Community Involvement

Community involvement in your early years setting  requires good networks and strong communications. This can be further supported by good policies and procedures within your service. Community Involvement supports all adults’ and children’s engagement within the wider community. (www.siolta.ie)

 

Community Involvement links to all four Aistear themes:

Identity and Belonging

Communication

Exploring and Thinking

Well-Being

How can you have Community Involvement in your service?

Community involvement in your early years service  can be  promoted by gathering and making available information on local resources. Making this information available to staff, parents and other adults within the setting can be done through a variety of means such as  parent’s boards, newsletters,  e-mail, parent evenings, outings, participation in community events. It is equally important that this awareness raising is a two-way process. This can be achieved through newsletters, websites, information meetings and connection with the local media.

Services should familiarise themselves with the roles and responsibilities of local organisations in their community such as the local GAA team, tidy towns, park runs, soccer team, scouts and any others who are connected in any way with your service.

Ask the families attending your service, as well as staff, about their community involvement and see how you can bring this into the learning environment.

Using your local community

As part of their everyday activities, children should be able to avail of the opportunities that their local community has to offer for example shops, businesses, recycling banks etc.  Promoting community involvement begins with an awareness of what resources exist  locally. It is, therefore, up to each setting to have a range of information available on the local amenities and services in their community. Venturing out into the community enriches children’s experiences, by broadening their perspective, encouraging positive exploration and allowing them to make connections between the service and the outside world. This in turn promotes good community involvement.  Your local community can  form part of your curriculum and planning on an ongoing basis. Some examples of using community involvement in a service include:

• Participation in community events such as parades.
• Involve children in outings to the local park, library etc.
• Invite visits from Community Members into the setting such as local Garda, librarian, shopkeeper etc,
• Involve children in partnership with other services for example charities such as National Pyjama Day, Cheerios Breakfast.
• Include local knowledge in the curriculum and planning of the service.

Bring the Community into your service

 

The inclusion of a Community Wall in your  learning environment is a good tool to ensure that your community is recognised in your service.  This will help children learn about the benefits of community involvement and where their role lies in their own  community.The children, together with their families, can decide what can be included on this wall. This  can be a space to add familiar places the children visit frequently in the community such as:

• the local shop
• churches
• community centre
• sports pitch or whatever they see as part of their community.

 

Have a look at more ideas on where you  service links to Standard 16 of Siolta Community Involvement

http://siolta.ie/media/pdfs/Research%20Digest%20-%20Community%20Involvement.pdf

 

 

Community Involvement in your early year’s service is a way of ensuring that the children and families who attend, as well as your local community, are respected and valued by your service.