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Our Care
With education and experience in early childhood care
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Our staff consists of three leaders and three classroom assistants with experience in early childhood care.
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We are very aware that our staff are the key to our business and are the main reason we can offer the high level of service we provide. They are the ones responsible for nurturing and guiding your child through their time at Helga’s Preschool and the people who your children go home talking about in the evenings.
All our staff are highly qualified with the majority being Fetac Level 6 and some with Level 5. All staff are First Aid qualified.
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Helga’s Preschool is committed to providing a quality play-based child centred environment, where children are supported, encouraged and empowered to actively pursue their own development and learning. Also where each child is treated as an individual with respect and where their rights as a child are adhered to in accordance with the United Nations Rights of the Child (UNRC).
The Values and beliefs of our setting are as follows:
☛ Each child is an individual
☛ The rights of each child are upheld in accordance with the UN Rights of the Child
☛ The importance of play, and play centred activities
☛ Working in Partnership with Parents/Guardians
☛ Equality and respectfulness to children, parents, and staff
☛ The importance of on-going Continuous Professional Development (CPD) training for all staff members in the provision and practice of early years care and education☛ To provide a safe, secure, stimulating age-appropriate environment which embraces all children and values their ethnicity, culture, language, gender, age, disability, class and religion.
☛ To value all children as individuals and appreciate their uniqueness.
☛ To value parents/guardians as children’s primary educators.
☛ To ensure all staff receive appropriate CPD training and maintain high levels of quality practice.
☛ To encourage children to develop an extensive range of creativity and imagination through play.
☛ To recognise children’s rights to their opinions and that they understand that they are an important part of our community.
* We aim to select friendly, dependable, mature and professional staff through our rigorous recruitment and selection policy
* To ensure that the developmental, educational, emotional and social needs of each child are met daily
* The voice of the child is heard, respected and contributes to our programme
* We aim to deliver a quality care and play curriculum which addresses children’s well-being, identity and belonging, communication and exploring and thinking, along with the principles of Aistear, the Early Childhood Curriculum Framework
* We aim to make Helga’s Preschool accessible to all members of the community, regardless of race, gender, family status, age, disability, or religious belief.
* We aim to work with ‘Síolta’ The National Quality Framework for Early Childhood Education, by following its 12 principles of quality and the 16 standards within its framework.
* We operate within the Childcare (Pre-School Services) (No 2) Regulations 2006 and The National Standards for Pre-Schools (2010)
* The environment is planned and well-organised in a way that suits the different needs of individual children while keeping in mind the importance of Safety and Hygiene
* Parents are actively welcomed at Helga’s Preschool at all times. We endeavour to share information and communicate with parents directly, in order to give feedback at the end of each day and to ensure that they are made aware of on-going developments in policies and procedures.
* Helga’s Preschool wishes to promote a positive atmosphere where children, staff and parents are treated with respect.
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ECCE Scheme
The Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) Scheme is a Government funded initiative that provides 2 FREE years of pre-school to every child in Ireland between the ages of 3 – 5 years.
In general, children are eligible for the ECCE scheme if they are aged over 3 years 2 months and up to 5 years 8 months, on the 1st of September of the year that they will be starting.
In 2015, the Irish Government extended the scheme so that children can now avail of two years of free preschool. Previous to this the ECCE funding covered just one school year. A child who has been assessed as having a disability may be able to spread their free pre-school year over 2 years.
The normal pattern for the free pre-school year is 3 hours per day, 5 days a week over 38 weeks. If your child attends for longer than this each day, you will be charged for the extra time. Applying is easy you will simply need to provide your child’s PPS number. However, spaces are limited so booking in advance is recommended to avoid disappointment.
It’s an initiative that your child can avail of most of our centres, and we are proud to be part of it. You can learn more by giving our enquiries team a call now on (+353) 1-841-5044.
Help with child care costs?
If you are a parent/guardian who:
• holds a medical card or GP visit card;
• is on low income;
• is in school;
• in further education;
• job training;
• or in receipt of a social welfare payment,then you may be eligible for assistance with your childcare costs.
What supports are available?
Check this document to view what ‘band of supports’ are available to you based on your situation.
For information on Eligibility for ECCE by month of birth and of enrolment in pre-school click here.
You can also use the Department of Children and Youth Affairs calculator here, to determine your child’s ECCE eligibility.
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Have a child
2½ yrs to 3 yrs
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My son has attended Helga’s preschool Balscadden for nearly two years now and has loved every minute of it!
He goes in with great enthusiasm and comes out just as happy. They take such good care of him and it has been such a positive experience for both of us. Thank youAs parents of seven children, six of whom attended Helga’s Preschool over the years, we can offer our wholehearted endorsement. Indeed, I felt compelled to pen a few verses of thanks when our 6th child Graduated…….
“In many many ways you taught our children to learn, play & laugh
That influence easily seen, a testament to your staff…..”
In asking my son what he has enjoyed the most from his time here, he replies, the toys, having his turn to hand out the plates at lunch time and the garden (which has been transformed this year with the new wooden features such as the outdoor kitchen, water wall, insect house and bench)
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At Helga's Preshool we believe in a fun, play based approach to learning and development in the early years.
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How to Enroll Your Child to a Class?
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