Early education and childcare in Northern Ireland

This information is for families of deaf children and young people in Northern Ireland. Read our information for England, Scotland and Wales.

Finding and choosing early education or childcare that works for your family is worth investing time in. As a parent of a deaf child or a child with hearing loss, there are some extra things to think about that can help you make the right decision for your child.

• Is the childcare environment deaf-friendly, welcoming and inclusive?
• Will they be able to help develop your child’s language and communication skills?
• Do they have a good listening environment? Is there as little background noise as possible? Will your child be able to listen, learn and socialise?
• Are they happy to learn skills to support your child? For example, how to look after your child’s hearing technology or alternative communication methods like sign language?
• Are they willing to build an ongoing relationship with you to support your child’s development?
• Will they be able to support your child's emotional wellbeing and help them to make friends?
• Do they have experience working with deaf children or children with hearing loss?
• Will there be any other deaf children, or will your child be the only deaf child? Do you want them to be around other deaf children?

The following information will help you to feel more confident about choosing the right early education setting or childcare for you and your child.

Your options

Depending on where you live, there will be different early education and childcare options available including:

• pre-school
• nursery
• playgroup
• childminder
• nanny, au pair or home carer
• family and friends

Nursery

Day nurseries may be run by the Education Authority (EA), owned by a private company, connected to a primary school or held in a local church hall or community centre.

Pre-school

Pre-school education is funded by the Pre-School Education Programme (PSEP) (Education Authority). Fully funded pre-school is available for every child but is not mandatory. Pre-school education may be provided by:

• nursery schools
• primary schools with nursery units
• voluntary and private pre-school education settings with government-funded places.

If you want your child to attend pre-school, you need to apply for a place. Find more information on the NI Direct website.

Finding a childcare provider in your area

The Department of Health has a family support service which lists the childcare options in your area (Family Support NI). 

You can also ask for suggestions and advice from:

• your child’s Teacher of the Deaf (ToD), if they have one
• the Sensory Service (Education Authority)
• other parents of deaf children in your area
• our Helpline

What to check

Pre-schools, nurseries and childminders are inspected by the Education and Training Inspectorate (ETI). You can search and find pre-school inspection reports here (ETI). This can give you a better understanding of how they rate them. For example, how they follow the early education curriculum, how they keep children safe (safeguarding) and the kind of relationships they have with parents and children. 

All early education and childcare providers must be registered with the Early Years Team (NI Direct) in their local Health and Social Care Trust and inspected every year. This includes day-nurseries, playgroups, creches and paid childminders. 

They must also attend training, including paediatric first aid, and have an AccessNI check (NI Direct).

We were looking at the philosophy of the nursery and their goals, which helped us filter out a few. We were looking for environments that had an individual child focus rather than being results-orientated. Establishing the child’s emotional needs, rather than focusing solely on achievements.

“We wanted them to be collaborative and open to working with us, to take new ideas on board, be adaptive and provide regular feedback on her development, as well as actively wanting Millie in their classroom and being willing to make the necessary adaptations to make it a good environment for her.”

Matt is dad to Millie (6), who is profoundly deaf and wears cochlear implants.

Read Millie’s story.

Tips for choosing childcare

• Try to visit a range of childcare settings, ideally with your child. Make notes and compare the different options using our checklist.
• Involve friends and family – ask if they can come with you on your visits to help you decide.
• Ask to speak to other parents using the service.
• Check that the childcare provider is of good quality. Childminders should be registered, and nannies can sometimes volunteer to do so. In most cases, you can look up inspection reports for a nursery, pre-school or childminder.
• Share our resources and training for professionals to help the early education or childcare provider understand how best to support your child. For example, you could share our Deaf-friendly education: Northern Ireland resource and other materials and training for education professionals.
• Create a personal passport using our templates. A personal passport is a document that includes all the most important information about your child’s needs. They can help any adult caring for your child to support them in the best way possible. You can include details of your child's hearing loss or deafness, how they communicate and if they use any hearing devices or assistive technology.
• Watch the staff playing with the children. Are they at the children's level and engaged in play? Are they having fun with the children and interacting with them meaningfully?
• Notice the environment. What are the acoustics like in the areas your child will be? High ceilings and hard surfaces can make sound bounce around the room and be more difficult for deaf children to access.
• Ask the provider about their values and ethos. Do they align with yours and what you want for your child?
• Ask the professionals working with your child about the early education and childcare options in your area. For example, your child's ToD, if they have one.

Choosing the right nursery for Thomas was really important to us. We wanted to make sure he was in an environment that would cater for his needs. We looked at a number of nurseries and chose one because it seemed a calming environment and we got a good feel for the staff when we visited.

“The nursery was completely upfront from the start that they had no experience of working with deaf children but they were willing to learn. All the nursery staff received deaf awareness training from our Teacher of the Deaf (ToD) in their own time; they’ve been fantastic. It took Thomas a couple of weeks to settle in but he’s now thriving and loves the time he spends there.”

Craig is dad to Thomas (3) who is profoundly deaf and wears cochlear implants.

What the law says

The law says that early education and childcare providers must:

• not to treat a child with disabilities less favourably
• make 'reasonable adjustments' for children with disabilities.

Reasonable adjustments are simple or inexpensive changes an education setting can make.

We have more information about your child’s rights in education.

Childcare at home

You may decide to use nannies, au pairs, home carers or family members to provide childcare for your deaf child. One advantage is that they can provide more tailored, one-to-one support for your child. However, it’s still important that they have a good understanding of deafness and your child’s needs. 

These types of home-based or informal childcare don’t have to follow the same rules as day-nurseries, pre-schools, playgroups, and paid childminders. Here are some questions you can ask to check if the childcare being provided in the home is deaf aware.

• Do they have a good understanding of deaf children’s needs? Do they have experience of working with deaf children or children with hearing loss?
• Do they have a good rapport with your child? Do they engage well with your child?
• How will they make sure your child takes part in a mix of activities, including with other children?
• Are they willing to work with your child’s ToD, if they have one, to make sure your child is supported?
• Can they provide effective support to your child around language and communication?
• Can they effectively manage your child’s hearing technology?
• Have you shared with them how your child's behaviour may be impacted by their deafness? Have you shared how you'd like them to support your child to manage their big feelings?
• Are they able to write reports as supporting evidence that your child may require for future educational needs?

Grandparents

Lots of families rely on support and childcare from family members, often grandparents. This can be a great opportunity for your child’s grandparents. They can learn more about looking after and communicating with their deaf grandchild.

Having consistency between family members who look after your child is important, particularly when it comes to how to use your child's hearing technology. We have more information to support grandparents of deaf children. 

We always spoke to the little ones face-to-face at their level anyway, but we now keep the en-suite light on at night for Oliver, so if he wakes he’s got a night light and if he calls me, he can see me coming and read my lips. 

“When we take the children to the park or farm and Oliver goes and plays, I make sure we can see each other. I’ll look at him and put my thumb up and he’ll put his thumb up to say he’s OK. If he shakes his head, I know he’s not OK so I’ll go over. Or if he calls me over I put my thumb up so he knows I’ve heard him.”

Maria is grandmother to Oliver (4), who’s severely deaf and wears hearing aids, and regularly looks after him and his younger sister overnight.

Read Maria and Oliver’s story.