Always Children First: Child Safeguarding Awareness Training

What to Expect

Always Children First is an accredited foundation-level course in child protection and welfare, and Offaly County Childcare Committee is running a full-day sitting of it in Tullamore on Saturday 10 October 2026. The day is built around recognising and responding to child protection and welfare concerns: what a concern looks like in practice, what the reporting route is, and where an individual worker’s responsibility begins and ends.

Much of the day is given over to child-centred practice and to clarifying the participant’s own role in safeguarding, which is the part that tends to be least clear in a small setting. The session runs from 10am to 5pm at the Offaly CCC training room on O’Connor Square. There are prerequisites: participants must have completed both the Children First E-Learning Programme and the Mandated Person E-Learning before attending, and the certificates for both must be current within the last twelve months. Places are limited to childcare providers based in Offaly, with a maximum of two places per service, so services should decide who is attending before booking. Booking is through Eventbrite, and refunds are available up to seven days before the date.

Good to Know

• Date: Saturday 10 October 2026, 10am to 5pm
• Venue: Offaly CCC Training Room, O’Connor Square, Tullamore, R35 Y7PO
• Accredited foundation-level child safeguarding course
• Open to childcare providers in County Offaly only, maximum two places per service
• Prerequisite: Children First E-Learning and Mandated E-Learning certificates, both dated within the last 12 months
• Book through Eventbrite; refunds up to 7 days before the event
• Run by Offaly County Childcare Committee

Getting There

The Offaly CCC training room is on O’Connor Square in the centre of Tullamore, a couple of minutes’ walk from Bridge Street and the Grand Canal harbour. Tullamore is on the N52 and N80, signposted from the M6 at Kilbeggan and the M7 at Portlaoise. Pay-and-display parking runs around the square, with bigger car parks off Bridge Street and at the Bridge Centre. Tullamore station is on the Dublin Heuston to Galway line and is roughly a 15 minute walk away, and Bus Eireann routes stop in the town centre.