Customer
Testimonials
Customer
Testimonials
Here is what some of the teachers and parents had to say
Early Years Teacher Testimonials
The Crann Support Group considered many different digital products on the market, both at home and abroad. The product that could most obviously meet the needs of the childcare facility and parents alike was the Child Paths App. This decision was an outcome of a consultation process, which involved Childcare Professionals and Parents. We have found the team at Child Paths to be extremely professional and helpful with all of our queries and would not hesitate in lending our name to support their product.
We have been working with Child Paths since 2017. We have found every part of the process seamless and easy. The staff has more time with the children in their care with the use of tablets instead of paperwork. As childcare practitioners, we understand that supporting families and open communication and interaction leads to better outcomes for children. We now see Child Paths as an integral part of achieving these close relationships with parents. We would not be without it.
We are delighted to be working with Child Paths on their new finance feature. Its great to be able to engage with a company that have such knowledge of the Irish childcare sector and the funding schemes. They’ve built in recurring invoicing whether you charge weekly or monthly and it automatically links in with the child’s scheme funding. With the ability to apply bespoke fee types, discount levels and addons it simplifies the whole process of generating invoices. This will be hugely beneficial from Pobal compliance purposes as it shows the funding breakdowns on the parents invoice allowing for all schemes including NCS wrap around hours.
We had been using Child Paths for a few for a few months before we went completely live to Parents in Feb 2020 and WOW our staff love using Child Paths. Its easy to navigate and also enables us to ensure we get the best out of each child’s learning and also enables us to provide a sense of peace to our Parents/Carers knowing how they are getting on throughout the day. I would highly recommend this app to other Childcare providers. As a Manager I enjoy the fact that I can log on throughout the day to see what the children have been up to and just how the day is going. I would also like to say just how helpful both Ciaran and Robbie are, they are there to help and talk through any questions you have immediately. Thank you for being so helpful’
Daisy Evans (Nursery Manager) Barney Bears Nursey
Services – Chigwell, Barking, West Ham, IIford
Love this software! We began working with Child Paths in May 2018 and have the app in place in our seven centres. It’s a great tool and takes a lot of pain out of the day-to-day paperwork. I love looking at my own child’s photos and updates too. Well worth it and well thought out product. Highly recommend it and the team are a pleasure to deal with too.
Child Paths has allowed us to spend more time with the children and for us, that is the most important factor. It has immensely reduced the level of paperwork and improved communication within the group and our parents. It is a real conversation starter. The support and time given by the team enabled a smooth transition from a mountain of paperwork to a streamlined system. I have nothing but praise for Child Paths as both a Manager and a Parent.
The Child Paths application has had a significant impact on our service. Our reliance on paper documentation, e.g. attendance sheets, daily records, sleep charts, food records and child observation records, has decreased dramatically. We no longer need to store large quantities of documents, now we store this information electronically.
We have an obligation to work in partnership with parents/guardians, to ensure the best possible outcomes, and we do this through sharing information. In my opinion, there is no better way to do this than through the Child Paths app.
We have introduced Child Paths in 5 of our services and it has improved and simplified our record keeping. Staff and parents appreciate the ease with which we can share relevant information and updates including pictures and activities.
The system saves staff time, allows for clear and concise messages to be passed between relevant people while meeting new requirements for TUSLA and POBAL. It also provides the back office with easier access to relevant details. We are happy to recommend this system
We are delighted how the new Montessori Feature has turned out. We can now incorporate the Montessori areas of learning and the different activities much quicker through the app. It allows us to monitor and track when children have presented, practiced and mastered activities. Child Paths has been a fantastic addition to our five services here in Cork and we would highly recommend this app.
Before choosing the childcare software management system for The Nest School I had an ambitious wish list of features that I hoped for. In my previous career I had experienced the benefits of great software systems – so I could really see the potential for Childcare. After careful research I was delighted to find that Child Paths surpassed all of my expectations in terms of the business solutions it offers.
One example of this in Child Paths is the Direct Debit function to collect parents fees. Prior to Child Paths our fee collection process was time consuming.
We emailed individually created invoices and asked parents to transfer the correct fee directly into our bank account, using the child’s name for reference on the transaction. We then manually checked fees, communicated with parents on anomalies and created individual receipts etc.
This process was time consuming for various reasons:
Due to the number of transactions there were consistently significant variations in terms of the date of transactions; anomalies in terms of fee values; as well as frequent unnamed transactions. There was significant administrative time lost in the daily checks, communications, coordination and general administration of this process.
As a school we are keen to invest all of our time in adding value to the experience of our children, parents and teachers, as well as preparation of the classroom environment and curriculum programmes etc rather than unnecessary administrative functions. For this reason we are very excited to have moved to the Direct Debit fee collection procedure within Child Paths which automates most of the tedious process of fee collection and eliminates errors.
With the direct debit function in Child Paths we can now debit the agreed fees directly from the guardians/ parents bank accounts. This means that the process of fee collection is fully automated, with fees credited to my account all in one day, with correct values and transaction names. As part of this process Child Paths also automates the creation of parent invoices and receipts!
The team in Child Paths are highly professional, offering great support and a pleasure to work with!
Lynda,
Owner The Nest School
in Greystones
We have nothing but praise for the Child Paths application software and service. At Beehive Childcare and Montessori, we have been using Child Paths software since 2018 and have found it to be a huge asset to our service and ethos of partnership with families.
Child Paths has been very beneficial to our service, not just for minimising paperwork and time through our daily record keeping, observations and invoices, but for being a constant and immediate communication link between children, families and early years educators throughout each day.
Messages to and from parents sent directly to their child’s key educators through the application are so important and effective as we have constant and direct contact all throughout the day. We have found that being able to communicate invoices to parents through the data stored on the app and sent directly to parents via Child Paths has minimised so much time restraints and pressure for the business as everything is accessible at the touch of a button!
Eileen Buckley,
Owner at Beehive Childcare and Montessori
Berrings, Co. Cork
We joined Child Paths in June 2020. We decided this would be the best way forward in keeping up our communication with parents in these Covid times.
It was the best decision we made. We had intended to do this for years but kept putting it off. We now find we have more time to spend with the children as in the past we would have used learning journals and we found this to be so time-consuming with writing observations and linking pictures etc.
Our communication with parents is now immediate and we are not waiting to tell them about an accident etc in the evening. The parents love the app and feel more connected throughout the day with activities etc that their children are participating in.
I would highly recommend it and the support from Robbie and team is excellent.
Margaret Keirns,
Owner Tir Na Nog,
Ballydesmond, Co Cork
After fighting against bringing technology into the creche, I finally gave in and decided to move with the times!!
Child Paths came highly recommended to me and we have not been disappointed, Child Paths has taken away the bulk of the paperwork we used to complete on a daily basis and it is a great communication tool, our parents love it and the children love looking at photos of their day! I would highly recommend it!
We have been using Childpath since June 2019, and I have to say that it has transformed our day-to-day practices and definitely improved the communication level by sharing real-time information between staff and parents. Child Paths has proven to be very user-friendly, quick and easy to learn for any new user and not to mention the level of support that we have received from Child Paths has been outstanding – amazing customer support!
We find Child Paths to be a very comprehensive system that we use on a daily basis, we are happy to see continued improvement and new features in the system, and we would have no hesitation to recommend it to all other Childcare settings!
I just want to congratulate ye on the fantastic work ye have done for us as providers in preparing us for the NCS!! We were here fretting over spreadsheets for weekly returns etc…… and I said Child Paths will definitely have something in place for this! And sure enough!!!!
We are thrilled ye are the best!!! – A HUGE THANK YOU FROM ALL OF US IN CLANN AIRE CRECHE
At Bizzy Bs Childcare we have been using Child Paths software since it was introduced to the sector. We find it to be an extremely important tool not just for our record keeping and reduction of paperwork, and meeting ever-changing policy and regulations, but as a communication link between children, families and our services. Parents love the pictures and information they receive daily and share it with their children :) We would highly recommend Child paths as a fundamental tool in early years services.
We are a community creche and have been using Child Paths for almost two years. We have used Child Paths to enhance our communication with parents and we now have more effective and efficient two-way communication with our parents. We use Child Paths to record daily activities, observations, milestones and attendance, all of which is shared with parents. We also benefit, as staff find this a much quicker and easier method of record keeping. Child Paths provide great support and welcome all feedback from us as a provider. We highly recommend Child Paths and while we were apprehensive, at first, about introducing the technology to our staff and parents, we would not go back.
Child Paths has given our time back to the children, no longer drowning in paperwork! The team have created a Breakthrough Product for the Childcare industry & families. They continue to improve & modernise the software before any new regulations come into effect, saving owners/managers time & reduced stress. I quite simply can’t recommend Child Paths highly enough. Best decision I have made to date with my company. Thank you Child Paths
Child Paths is an amazing product and as a service, we don’t know how we managed without it. Easy to use, great support from the company and parents love it, highly recommend it.
We have used this software since 2016. The main reason we went with Child Paths was to free up staff from paperwork. This worked exactly as promised and more. The team are passionate about their work and are always willing and available to support staff and parents
We have been using Child paths for almost 2 years now & can’t fault the app & more so the support from Ciaran & the team. Anytime we have any problems (which are few) they are resolved straight away. The team are open to suggestions for change & or improvement. Would highly recommend Child Paths
We have been using the Child Paths App in our Creche since 2018. Our staff have become very familiar with the system and it is saving lots of time over tedious paperwork. The parents are all very positive about it and love receiving updates during the day. Like everything, it took us a couple of weeks to get familiar with it. We would highly recommend this to Early Years centres.
In September 2020 we started using Child Paths as due to the Pandemic it was difficult to connect with parents face to face as we would have liked. We have found it invaluable and it has made our communication with parents much easier and more instant. Parents love to receive daily photos of their child and see what they have been doing and keeping them up-to-date with activities and observations have become much easier. It has also reduced a lot of the paperwork and the fact that it can be stored electronically is very important for us. It has been a pleasure dealing with Robbie who is always on hand to help and thank you for all your support. I would certainly recommend Child Paths.
CK Montessori
Carmel Kelly – Owner – Prosperous, Co Kildare
As a small creche, we felt that we did not need an app. When we were reopening in June we decided to try out Child Paths during covid until we could return to normal. The app has changed how we communicate with parents and staff. It is highly efficient and has reduced our paper waste and ink costs in the creche. The parents really enjoy the day to day communication with the staff, receiving pictures and having direct messaging with the staff members in each room. The staff section has given parents the opportunity to get to know the staff behind the mask, this particularly helps with new parents as they don’t have the opportunity to come in and meet the staff.
The app support staff are always at the end of the phone or email to answer any questions you might have or offer support in all areas of the app. The tutorial videos provide online learning and support for all staff on how to use the app. The app has provided staff with an efficient way to fill in required paperwork and observations quickly and of high quality and supports Aister and Siolta all the way through.
Child Paths has changed how we manage and provide our early year’s service, supporting schemes, occupancy planning, finance, ratios along with holiday management and staff rosters. The staff at Child Paths are always bettering their service and it is always evolving taking in what practitioners and creche managers have to say and ensuring the app is providing us with compliancy for Pobal & Tusla.
I would highly recommend Child Paths to all early years setting.
Fairview Creche
Pamela Bryan – Manager – Fairview, Dublin
Oasis Childcare Centre has been using Child Paths since November 2019. It has been a wonderful, secure and reliable resource for us to communicate with our families, particularly through Covid times! We are very excited about the finance element being introduced as we know this will again simplify our daily administration tasks and tracking of our finances! The Child Paths team are always one step ahead on what we need – their customer support is superb and all at a very reasonable cost! We would highly recommend it!
Oasis Childcare Centre
Cliona Woodford – Manager – Co Kilkenny
Child Paths has certainly brought something new and exciting to First Steps and has connected us even more to the families within our community. In this day and age paper is quickly becoming a thing of the past. I am so glad we took the plunge to move with the times. We can not imagine going back to paper now.
We started to implement the Child Paths app into our sessional preschool a few years ago. Initially, we were concerned about the extra work involved, and it seemed to be quite time-consuming but after a short period and as the saying goes “practice makes perfect”, it soon became second nature. According to the children, as we all know they do nothing all day at preschool!. The app provides the opportunity for communication between the preschool and home detailing the extensive learning that takes place throughout the session. The observation tool will be an invaluable method to outline to the parents their child’s development and how the centre is implementing activities in compliance with Aistear and Siolta. The data collected will also provide a compelling source of information for inspection purposes. My advice would be to embrace the app, be patient and then reap the rewards.
As a childcare provider, we want to provide the very best service to our children and staff. We often circulate questionnaires to parents on how we can improve our service. One of the areas where we felt improvement was necessary was communication. With this in mind, we researched about a paperless system and after trialling with some providers, we chose Child Paths and to date, we are delighted with our decision.
Parents receive instant updates, and the child’s information is stored in a safe place. Child Paths staff are always available to assist us with technical questions that we might have. I have no hesitation in recommending Child Paths as a communication aid and it also frees up much valuable time.
We started to use Child Paths in Ashvale Creche this past August 2016. Initially, it was our intention to use Child Paths within the service for a few weeks before we rolled it out to parents. However, within a week, we realised what a valuable resource it was and how necessary it was to provide communication with parents using Child Paths. Our parents were delighted with the idea of getting photos on a daily basis so that they could interact with their child’s story. For us, in Ashvale we have found that hand over in the evening is so much easier as the parents have usually reviewed Child Paths prior to collection. This frees us up to just talk about the important things with parents.
For us as staff, Child Paths is quick and easy to use. The real beauty in Child Paths is the child’s storyline. Daily themes and topics can be instantly viewed by the parent from their work desk. If a child comes in crying at 8.30 – we as staff know that he settles within 10 mins however the parent is left feeling guilty all day. With Child Paths, we can upload a photo of him happily playing at 9 am, and everyone is happy.
We had our Pobal Compliance visit. This time last year we had the same thing but after doing all the corrections on PIP in relation to non attendance or wrong attendance of children we had to hand back €15,000 of funding to Pobal. I am glad to say that this year we are using Child Paths to record our attendance and are fully compliant in all areas. The Pobal inspector which we had worked off Child Paths told me that it was the first software she had seen that showed the total attendance both in daily and hourly format of the child even if they attended numerous rooms during the day. She was very impressed by Child Paths as it showed everything she needed for the inspection.
I personally want to thank Robbie for all his help so far. If we were to have another hit like last year of €15,000 I doubt if we would be able to recover again. Thanks for all your help and support guys. It’s a great product and excellent customer care.
I highly recommend this software as we have been using in a large full day care centre for the past 2 years. Having Child Paths in place when we closed meant we didn’t need to change anything in how we communicated with parents as it was online anyway. Robbie and Ciaran will only promise what they can deliver and readily available to deal with any queries. All our staff love using Child Paths and especially now when it is more important to keep contact with families
We have found the app great as we’re able to communicate with our families and are sharing pictures, stories between us and them. It’s also very valuable to keep parents up to date with developments, albeit not that much at the moment, but they are sharing their concerns with us and should we be in a position to open up in Sept it’s helping us plan a bit better. Thanks for all help throughout the years. Hope the app continues to go from strength to strength and we’ll all get back to a more comfortable ‘normal’ soon.
From a provider of over 25 years, I thought the whole concept from start to finish was just fantastic. Child Paths is an exciting, progressive and much needed 21st Century Platform solution for all those involved in the Early Years Sector. It not only provides an easy to use app which enables parents to glean an insight into the life of their child in daycare but also helps meet all the legislative, developmental observations and procedural requirements for Childcare providers in an efficient, accurate and exceptionally easy format! Well done, fantastic!”
Parent Testimonials
Being a mammy who works full time I often used to feel like I was missing out on watching my children grow and learn, and on spending quality time with them whilst they’re small… Since using Child Paths, that has changed. Our wonderful Créche, Lilliput, Rathdrum brought in Child Paths and it has opened a whole new world to me. I can log on whenever I have a free moment and catch up with my girls’ day. I can see what they’re eating and at what times. I can see how happy they are learning new things and playing with all their friends. Looking at their photos gives me a great sense of pride, that, yes I do have to work, and they do have to go to créche, but they’re having so much fun and learning so much more than I could ever teach them. Thanks so much, Child Paths and Lilliput!! From a very appreciative mammy.
I don’t think the experience of having my daughter in crèche would be so easy without the use and access of the Child Path App. This app really gives me peace of mind every day, as I can see exactly what is happening in regards to eating, sleeping, nappies, activities etc. I don’t think any one person could keep me updated as much as this app can. Also with the added bonus of the beautiful photo galleries, I have to keep as memories & the ease of use with the app. I have recommended this application to many of my friends who are excited to sign up and use it too. Thank you for making my experience so much easier and enjoyable :)
This app is a fantastic tool to be able to see how happy and content your child is in the creche. You can monitor food intake, sleeps, nappy changing and all the activities your child is involved in during the day. I can see the fun my daughter has with the staff at the creche. It’s the best decision I made to opt for this app as I’m happy that’s my daughter’s very happy in the creche.
Child Paths have helped to make the transition back to work so much easier. It is so nice to get updates on what our little one is up to during the day. The app offers an almost fly on the wall type picture of our son’s day. Every time a photo is uploaded, it brightens up my day. Having started using Child Paths, there is no way we could stop.
I signed up for the Child Paths app when my son started creche when he was just turned two. From the beginning, I found it reassuring as it took him a little while to settle into creche and even though there were tears as I dropped him off I could see from the app that he was getting along fine once he settled. It’s not only great for checking on the basics like if he has eaten his meals but also from the photos posted by the staff I know what activities he has done that day. This makes talking to him about his day much easier, and he is drawn into the conversation when I can pick a topic such as painting, baking, playing outside, etc. instead of only asking what did you do today? Wouldn’t be without it now.
When you are a busy working parent and trying to balance everything at the same time, it can all get a bit overwhelming. However, with Child Paths, you are only ever a few clicks away from checking in on your little ones and sometimes seeing a photo of them having fun, covered in paint or playdoh can make your day and make things a little easier. You feel that you are connected to your child, and it can take away a little of the guilt that I sometimes have as a working parent when you can see that your child is being cared for and having fun. I travel a lot with work and being able to access Child Paths from my phone wherever I maybe is of great importance to me. To be able to communicate with the centre via this app is a great function too as it can be very busy in the mornings and it is not fair to expect the poor teachers to remember everything that every parent says to them. I find Child Paths to be of great benefit to my family and me. Thank you,
Child Paths is a wonderful application. It is so reassuring to be able to check in each day as much as I like, with just the click of a button to see how my little girl is getting on. As a parent, it can be tough having your little one away from you but being able to see pictures of them doing their various activities and having the ability to see their daily information tracked (Such as eating and sleeping logs) is a great source of comfort. I honestly would be lost without it!
Hi All, I was a bit unsure when the creche introduced this new system, particularly as there was a fee involved. However, I am totally converted. I love to see the photos of my little girl with her friends and teachers and all the activities they do during the day. I really appreciate the effort that they put into doing arts and crafts, storytime and the sensory play with such little ones. It is lovely to check in during the day while at work and see what she is up to! We are very happy with the system, and I consider it very much worth the monthly fee. Thank you!
As a parent moving from being your child’s principal caregiver and relinquishing some of the responsibility to someone else is a scary thing. I was no longer the centre of our little girl’s world she was branching out and discovering new things and forging her own personality and independence, and I was missing out. Thankfully I found a crèche who was all about balance and they were involved with Child Paths.
Thanks to Child Paths when we are at work we can check in on her and get to see all the things she has been up to during the day – from what she has eaten, to how she has slept and what activities she has been involved in and best of all we also get to see pictures so we can see how happy she is. It also gives us something to talk to her about when we collect her from simply asking her did she enjoy painting or playing with the sea shells it’s us getting involved in her life. Great if you are having a bad day in work and check-in and see a picture uploaded and a cheeky smile and your day are instantly better, and I love that we can upload our own photos, it’s brilliant! Child Paths gives peace of mind, and it’s great to look back at all the photographs and see how much she has grown and developed. Without Child Paths, we wouldn’t be able to do this!!
The Child Paths app allows me to have a different conversation with the crèche and with my children. I can see from the notes and the pictures what they have been doing that day, which allows me to get further insight from the crèche into their activities and allows me to follow on the conversation or learning at home.
“As a new mother that has returned to work, the Child Paths App is a wonderful way for me to keep track of my baby’s day and feel reassured that she is doing well. I absolutely love seeing the photos on a daily basis.”
This app is fantastic! It’s great to know more about what my child actually does during pre-school. This app lets me see the activities that she participates in & the fun that she has. The photos are priceless! I would highly recommend this app
I love being able to check in on my children’s activities on the child paths site. It’s great to see pictures of what they’ve been up to during the day! So much easier than having a build-up of papers too!
A great tool to be always aware of what happens to our kids at school. When I collect my 4 years old boy from school, I usually ask him what he did during the day, and the reply was always the same: “nothing”. Thanks to this app I am now able to see in real-time what he does during the day. The teachers also share pictures and observations of the children; this is really helpful!
This app has made the childcare experience so much more enjoyable! The fact that I’m able to read what’s happened throughout my child’s day makes the pickup much quicker as I’m already educated as their parent. Also, the pictures that are posted are such a pick-me-up throughout the day and significantly reduce stress or any concerns I may have had. Thank you!
