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Welcome to Offaly County Childcare Committee Ltd website! Our site is packed with information so whether you're a parent, working with children, interested in a childcare career or just browsing, this is the place for you! Offaly County Childcare Committee is located at St Joseph's Community Centre in Kilcormac Co Offaly.

Free Pre-school year in Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) Scheme.

The free Pre-School Year Scheme in Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) starts in January 2010. The scheme is being introduced by the Office of the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs (OMCYA), with the local work being done by the City and County Childcare Committees (CCCs).

Children in the pre-school year who were born between 2 February 2005 and 30 June 2006, will be eligible for the scheme from January next. This is a new scheme which was announced in April of this year. As it was not possible to have arrangements in place by September of this year, the first year of the scheme will be shorter than in future years, starting in January rather than September.

Parents of children in this age range can avail of the pre-school year by enrolling their child in a local participating pre-school service. Almost all pre-school services in the country are participating in the scheme and many of these are advertising that they will have places available. If a parent has not yet enrolled a child in this age range for a Pre-School Year place, they should do so now. If a parent is unsure of how to go about doing this, s/he should contact the local City or County Childcare Committee for information.

Parents of children who were born between 2 February 2006 and 30 June 2007 will be eligible for the next free Pre-School Year in September 2010, provided they did not register to start the scheme this January. Again, they should avail of the pre-school year by enrolling their child in a local participating pre-school service during 2010.

Playschool services: Where the free Pre-School Year is provided in a playschool, it will generally last for 3 hours a day, 5 days a week over the primary school year (38 weeks). The service will be paid in full by the OMCYA for each pre-school place and parents of children in this age range will not have to make any payment to the service.

Crèche places: Where the free Pre-School Year is provided in a crèche, it will generally consist of a daily session of 2 hours 15 minutes duration, 5 days a week over the full year (50 weeks). The service will be paid €48.50 per week by the OMCYA for each pre-school place. Parents of participating children who are paying for full or part-time daycare must be given a reduction in their day-care fees of €48.50 per week by the crèche.

Additional services: Playschools and crèches can offer additional services to parents for which charges will be made, however, these can only be offered on an optional basis and parents who do not want to avail of such services must still be provided with a full Pre-School Year service in early learning for their children. Additional services would include extra hours, meals, special outings, special classes etc. If parents are unsure about how this works, their local Childcare Committee will be able to answer their queries. Additional charges in such cases for extras must be optional for a service to comply with the rules of the scheme.

For further information on the scheme contact Offaly County Childcare Committee on 057 9135878 or check out the Office of the Minister for Children’s Website on www.omcya.ie

Events for the the beginning of 2010

The calendar of events for January and February will be sent to childminders and providers in mid December and is filled with training and development opportunities for the childcare sector.

. FETAC Level 5 in Birr & Tullamore
. ECCE Information Meeting
. Refresher First Aid Occupational and Paediatric First Aid
. Paediatric First Aid
. Providers Forum (Introduction to Aistear)
. Afterschool Forum (Drama Through Play)
. Fetac Level 5 Arts & Crafts Module
. Occupational First Aid
.

For information on any of the above please contact the office on 057 9135878.

Support for the Childcare Sector

Offaly County Childcare Committee provides a variety of supports to the childcare sector including provision and subsidisation of childcare training courses, workshops and forum meetings.
Potential Childcare Providers and Childminders wishing to set up a new childcare service can call the office to arrange an appointment with the Support and Development Workers who will support the potential provider through the process of establishing a new service.
Offaly County Childcare Committee can support Parent & Toddler Groups to set up and to develop their groups. The Support & Development Workers can offer a six week programme to groups which centres around child and adult interactions. The programme is tailored to the needs of individual groups and can include music and movement, arts & crafts, basic cookery with children, storytelling, physical development etc. For further details contact the office.
For more information contact Us