Information for Parents

Free Preschool Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) Scheme

A Free Preschool Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) Scheme was announced by the Government in April 2009. The free preschool place year has been available since January 2010. It will begin again in September 2011. Further information is available in our Parent ECCE Info Leaflet and parent newsletter Autumn 2011

The Department of Children and Youth Affairs have released an 'ECCE Programme Guide to the Programme and the Administrative Procedures - for Service Providers and Parents'. Most of the information in this guide relates to administrative procedures and is targeted towards service providers. However, parents may find some sections helpful, particularly the Overview of the ECCE programme (section 1), the procedures which must be followed when moving children from one service to another (section 5) and the rules governing the waiving of the upper age limit (section 6).

Upcoming changes to childcare schemes - from 1st September 2012

The budget of Tuesday 6th December 2011 announced upcoming changes to all 3 national childcare schemes.

To read a guidance document on these changes, including questions and answers, click here.

List of Childcare Services & the schemes they offer

To view a list of Childcare Services in Co. Roscommon & the schemes that they offer, click here.

February 2011 Update on Children with Additional Needs

Read here for an update from the OMCYA regarding children additional needs and the ECCE scheme.

Useful information for parents

1. This information note is a useful guide for parents and childcare services providing information on types of services, hours and days offered under the scheme, capitation grants, choosing a childcare service, and many useful questions and answers.

2. Click here for information on the age range for eligibility under the ECCE Scheme.

Roscommon County Childcare Committee has updated their ECCE Parent Information leaflet which is in English.

To access the OMCYA's ECCE leaflet for parents, click here.

To access information on Parent Declaration forms for the ECCE Scheme, and the benfits of pre-school for your child in a variety of languages, click here.

Roscommon County Childcare Committee would like to thank the Cork City Childcare Committee for making the following ECCE Parent Booklets available to us