Are you a registered provider offering school-age childcare? If so, you need to protect and promote these vital services. We strongly urge you to respond to the draft Executive Early Learning and Childcare Strategy.

Registered, play-based school-age childcare delivers vital benefits to children, families, and communities. As the NI Executive develops its Early Learning and Childcare Strategy, it is essential that the voice of the school-age childcare sector is clearly heard and meaningfully reflected in the final Strategy.

Every day, thousands of children spend a significant portion of their lives in school-age childcare settings. For working parents, these services are not optional; they are essential. They ensure children are safe, supported, and able to thrive.

Despite this, school-age childcare has too often been overlooked in policy and funding decisions. While the Early Years sector has received sustained government investment, school-age childcare has not benefited from equivalent recognition or financial support. This consultation is an opportunity for YOU to address that imbalance.

Playwork professionals play a crucial role in facilitating children’s play for school aged children. They create environments where children can relax, build friendships, develop resilience, and grow in confidence. The relationships children build with both peers and staff in school-age childcare settings are crucial to their mental health and well-being, as well as to their developing sense of identity and belonging.

In Northern Ireland, where many schools remain divided along religious lines, school-age childcare settings also provide valuable shared spaces where children from different backgrounds can connect helping to build stronger, more positive community relationships.

For children experiencing challenges at home, or those with disabilities and additional support needs, these settings are often a lifeline, offering stability, inclusion, and trusted adult support.

For more on the importance of school-age childcare read our publication – Play-based school-age childcare

This consultation matters. The decisions made now will shape the future of school-age childcare for years to come. We urge everyone across the sector providers, playworkers, managers, and parents to respond and ensure that school-age childcare is recognised, valued, and properly supported within the Executive’s strategy.

Over the past few weeks, PlayBoard has delivered a number of Early Learning and Childcare Strategy consultation events across Northern Ireland, creating space for meaningful engagement with the school-age childcare sector.

These sessions are vital in ensuring the voice of the school-age sector is heard, recognised and visibly reflected within the final Strategy.

Early discussions have been both insightful and concerning. Key themes emerging include:

  • A clear lack of visibility and dedicated support for school age children.
  • Ongoing confusion around the term “Early Years” being used interchangeably, creating uncertainty about whether school-age childcare is genuinely included.
  • Insufficient support for school age children with SEN/D.
  • Limited recognition of the needs of school age children experiencing disadvantage – including those in deprived areas and those from ethnic minority and ESOL communities.
  • Serious concerns around sector sustainability, particularly the lack of financial support to adequately resource inclusive provision.
  • Growing unease about unregistered and unregulated school-based provision displacing registered school age childcare.

The message from providers is clear: while early years investment is essential, children do not stop needing support at age four.

We look forward to continuing conversations across Northern Ireland and ensuring that the experiences of children, families and providers meaningfully shape the final Strategy.

We strongly urge you to respond to the draft Executive Early Learning and Childcare Strategy. Have your say and make your voice count!

Go to www.education-ni.gov.uk/consultations/consultation-draft-executive-elc-strategy

Consultation closes: 24 March 2026, 11.59 pm.