About Us - Sherpa Kids Ireland

SUPPORTING IRELAND’S FAMILIES AND MAKING A DIFFERENCE

In 2014, Sherpa Kids embarked on a transformative journey in Ireland, armed with a profound understanding that our purpose goes beyond traditional childcare. With social value and genuine care at our core, our purpose resonates: to support Ireland’s families and make a difference in children’s lives.

We proudly offer comprehensive before-school, after-school, and holiday programme services for national school-aged children. Our team boasts extensive and diverse backgrounds, coupled with international experience. Over the course of more than 9 years, we’ve inspired and positively impacted countless families’ lives and now we stand as the leading childcare provider of After School services, offering our services in over 70 locations across Ireland.

At Sherpa Kids, our commitment isn’t just a promise, it’s a way of life. We’re here to ignite positive change, nurturing Ireland’s families and their children with the utmost care, dedication, and passion.

Sherpa KIds Ireland | Supporting Ireland's Families

Our core values

Our values are the guiding principals of our business and define how our teams strive to behave, meaning we:

WE CARE

For our communities, the children we are entrusted with and our fellow franchisees

WE BELIEVE

In creating opportunities, growing relationships and giving back

WE TRUST

The system, our colleagues and ourselves

WE LEAD

By example and as pioneers in our business sector

WE PROMISE

To look for solutions, to uphold Sherpa Kids standards and be honest in all our dealings

WE SEEK

Opportunities for growth and development for all our stakeholders

Safety

We ensure that our schools are safe and only accessible to authorised colleagues. Our Health and Safety policies and procedures can be viewed by you on site at any time. Our team members are all trained in a child protection through Tusla ® programme what can give you a piece of mind, your children are in safe hands.

Flexible

We believe flexibility that childcare solutions are very important for parents or guardians who do not need access to full time school age childcare. Our childcare model is built to suit your needs which means – whether it is a couple of hours on different afternoons or a whole week, you just pay and access exactly what you need for your child.

Social Value

We know that providing quality childcare has many positive side effects for the families we support. It also means with a service you can trust, you can get back to work, full or part time, return to education, or simply just have more time in your hectic schedule as a parent, knowing your child is safe and well cared for.

	 When your children are at a Sherpa Kids programme, you can feel rest assured that all our Sherpa Kids staff have:

First Aid Training & Qualifications

Proven Childcare Experience

Behavior Management Training

Childcare Training & Qualifications

Clear Criminal Records

Supporting our local communities

SHERPA KIDS IRELAND HEAD OFFICE TEAM

John Miles

Managing Director

John is the Managing Director of Sherpa Kids Ireland and is an outcome driven individual with a proven track record of successfully shaping and managing businesses to deliver operational and regulatory excellence. His strong background in leadership, driving change management by mentoring start-up businesses across sectors, arms him with the skills, drive and gravitas for the changing Irish childcare environment. The environments in which John excels are generally characterized by a focus on continuous improvement, creative idea generation, clarity of decision making and the capacity and mandate to mobilise solutions. John’s motivation is to create a real social value within Sherpa Kids Ireland so that they can truly support Ireland’s families.
*John is pictured with his grandson Ruaidhri.

Anne Marie Hegarty

Director of Operations

Anne Marie is the Director of Operations for Sherpa Kids Ireland and the Managing Director of our Head Office services division. Being the eldest of 8 and growing up on a farm in Ardfield in West Cork she began to learn about childcare at a very young age. She still lives in Ardfield and has two children of her own. She understands the needs of parents when it comes to childcare and the need to support families who don’t have a family network close by to help out. Anne Marie’s motivation is to change children’s lives for the better - something she constantly instills in all of her colleagues.
*Anne Marie is pictured with Ava & Liam.

Charlene O’ Toole

Operations

Charlene is one of our General managers who look after the day to day running of our services. She has been working in the childcare sector from the age of 16 and has had numerous roles within early years and SAC settings. In 2015 she joined Sherpa Kids in Clonakilty as a Programme Manager and has been with us ever since progressing to Head Office and the role she now occupies. She is currently responsible for 11 of our services in the counties of Cork, Dublin, Waterford, Longford and Westmeath and brings her sense of kindness, fun and fair play to all she interacts with. Charlene’s motivation is to help children be the best that they can be.
*Charlene is pictured with Nathan & Madison.

Karen Deasy

General Manager, Support Office Services

Having worked in the Early Years and School Aged Childcare sector since 2011, Karen joined the Sherpa Kids team in January 2020 having managed a stand-alone Afterschool service for 6 years. Karen holds a First Class Honours B.A in Early Childhood Studies, certification in Child Psychology from Portobello Institute and most recently a Certificate in Digital Marketing from Cork's Institute of Technology. Karen is responsible for our services around Cork City and neighbouring Kinsale and Carrigaline and brings her happy and real can do personality to bear in the running of these 9 services. Karen’s motivation is to motivate others and to encourage self-belief and positivity in both young and old.
*Karen is pictured with her nephew Cathal.