We offer full day care from toddlers to afterschool
We offer pre-school ECCE classes for 3 hours each day
Full day care & education
Toddlers 1-2 years
Your toddler is well on their way exploring and learning at this stage, learning to share, take turns and interact with other children. Our bright & colourful toddler rooms are designed to meet these needs & enhance their learning experiences. These rooms are equipped with age-appropriate furniture and toys, soft reading area, colourful art, messy play, and plenty of education & learning materials. The ratio is five children to one teacher.
Our toddler curriculum ”Let’s Explore” is designed to stimulate your child’s curiosity, engage their imagination, promote growth and development, and give lots of opportunity for learning, fun & games. Our weekly themes provide a wide range of interesting activities for your child, from arts & crafts, messy play, dress-up & role play, to stories & songs. Your child’s key worker will inform you about your child’s day with us, regarding sleep times, food & nutrition, nappy changing and not forgetting the fun they had during the day!
Playschool 2-3 years
Your pre-schooler is an active learner, and our bright and colourful playschool rooms are dedicated to meeting their growing needs. We provide endless opportunities for fun & learning with our playschool programme “It’s Our World”. The ratio is six children to one teacher.
We offer your child opportunities to take part in table- top activities, helping them to improve their concentration & fine motor skills, language & communication skills.
We balance this learning with fun activities such as art& crafts, role play/dress up, puzzles, baking, music & stories, and of course outdoor play.
Your child’s key worker will personally inform you about your child’s day with us, regarding sleep times, food & nutrition, toileting and of course the fun & learning too!
Pre-school 3-5 years
We operate a two-year preschool curriculum in KinderCrescent. The ratio is eight children to one teacher. Our pre-school classrooms are designed to interest & engage your child in our learning programme. Our curriculum is based on an emerging interest programme, incorporating elements of Montessori, Aistear & Siolta. This curriculum is devised to engage your pre-school child, as it is child-led and based on their interests and needs. We also include social and interactive activities such as art & crafts, dress up/role play, puzzles, books, music & songs, messy play, baking and outdoor fun. Your child’s teacher will personally inform you about your child’s day with us, their learning and fun, food and nutrition and activities they enjoyed! ECCE eligible children in our full daycare can avail of the ECCE scheme during their day in pre-school.
After-school ( primary school aged children)
We offer a Before & After-school service in KinderCrescent for your school aged child. We provide a relaxed and homely environment where children can join us for breakfast before we bring them to school. We provide transport to and from the local schools in our private 9-seater cars/minibuses driven by our careful staff. Your child will wear a seatbelt and sit on an age-appropriate booster seat. We cater for children attending the 2 local primary schools in Kilcock, St. Joseph’s and Scoil Coca Naofa. In Maynooth, we cater for the 4 local primary schools, St Mary’s boys school, Presentation girls school, Maynooth Educate Together and Scoil Ui Fhiaich.
In our After-school Club, we aim to provide a relaxed and fun environment for your child to help him/her unwind after a day in school. After a challenging day in school, we offer an opportunity to play, have fun and choose what he/she would like to take part in. We set aside time for the children to do their homework each day.
Upon return from school, your child will change out of their uniform and have a hot meal. Your child will be involved in designing the activities plan for our After-school Club. Our age-appropriate activities include games, art and crafts, painting, baking, board games and outdoor activities. During school holidays we have planned themes and action-packed programmes to entertain and challenge your school aged child.
We provide care all year-round during school holidays, mid-terms & summer holidays. When you child is not in school ,he/she will attend KinderCrescent for the full day. The ratio is twelve children to one teacher.
Pre-school care & education
Pre-school ECCE classes 3 hours per day ( ECCE eligible children )
Our ECCE classes, led by our team of qualified & and experienced teachers, provide a wonderful learning opportunity for your pre-school aged child. Our curriculum incorporates Montessori , Siolta & Aistear, offering your child more opportunities to reach their full potential. The ratio is eleven children to one teacher.
We offer a number of free Pre-school ECCE classes in KinderCrescent:
- 9.00 am to 12.00 noon ( Maynooth & Kilcock )
- 9.15 am to 12.15 pm ( Maynooth & Kilcock)
- 9.20 am to 12.20pm ( Maynooth only)
- 9.30 am to12.30pm ( Maynooth only)
Our classes are Monday to Friday for 38 weeks of the year from September – June.
Outdoor
Outdoor activities and physical movement play a vital role in a child’s development and well-being. Children learn social skills by interacting with other children, with adults and even the objects found around them. The outdoor environment exposes children to opportunities to explore, question and develop theories about how things work and their place in the world around them. Negotiation, language, and co-operation are all skills that develop from playing outdoors.
With that in mind, outdoor play in the fresh air is an important part of each child’s day here at KinderCrescent. Our outdoor play areas provide your child with a safe and fun environment in which to play, explore and enjoy. We are very proud of our amazing outdoor facilities. We have all-weather astro turf playgrounds for each age group with age-appropriate equipment, toys, and games. Playing outdoors each day will not only give your child the opportunity to develop their gross motor skills, their balance and body awareness, it also meets their need to explore, have an adventure, experience nature, plant, and sow, play with their peers, strengthen bonds with others, take turns, share, have fun outside and enjoy the sun whenever it shines. With the weather in Ireland being as it is very unpredictable we have added a covered area in both of our settings to ensure that whatever the weather we will get outdoors daily for some fresh air and lots of fun.
We have devised an outdoor play programme that is part of our overall care & education programme for all children attending KinderCrescent. Our outdoor time is an extension of our indoor activities so, weather permitting, many of our classroom-based activities are moved outdoors for even more fun and enjoyment! We ensure that children will play outside each day. It is important that children are dressed appropriately for outdoor activity. Parents must ensure that their child has the appropriate attire for the weather, so we ask parents to send in wellies and raingear, which will be kept in the service, so we can have outdoor fun, no matter what the weather!!
Curriculum
Here at KinderCrescent we offer a range of learning opportunities to children, which are appropriate to the child’s stage of development. We are fully committed to being guided by the Principle of Síolta and the new national curriculum framework Aistear. ‘Encouraging each child’s holistic development and learning requires the implantation of a verifiable, broad-based, documented and flexible curriculum or programme’. Reference: Siolta – the National quality Framework for Early Childhood Education.
‘ Active learning, relationships, play, language, and meaningful experiences are priorities for supporting children’s early learning and development’ Reference: Aistear – The Early Childhood Curriculum Framework
We recognise how important high quality early childhood experience can be in children’s lives. This curriculum aims to encourage active learning, problem solving, effective communication, creativity and socialization. Our curriculum is an emergent curriculum based on the interests of the children, meaning that the curriculum in every room may differ and also, that if there are no emergent interests, that we have a theme plan set as a back-up.
The curriculum is set through interactions, discussions and observations made with and by the children. With the older children, we discuss a theme at circle time and our lessons and activities are set based on their knowledge and interest in the theme. We document this process in our class learner journals and also in each child’s individual yearbook and the children assist with this process.
Children learn best when they:
- Participate in making decisions as much as possible
- Make choices and contribute to learning experiences
- Share their opinions and diverse experiences and discuss their learning
- Have positive role models within the staff team
- Learn in a responsive and supportive social environment
- Learn through multi-sensory experiences
- Participate actively in experiences that engage them emotionally, physically, cognitively and socially
Aistear, the Early Childhood Curriculum Framework
Our programme will follow the Aistear guidelines and Principle. Aistear is Ireland’s curriculum framework for children from birth to six years. Aistear is designed to work with the great variety of curriculum materials currently in use in early childhood settings. Using the broad learning goals of Aistear, we have adapted our curriculum to make learning even more enjoyable and rewarding for the children at Kinder Crescent.
Siolta: The National Quality Framework
Síolta has 16 standards that guide the way we provide and develop early childhood care and education services.
Each standard is broken down into components and questions that help us to reflect and think about our service.
Here, we have provided an overview of the 16 areas to which the standards relate but a further breakdown of the individual components of each standard is available on the Síolta website.