The Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) Scheme provides free early childhood care and education for children of pre-school age. The scheme is for 3 hours per day, 5 days per week, for 38 weeks of the year. All children are entitled to two full academic years on the ECCE scheme.

Children are eligible to start the ECCE scheme in the September of the year that they turn 3 years old. For example, if your child’s date of birth falls between 1^st January 2018 and 31^st December 2018, he or she will begin to qualify for the 2 year free ECCE pre-school scheme starting in September 2021.

This is a useful table to help you identify when your child qualifies for the free ECCE programme:

To avail of the ECCE scheme, you will require your child to have an Irish PPSN.   We will require you to complete an ECCE registration form. We will make the registration on your behalf. Once a child is registered with us for ECCE scheme, we will send you a Parent Declaration form and Fee Information letter which you must sign and return to us. We must keep these forms on file in accordance with the rules of the ECCE scheme and they are subject to compliance inspection by the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (DCEDIY).

You can find out more information about the ECCE scheme on: www.gov.ie/en/publication/2459ee-early-childhood-care-and-education-programme-ecce.

If you child is eligible for the ECCE scheme, you can avail of this scheme in 2 ways:

• For children attending full -day care in KinderCrescent, the ECCE subsidy will be deducted from the monthly fee.
• Our sessional classes ( 3- hour classes) are completely free and there are no extra charges as we do not charge additional fees. See below for our list of free classes.

We offer a number of  free sessional 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.

To find our more information about the scheme or to check availability for your child, please call the office or email us on info@kindercrescent.ie

There are two types of subsidies available under the National Childcare Scheme which is operated by Pobal.

1. Universal Subsidy:

A Universal Subsidy is available to all families with children under 3 years old. It is also available to families with children over 3 years of age who have not yet qualified for the free preschool programme (ECCE). This subsidy is not means tested and provides 50c per hour towards the cost of a registered child care place for a maximum of 45 hours per week.

In order to apply online for a Universal Subsidy, you will need:

• A verified MyGov ID account
• The Date of Birth and Personal Public Service Number (PPSN) for each of the children you are applying for.

2. Income Assessed Subsidy:

An Income Assessed subsidy is available to families with children aged between 24 weeks and 15 years of age. This subsidy is means tested and will be calculated based on your individual circumstances. Your rate will vary depending on your level of family income, your child’s age and educational stage, and the number of children in your family.

If you (and your partner, if you have one) are working, studying or training, the maximum number of subsidised hours available per week are 45.

If you (or your partner, if you have one) are not working, studying or training, the maximum number of subsidised hours available per week are 20.

In both cases, the available hours include hours spent in school or preschool. The remaining hours can then be used for ‘wrap around care’. More information on this is available on www.ncs.gov.ie.

In order to apply online for an Income Based Subsidy you will need:

• A verified MyGovID account
• Your children’s information such as Date of Birth and PPSN
• Your employment and income related details
• Your partner’s PPSN**
• Your partner’s employment and income related details**

**if you are a member of a couple

To see what you might be eligible for, you can check out www.ncs.gov.ie

Child Identifier Code Key (‘CHICK’):

When you apply to the NCS, you will be awarded a CHICK for your child.  This is a unique code for your child. When your child starts in KinderCrescent, you will be required to provide us with this CHICK so that we can register it with KinderCrescent.  Following that, we then apply, on your behalf, for the childcare subsidy that has been awarded to you.

Registering your ‘CHICK’:

Once we register your CHICK with KinderCrescent and apply for the subsidy from Pobal, you, the parent, will receive an email requiring you to accept and confirm the application made by us. Only when you accept and confirm this will the subsidy be assigned to be paid to KinderCrescent. We can then deduct your subsidy from your childcare fee.

Please note that subsidy payments start on a Monday and Pobal do not allow payments to be backdated. For this reason, it is very important that you apply as soon as possible to the NCS for your subsidy and send us on the full details of your award as soon as you receive it.