Awards

EFQM Steps to Excellence Gold Award

Early Years were awarded the EFQM Steps to Excellence Gold Award by the Centre for Competitiveness in January 2012 with the formal presentation taking place in Belfast City Hall.

The Northern Ireland Quality Awards, organised by the Centre for Competitiveness, is the premier business event in Northern Ireland to recognise organisations that have demonstrated excellence in their overall business performance. From the broad range of past winners, many have gone on to achieve further awards at UK and European levels, making Northern Ireland one of the most successful regions of Europe.

The Northern Ireland Quality Awards process was established in 1994. Based on the internationally recognised EFQM Excellence Model, the process provides one of the most robust means of assessing how well an organisation is performing. Of the 200 plus organisations that have been involved in the process, the applicants include micro-businesses, Government Agencies, Large Public sector Departments, Councils, Schools and Colleges, Hotels, multi-national private companies and those from the Voluntary sector.

Early Years commenced its journey on the Steps to Excellence programme in 2009 and was awarded the EFQM Steps to Excellence Bronze Award by the Centre for Competitiveness in January 2010. Steps to Excellence is a recognition scheme for Northern Ireland organisations to be assessed against the EFQM (European Foundation for Quality Management) Excellence Model by an external team of trained validators. The organisation was hoping to achieve the Steps to Excellence Silver Award this year, but has been delighted that it has achieved the Gold Award.

John Wilkinson (Department of Finance and Personnel), Martin Murphy (Hewlett Packard), Siobhan Fitzpatrick (Chief Executive Officer, Early Years), Siobhan Weiniger (Director of Finance and Corporate Services, Early Years) and Linda Henry (Principal Budget Officer, Early Years).

Early Years – the organisation for young children

Investors in People Award

Investors in People is a business improvement tool designed to advance an Organisation's performance by matching what people can do and are motivated to do, with what the Organisation needs them to do. It's proven to be the most successful framework for business improvement through people management. The Investors in People standard is the core foundation of good management practice; it allows businesses to achieve greater profitability, better performance and increased productivity. The Investors in People standard is about getting the strategy right, enhancing employee engagement, improving management effectiveness and evaluating what's working best for the Organisation.

Early Years has had a long commitment to investing in its people and successfully achieved Investors in People accreditation in September 2002. The Organisation recognizes that its people are the most valuable asset that it has and that investing in their development and growth adds value for those who access services, members, funders and other stakeholders.