Zero-8-Teen, my particular thanks goes to my management colleagues who have directly supported my efforts across the year.
Noeleen and Lee in the daycare and Michaela in After School have been close collaborators on all aspects of the day to day running of both settings. Christine has been a solid support in ensuring all our financial documentation is on-point and our record keeping as it should be. Linda has shown her ongoing commitment to our contact centre, despite having a break for knee surgery, she has bounced back so quickly and is an asset to our team.
An important word of thanks also to our Executive Committee who give up their time to advise us and keep our work on track.
I look forward to 2025 and the opportunity to continue developing our centre and enhancing our relationships with our wider community around us.
Sinéad Young
Zero-8-Teen Operations Manager
Here at the centre 2024 has delivered us another busy year.
To date we have serviced fifty-one families and sixty-one children at the center with forty-nine of them moving successfully to community with their non-resident parent for contact.
CRAIGAVON CHILD CONTACT CENTRE COORDINATOR REPORT
The Southern Trust is satisfied with the service delivery to date and much credit must go to the staff and volunteers who ran the service while I was off for 5 weeks due to surgery. With the help of Sinead Lee & Noeleen as support they did a marvelous job. Preparations are in place with the team for my next period of absence in January 2025. Our staff team of Olga, Lee and Adam are in place to ensure all runs as planned.
Our long serving team member Andrew left us in November as he has found new employment and we wish him a bright future in his new role.
Our team of Volunteers were rewarded for their continued support in June for Volunteers week with a meal provided by Zero8teen at the Seagoe Hotel which was as usual was much appreciated. We will be treating them to Christmas Lunch on Sat 7 December to thank them for their commitment to supporting this much needed service in our area.
This year’s intake of Level 3 & 5 students in Health &Social Care have been the best in 10 years. All students so far have been very engaged in their training and the duties expected from them and are eager to learn – which is a “win-win” for us.
The AGM of the NI Network of Child Contact Centre’s (NINCCC) was attended by three staff and volunteers and it was mentioned that our accreditation visit produced extremely positive feedback from the assessor. We are now full members of NINCCC and no longer have any ties to NACCC.
I would like to thank Sinead, Noeleen, Lee and Christine as well as the committee for your continued support for the service that we deliver, we couldn’t do it without all of you – I really appreciate it.
Let’s look ahead for a smashing 2025.
Linda Lyness
Co-Ordinator
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CHILDREN’S Project Manager Report
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2024 has been a busy year for our setting. The setting continues to grow rapidly which is amazing. We have 53 children on our registers for Daycare and additional children due to start in January/Feb and March 25. Afterschool numbers are down a little this year with 22 children on our register, a big part of this is the impact of afterschool clubs in local primary schools which tend to be more cost effective for working parents.
Together as a strong solid team we have accomplished a lot this year, including an award for the top 20 Daycares in Northern Ireland for the 2[nd] year running. A special thanks must be given to our Deputies Lee & Michaela who have fully supported me in the overall operations of the Daycare and Afterschool this year. They continue to grow both in confidence and ability, often undertaking tasks that were out of their comfort zone, they are an absolute credit to the organisation. Both staff continue to grow their Personal Development with Lee accessing training via SRC and Drumellan in relation to computing skills and Sage, Michaela has also completed training for various aspects of child development – the most recent being trauma.
We held a 25[th] Anniversary play day in June which was well attended. It was wonderful to see so many past staff, families and children attend, all staff and children came along to enjoy the activities and food provided.
Over the Summer we had a few trips and activities planned for all the children. Michaelá our Deputy organized our Afterschool Summer Programme. During the Summer period Afterschool completed “Fresh Air Friday’s” following the success from last year, again it was a big hit with the children. Our 2- year-olds take part in “Fresh air Tuesday” which has been a hit. All children attended parks, went on walks, visited Streamvale farm, Imaginarium, tree top adventure play, snow tubing had themed baking days and fun days. Our Summer was great fun despite the weather!
Our children are happy and content within the setting. They continue to experience outdoor fun, meet with their friends, and grow and develop in all aspects of play. With the funding we received this year we purchased some new equipment for all playrooms and all staff continue to complete their core training and additional training to enhance their own personal development.
Our Family App is working well. All parents can log in, pay bills, message staff, view their child’s observations, medications, incident and accident forms. Staff continue to use the app to communicate with the parents/carer’s, especially those parents and carers who are unable to collect their child – it allows them to feel included and get to know the staff member who cares for their children. More recently we upgraded to the “pro” package of Famly. This has been an asset to the staff and management as we have additional features to support us such as planning for children and observations.
We have had a few staff move on and return – Nicola left us following her ill health last year and Andre started a new career path. Andre attends Queens University Belfast and is studying Nursing – we wish her every success in her new venture. Ashley received his teaching degree this year and has been given a 1-year post at a local Primary School – he does still help us out during school holiday periods, which is great. Both Patricia and Kyla had baby girls this year and are enjoying their time with their new bundles of joy. Adam joined our team this year and has been a great hit with all the staff and children, Marlena returned to us after few years away
Shantelle has completed her level 3 in Childcare well done to her and Adam – after just completing a degree in Health & Social Care has enrolled in a level 2 childcare qualification – good luck to him!!
Most recently the Daycare had their inspection. All paperwork was completed and forwarded to the inspecting Social Workers who then visited the setting. Our Inspection started at 9.50am and was completed by 2.45pm. I am pleased to report that we had a great inspection and received some lovely feedback from the inspecting Social Worker, including how positive the relationships between staff and children were, how settled the children are, the brightness of the setting and the range of activities on offer. Special mention was given on the day by the social workers who commented on Adam’s performance. All our staff were fantastic – it was not an easy task having 2 social workers sit in and observe everything, congratulations to the team, you all did amazingly. As a Manager I could not be prouder of our team and everything we have accomplished.
On a personal note, to all the staff in our Daycare & Afterschool’s I would like to thank you for everything that you do to support not just myself but the setting. The staff are amazing and go above and beyond what is expected of them, often staying on, completing training at night, painting fantastic artwork on our windows and helping Management out when you can and most importantly enhancing the lives of the little ones that come to our setting.
Noeleen Simpson
What a fabulous year we have had this year in Afterschools.
Our annual inspection went really well with very few recommendations. The social worker highlighted how amazing the interaction and relationships between staff and children were and how she could clearly see that the staff in Afterschool actually care for the children and their interests.
This year our Afterschool group celebrated the centre’s 25[th] Anniversary with a trip to Craigavon Golf & Ski Centre for some snow tubing. This was a really special event and we are all very grateful for the opportunity to be able to celebrate.
We had a faboulous summer scheme this year with a new theme each week and many different trips to go along each theme, this inlcuded W5, McDonalds & Airtastic. As well as our full centre trip to Streamvale Farm which the Afterschool children thoroughly enjoyed. We continued to implemented “Fresh Air Friday,” every Friday throughout summer. A great variety of different natural resources activities taking place each week.
Over the past year staff have completed various different training and courses such as; Food & Hygiene, Hand Hygiene, Driving at Work, Allergen, Fire Safety, Fire Extinguisher & Manual Handling Training.
All staff are continuing to avail of training as and when needed.
Recently the Afterschool building interior got painted, this has brought a new lease of life to the setting, making it a more welcoming and child friendly place to learn, thrive and grow in.
I would personally like to thank all the staff for their continued hard work and dedication they have put in throughout the year, making sure our setting is up to the highest standard that is needed to give the children in our care the best opportunities!
Michaela Henderson
(Afterschool Deputy Leader)
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I am the person who has the task of making a whole bunch of boring numbers seem interesting… but as most of you know anything with a plus sign at the end of the day keeps me smiling!
Well as song goes What’s Another year and over the past year we have continued to give support to the member groups though payroll, AGM’S and Support with funding applications. .
Another busy year for the staff working in the organisation with fundraising events i.e., Black Bag Collection etc which helps us to purchase much needed equipment which enhances the setting and learning experiences of the children.
Both Pathway fund and Bright Start School Age Childcare Grant Scheme were kept waiting for a final budget position from the Department of Education thankfully funding was secured for both the Pathway fund and Bright Start.
Lee who is deputy manager of the daycare is learning the financial end and will be able to step in for me when I am not in, Lee has taken to this like duck to water and he also would do AccessNI
I wish to thank all our funders, parents, member groups Staff and committee members who have donated and supported of our fundraising.
And on a personal note, I would like to thank the Executive Committee for their dedication and commitment during the past year, Noeleen whose support, advice and dedication keeps me on the right track, and to Sinead who has been wonderful throughout the year.
While it is uncertain what next year has in store however I am confident that as team that we will embrace any changes as they come.
Executive Committee Membership 2023/24
CHAIRPERSON Jill Neill DEPUTY CHAIR Sinead Morrow
SECRETARY / PARENT REPRESENTATIVE Sarah Ruddy
TREASURER Grainne McConville
COMMITTEE MEMBERS Mandy Rogers Annette May Michelle McCrink Ann McKernan
Member Groups & Affiliations
OUR MEMBER GROUPS
Moyraverty Pre-School Playgroup Monbrief Pre-School Playgroup Tannaghmore Pre-School Playgroup North Lurgan Pre-School Playgroup Bleary Busy Bees Playgroup
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Member Groups & Affiliations
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AFFILIATIONS
NETWORKS
SUPPORTING BUSINESSES
Our Funders ORThe Lr: j(3[4 The Pathway Fund HSC Southern Health J and Social Care Trust Education TAK£500+ Lurgan Credit Union