Info For Parents
Your child’s first visit to CORE Kids
Children stay in the main service, with you, for the first part of worship (roughly half an hour) at which point the person leading the service will pray for them, release them, and they’ll be a mad stampede as the kids rush for their groups! Please look after your child during this first part of the service (and after the service) as we can only take responsibility for them while they are with us in their groups.
When the children are released, please accompany your child to their appropriate group so that you can complete their Child Registration Form and meet their teacher. This allows us to match parents to children (particularly important if we need to get you at any point during the service) and ensures that we fulfil Safeguarding Trust guidelines for your children’s good care.
At the end of the service we would ask that you collect your child if they are in Fireflies or Sparklers. The older age groups will normally return by themselves to the main auditorium however, if you would like your child to stay in the room for you to collect them, please let the teacher know and we will try to facilitate this, however we would ask that you would do this promptly at the end of the service.
Safeguarding Trust ‘Code of Good Practise’
Safeguarding Trust (SGT) is the Church of Ireland’s Code of good practise for those working with children, which promotes a safe environment for both the children and the adults who work with them.
Every person who would like to work with children within any ministry in the church undergoes a thorough recruitment process which includes completing an application form, having references sought, an interview by the SGT panel, and, since September 2006, being vetted by the Garda. The volunteer is also required to attend an evening training course which informs them of best practise in order to ensure the safety of the children they are working with and how to deal with any child abuse issues that arise.
If you would like more information on what SGT means practically please contact one of the SGT panel whose details are on the CORE Kids notice board in the church.
Safeguarding Trust Panel
The panel is made up of 4 members of the church who are not currently active in Children’s Ministry but who may have experience working with children or have particular skills that are useful in interviewing people for work with children.
The panel serves for between 1 & 2 years and their role is to ensure SGT implementation in the church and interview all those who have volunteered to work with children and young people.
The list of the current SGT panel is to be found on the Children’s Ministry notice board in the church.
Moving from group to group
We feel it is important to be flexible when deciding the right time for children to progress onto an older class group and place high priority on comfort levels rather than academic or social skills. We give approximate ages but it may be that if the peers of your child are moving up and yours would also like to go up then he/she could change class too. Similarly if a child is older than the average age for moving up a class but would prefer to stay a little longer for certain reasons this is also fine. The only class movement that is fixed is that children from Blaze do not move up to Epic (CORE’s youth group) until they start Senior School.
If you would like to discuss your child moving classes, please talk to the appropriate team leader.
Children with special needs or requirements
At CORE Kids we endeavour to follow Jesus’ example and invite all children in. There are no restrictions and any children who would like to join in are welcome to do so.
If your child has particular needs that you feel we should know about please do tell us. By doing this we can make sure your child gets the most out of their class. We endeavour to plan the classes so that they are suitable for all children to participate and so that no child is made to feel different. In this way we aim to integrate all children.
There is a rota of teachers for each age group. Therefore by letting us know beforehand it removes the need for you or your child to explain to every teacher about the help that they require each time he/she comes to a class. If you’d like to discuss any particular needs your child may have please highlight this when you complete your Child Registration Form or talk to Kathryn Kissell.
