What are the free preschool years?

The great news is that attending our Playschool is free!

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The Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) Scheme provides early childhood care and education for children of pre-school age. Children can start ECCE when they are 2 years and 8 months of age and continue until they transfer to primary school (provided that they are not older than 5 years and 6 months at the end of the pre-school year).

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The State pays participating playschools a set amount per child to offer the ECCE service. In return we offer a pre-school service free of charge to all children within the qualifying age range. The service is for a set number of hours over a set period of weeks.

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Our government recognise and value the importance of early years education.  International studies (in particular Scandinavian research) have shown that there are huge lifelong benefits in providing early years education and by making preschool available to everyone.  Studies have found that that 60% of what you learn in life, you learn before the age of 6.   Learning is not only academics, numbers, language etc.  In our playschool, we learn how to make friends, to interact with others and to develop our thought process.  Just as important, we are given a sense of belonging and inclusion in our world and community. 

Most of all, we have fun learning through play.

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