Free Pre-School in Ireland (ECCE)
April 20, 2009
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Posted by Money Guide
The latest Budget in Ireland announced that the short lived “Early Childcare Supplement” is to be halved from May 2009 and abolished from 31 December 2009.
It is going to be replaced in January 2010 with a pre-school Early Childhood and Education Scheme (ECCE) for all children between the ages of 3 years 3 months and 4 years 6 months.
Children enrolled in playschools will receive free pre-school provision of 3 hours per day, 5 days each week over a 38 week year. The pre-school providers will get a weekly capitation of €64.50 per child and parents will not be charged.
Children enrolled in full- or part-time childcare services will receive free pre-school provision of 2 hours and 15 minutes per day, five days a week over a 50 week period. This equates to a weekly capitation grant to the service of €48.50, with parents paying for their childcare net of this amount.
All community and private pre-school services, which meet the requirements of the scheme, will be invited to apply for entry to the scheme and all notified pre-school services will be contacted by the Office of the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs (OMCYA) by the end of May, 2009. To introduce the scheme as quickly as possible and maximise the number of children and their parents who will benefit from the outset, the Minister said he did not propose to wait until the school year beginning September 2010 but would introduce the scheme from January 2010. From September 2010, the pre-school year will run from September of each year in line with the school year.
All children aged between 3 years 3 months and 4 years 6 months at September 1st each year, will be eligible and parents who wish to avail of the scheme can enrol their children with the available participating service of their choice. Children entering the scheme in January 2010 will be eligible, if they are aged between 3 years and 7 months and 4 years and 10 months at 1 January 2010 (children born between March 1st, 2005 and June 1st, 2006). Parents should have regard to the enrolment policies of their local primary schools in making decisions regarding the age that their children should avail of the pre-school year.
Categories: April Budget 2009, Budget 2009, ECCE, Freebies
my son born on 10 aug 2007 is not entitled to his free pre school year all because of 6 weeks born to late sure thats not his fault nor mine. now i,ve to fork out 250 euro a month for school and thats just the fee for his place not including uniform. the minister should of made it easier for parents with school going children.is there any other ways of gettting help with some of the fees????????
I have had a lot of trouble with my pre school which is participating in the ECCE scheme. My daughter started pre school in Sept 2010. When I enrolled her I was told that there was a 20 euro weekly charge. As I had no details on the scheme when I enrolled my daughter,I presumed this was allowed, the charge was called “ECCE supplementary fee” by the school. This Monday my daughter handed me the bill from the pre school. Then I began to wonder what does this fee cover and was it for an optional service. I decided to ask the pre school owner. I was given 3 reasons
~ for the extra 1/2 hour a day. When I questioned why they were charging almost double the hourly amount that non ECCE
Parents were expected to pay
The reason changed
~ it was twoards the staff costs. When I questioned this, the third reason was
~ It was a charge that every parent in the school was expected to pay. The pre school owner then told me that if I was not willing to pay this “fee” I would have to remove my child from her school.
I later met with the pre school
Owner after taking advice from the local County Childcare Committee and was given the first reason again, it was a charge for the extra 2 1/2 hours per week. I told her that I would like to only avail of the three hours, five days per week. The answer was that I had to pay for the extra 1/2 hour. I told her that I had taken advice from the local CCC and that I should have the option to do this.
She told me “This is my school, these are my rules, if you dont pay you will have to remove your child”. Unfortunately, I felt that I had to remove my child from the school because of her attitude. The way she spoke to me was appauling, I felt that she may exclude or discriminate against my child.
The whole thing was so upsetting. Does anyone know if the pre school has the right to do this?
Julie, they cant do this. I am a preschool owner and I know the extra 1/2 hour has to be optional and any extra fees have to be optional. Most preschool are down a lot of money using the scheme, I have an optional extra scheme which costs 200euro a year. Only 1 parent out of 24 did not avail of the scheme. As a parent I would do my best to help the preschool (my own 4 year old goes to a different Playschool) but it has to be optional. Shame on the preschool owner for being rude!!!!
T
i just wanted to know do i still have to pay for school holidays?
I am paying for my child this year as i do not qualify for the scheme till next year.
hi,
my son will be three yrs old on nov 27th of this year. is it jan 11 or sept 11 he will be entitled to free preschool yr. he is in full time creche five days a week and paying monthly fee of €680 a month is crippling although its worth every penny just expensive.