Comments on: Free Pre-School in Ireland (ECCE)

By: lorraine

lorraine — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 15:12:34 +0000

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.

By: laura

laura — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 22:28:17 +0000

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.

By: Teacher

Teacher — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 13:23:02 +0000

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!!!!

By: Julie

Julie — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 21:57:11 +0000

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?

By: mary

mary — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 23:05:09 +0000

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????????

By: Helen

Helen — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 15:14:45 +0000

My daughter will be 4 years old on 1st of July 2011 and misses her free year at playschool by just 1 day – is therefore not entitled to ECCE. The montessori will not let her start unless she has ECCE. What can we do?

By: Gabriela

Gabriela — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 17:32:01 +0000

Hello,my son must to on preschool on sept,he gonna have 3 yrs and 3 mth,anyone know preschool in D7?we must to go on D1,but its a little far..

By: Moneymate

Moneymate — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 12:16:01 +0000

As it says in the main article “parents who wish to avail of the scheme can enrol their children with the available participating service of their choice” No need to apply elsewhere.

By: anna

anna — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 12:09:25 +0000

what is the procedure?
do we have to apply for smthing? or just call the school and register the child?

By: tina

tina — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 21:13:01 +0000

so mad my daughter is 3 august 22 so misses out by 3 months and will be starting school the following september. does anyone know is there a ny way to get around this