Hello!
My husband and I will be relocating to Ireland in the early part of 2016 with our two young boys. At the time of our move, our oldest will be 3 turning 4 in June and our youngest will be 1 turning 2 in November 2016. My work will be in Carlow, while my husband will be home-based with an office in Cork, so we are considering living in Wicklow or the surrounding area.
We are trying to find out some more information on school and daycares/preschool. What is the earliest age that children start attending school? And are there preschools or daycares that are better than others? Currently both boys attend an at-home daycare, however we are not opposed to daycare centers or preschools.
Any help, advice, comments would be extremely helpful.
I should clarify that I know enrolment age is between 4-6 for primary school, but I was hoping to find out some more information on whether most children enter at 6 or earlier?
Hey Kate
Kids usually start school in Ireland at 4. This would be the equivalent of the TK (transitional kindergarten) year that I've seen in some US states. However, it's not unheard of for parents to wait until their kids turn 5 to start school.
Regarding daycare/preschool...I don't think there is a resource for ratings/reviews countrywide. A lot of this type of information is typically word of mouth in Ireland. When your kids are a little older there is a good website for finding good quality schools for them. You'll find the link to it and to other school resources at this link.
Be sure to check out the ECCE scheme before you sign your kids up for pre-school. All children are entitled to one year of free pre-school. Most people will avail of this scheme on the second year of pre-school as it is the one that the child will attend more hours, therefore being more cost-effective.
Best wishes,
Liam
Kate – I would say that most kids start school at 4 or 5 (Junior infants). It’d be rare to wait until they’re 6. To help you equate it to the US equivalent, kids usually move into high school in Ireland at age 13, after 8 years of primary/elementary.
Liam,
Thank you for the information. I thought 6 was a bit late for enrolment, so I'm glad to hear that its not the norm. I've been looking through schooldays.ie which has been very helpful with the contact information for the schools.
So far, I have had pretty good luck with childcare centers that have complete websites. It seems that up until fairly recently, women did not work and stayed home to raise the children, so I was not sure if using childcare was frowned upon. While I would love to stay home with the kiddos, that is not an option yet.
Thank you for the information on ECCE. The childcares that I have found mention the ECCE scheme and I assumed that it was for low-income only... glad to hear its not! 🙂
You're right...up until the current generation of 30-somethings, Ireland was a country where most women would stay home and take care of the home and kids. That has changed a lot, so certainly not something to be at all concerned about.
ECCE is definitely for all! We just had our son avail of it this past school year. Not all pre-schools offer it, but from what I've seen, it seems that most do.
I am excited to report that I just sent the application to the school we are hoping my kids will go to in Dublin 6 starting next school year. I was in the post office yesterday and as I was driving away I felt amazing because I was taking the first real step toward moving - not just thinking and planning but actually doing. Very exciting!
However, now my next concern is what to do about after school care. The school we are hoping the kids will go to has no after school care. My boys will be 9 and 6 next summer and so I still think they are a bit too young to go home on their own and be alone all afternoon while my husband and I are hopefully working (they come up with some pretty crazy things sometimes when I am home but in a different room!!) It looks like the school has some after school activities like sports and drama but they until go until about 3 pm. Can anyone let me know how after school car in Dublin works? A friend from Ireland told me that, in Dublin, there is after school care and that they will come and pick the kids up from school. Does anybody have any experience with that and know where I should look, when I should sign up, etc? Thanks much!!
The ECCE scheme - does anyone know the ins and outs of it? I've been in contact with a few creches and preschools that offer the free preschool year and I am finding that it is really just partially free. Basically only 3 hrs of each day is free and we would pay for the rest. Is that across the board, or does it just happen to be how the creches I am looking at administer the program?
@rikkes from what I have found some daycares offer after school care and do after school pickup. However I am sure this has a lot to do with the proximity of the schools. The areas we are looking are a lot smaller than Dublin to the point where the school is next door or right down the road from the daycare.