Working, Living & Travelling In Ireland

Tag: Free Childcare Places

  • Children’s related resources in Ireland

    Hello Reader,

    Affordable Childcare in Ireland is still very much a hot topic of conversation! There is little or no governmental subsidized full time day care, so when your children are young, you will end up paying a second mortgage untill they start Junior Infants..Ouch!
    Ok, they have introduced one year of subsidized sessional care, known as the ECCE scheme, but reality is that’s still only a few hours, which means if you are working full time, you will have to pay to have your children minded after their sessional care.
    Children can start Junior Infants from the age of 4, however this is a much debated age, as most parents only tend to send their children at the age of 5. Education is  compulsory as from the age of 6.
    You may find this link interesting about The Irish Educational System, primary Education.
    Initially I thought this was really late, as in Belgium for example children would start kindergarten at the age of 2.5, but the Irish School system is very different as the closest we have here would be paid sessional care from the age of 3 , probably best known as Montessori. The Irish version of Kindergarten is called Junior Infants and Senior Infants, and only starts from the age of 4.
    Even when the kids are at school, there isn’t such a thing as free pre school ( ie before school starts in the morning) or free afterschool ( when school has finished at 2/3/4) so also here you have to pay( which tends to work out at around 15/20 Euros a day per child) if you are not around to pick up your child.
    Click here to get a list of http://www.hse.ie/ approved creches/pre schools by County. Those marked as community will have subsidized sessional childcare, which will be cheaper than privately operated creches, but have to compliant with all the rules and regulations related to childcare( there are many !)
    Contacting your local Childcare Committee will give a good idea what services are available in your area.
    In my case I worked full time, had our first son, and then returned to work 4 days a week, and my monthly childcare bill would have been around 500 Euros a month which is not tax deductible(  Minimum 30 Euros a day). Once our second son was born, childcare for the 2 , 4 days a week was around 900 Euros( 10% discount for second child). I started my business shortly after the birth of my second son.
    These prices are conservative, as I live in Galway which has a lot more rural creches where overheads will be lower than in Dublin, so you can add 20% for Dublin rates… ( hope you are not crying yet).
    Once there are more than 3 children, the charges become astronomical and employing a nanny/housekeeper/au pair will work out cheaper.
    I hope this has given you some food for thought!
    Katleen

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  • ECCE- Free Childcare Places, apply now before it’s too late!!

    Hello reader,

    I will write in more detail about Childcare in Ireland  but  for now I want to make sure that if you live in Ireland, you are aware of this scheme, and how you can avail of it!

    What is the free Pre-School Year in Early Childhood Careand Education (ECCE)?
    The ECCE is a new scheme designed to give children access to a free Pre-School Year of appropriate
    programme-based activities in the year before they start primary school. Participation in a pre-school
    programme provides children with their first formal experience of early learning, the starting-point of
    their educational and social development outside the home. Children who avail of pre-school are more
    likely to be ready for school and a formal learning and social environment.
    Will my child be eligible?
    The ECCE is open to all children aged between 3years 3 months and 4 years 6 months on 1 September
    each year.
    To avail of the free pre-school year in January 2010, children must have been born between
    2 February 2005 and 30 June 2006.
    To avail of the year in September 2010, children must have been bornbetween 2 February 2006 and 30 June 2007.
    Where can I enrol my child for the free Pre-School Year?
    There are nearly 5,000 pre-school services notified to the Health Service Executive (HSE) or registered
    with the Irish Montessori Educational Board (IMEB).All of these are eligible to apply to participate in the
    scheme. A list of those accepted under the scheme will be available for parents from their local City and
    County Childcare Committee from October 2009.Parents can contact listed services in their area at
    that time to arrange for enrolment. If your child is already attending a pre-school service, or will be from
    September 2009, whether it is a playschool or a full or part-time daycare service, you can also ask the serviceprovider if they plan to participate in the scheme.The upper age limit of 4 years 6 months will be
    extended where a child cannot start primary school until s/he is more than 5 years 6 months of age, due
    to either the enrolment policy of the local schools or having been assessed as developmentally delayed.
    How is the Pre-School Year funded?
    Services participating in the scheme will be paid a capitation fee for each qualifying child enrolled. In
    return, the service will be required to provide an appropriate programme of activities in early childhood
    care and education (ECCE) which will be free to parents. While the pre-school year will normally
    commence in September of each year, a shorter period will apply for those attending from January
    2010.
    How will the Pre-School Year be provided?
    Children attending a full or part-time service will normally receive pre-school year sessions for 2 hours
    15 minutes a day, 5 days a week over 50 weeks. To facilitate parents whose children attend a full or part-
    time service for only 3 days a week, the service may provide 3 daily sessions of 3 hours 45 minutes each
    week. The weekly capitation fee in these cases will beE48.50. Children availing of the free pre-school year
    during January to August 2010 will receive 34 rather than 50 weeks of free pre-school.
    Children attending a sessional playschool service,typically provided for about 3 hours each day, will
    normally receive pre-school year sessions for 3 hoursa day, 5 days a week over 38 weeks. Sessional
    playschool services which are unable to open 5days a week, can apply to provide the pre-school
    year in the form of 3 hours 30 minutes a day, 4days a week over 41 weeks. Children availing of
    the free pre-school year during January to June2010 will receive 23 rather than 38 weeks of free
    pre-school. The weekly capitation fee in these cases will be E64.50.
    Some sessional playschools may choose to open for 50 weeks in the year rather than 38, in which
    case they will provide daily sessions of 2 hours 15minutes, and full or part-time services may choose
    to also provide sessional playschool services in which case the 38 week model will apply.
    Will parents have to pay additional charges to the service for the freePre-School Year?
    No, services which participate in the scheme must provide the pre-school year free to parents. A
    service may charge parents for additional services as long as (a) these are provided on an optional
    basis and (b) appropriate programme based activities are provided to children not participating
    in an optional activity.
    For example, a service can offer an additional activity such as music or dance which parents can
    choose to avail of for a charge. If they do not wish to avail of this activity, their child must continue
    to be provided with an appropriate alternative activity. Services can also charge for hours which
    are additional to the free pre-school provisione.g. if a child is in a full-day service for 10 hours,
    a parent should expect to pay for the 7 hours, 45minutes per day which are not free. An additional
    30 minutes per day, which would be charged for,may be offered to a child in a sessional playschool.
    Outings, birthday parties, snacks, etc can also becharged for, provided they are optional for parents.

    The deadline for parents to register with a provider for the ECCE scheme was January 13th 2010 but Barry Andrews, the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, has extended the  deadline for parents to  January 20th. The  the deadline for childcare providers to return the forms to the department is now  January 29.

    So get your skates on before you have missed your chance!
    Katleen

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