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 Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) Scheme was introduced by the Government in January 2010. It is commonly known as the Free Pre-School Year. This means that a pre-school place will be available to pre-school children free of charge for the year before they attend primary school.

The ECCE Scheme is open to children who, on 1st September, are at least 1 day older than 3 years and 2 months and at least 1 day younger than 4 years and 7 months old. The effect of this is that children born between 2 February 2007 and 30 June 2008 may enter the ECCE Scheme in September 2011.

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 county 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, please contact us on 057 9135878.

The free pre-school year (ECCE) scheme is universal and is designed to benefit all pre-school children. The aim of the ECCE Scheme is to support children's early learning and development and to encourage all children to avail of pre-school. The ECCE Scheme was introduced to promote equality of access for children.

Services wishing to enter the ECCE Scheme must meet certain criteria therefore the ECCE Scheme will raise standard services. All participating services must deliver an age appropriate programme of activities linked to Aistear, the National Framework for Early Learning and implement the standards of Síolta, which is the national Quality Framework for Childhood Education.

The scheme is meant to be availed of the year prior to a child starting school. Parents of children who were born between 2 February 2008 and 30 June 2009 will be eligible for the next free Pre-School Year in September 2012, provided they do not register to start the scheme in September 2011.

Playgroup / Pre-school Services: Where the free Pre-School Year is provided in a Playgroup / Pre-school setting, 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 DCYA for each pre-school place and parents of children in this age range will not have to make any payment to the service. Some services may offer an additional half hour or services for which a fee is charged. Any additional hours or services are optional to parents to avail of if they wish.

Crèche / Full Day Care Services: Where the free Pre-School Year is provided in a crèche / Full Day Care setting, 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 DCYA 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. The parent will then pay the remainder of the fee.

For further information on the scheme contact Offaly County Childcare Committee on 057 9135878 or check out the Department of Children and Youth Affairs Website on http://www.dcya.gov.ie

Upcoming Events

Check back early next year for our upcoming events

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 Offaly Childcare Committee on 057 9135878