Parent Statement for Partner Services
1. Welcome to our Partner Service
Daisychain Montessori And Creche, 4 Blackbush Lane Drogheda A92NX40, is a Partner Service, working together with the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, and parents to deliver high quality, affordable, inclusive Early Learning and Care (ELC) and/or School Age Childcare (SAC) services for children under Together for Better. Together for Better is the new funding model for early learning and childcare that brings together three major programmes, the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme - including the Access and Inclusion Model (AIM), the National Childcare Scheme (NCS) and Core Funding, with a fourth programme under development – the Equal Participation Model.
As a Partner Service, we offer subsidy schemes to parents and receive Core Funding. This Parent Statement outlines some of the important things you can expect from us, as a Partner Service. This Parent Statement is provided as a condition of the Core Funding Partner Service Funding Agreement, the NCS, ECCE and CCSP Saver Funding agreements and informs the agreement in place between us Daisychain Montessori And Creche and the parents/guardians that use our service. The Minister of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth is not a party to this agreement which is solely between the service and parent/guardian.
1.1 About Us
Here are some of the basic things to know about us:
A typical week for us is 07:30 to 18:00 Monday to Friday for 50 weeks per year.
At Daisychain Montessori And Creche we offer the following services to children and their families:
- Sessional Care for Early Learning & Care (ELC) excluding ECCE provision
- Sessional pre-school under ECCE (Free Pre-school)
- Full day care/part time care for Early Learning & Care (ELC)
- Term time School Age Childcare
- Out of term School Age Childcare
2. Early Childhood Care and Education Programme (ECCE), Access and Inclusion Model (AIM), National Childcare Scheme (NCS)
This Childcare Service is in contract to deliver the:
- National Childcare Scheme (NCS)
- Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme
Early Childhood Care and Education Programme (ECCE):
ECCE provides for 15 hours per week of preschool provision over 38 weeks per year before children start primary school at no charge to parents. A child is eligible to start ECCE in the September term once they have turned 2 years and 8 months of age on or prior to 31 August that year.
If you are availing of additional childcare, the balance of the childcare fees that you have to pay are the child's fees minus the 15 hours of ECCE per week your child is eligible for. The 15 hours you are awarded is paid by the Department to Daisychain Montessori And Creche for your child. Any additional childcare hours you are using outside of ECCE are eligible for an NCS subsidy (see details below).
Daisychain Montessori And Creche must provide you with written details of how the balance of your childcare fees are calculated (that is, the fee we charge less your free 15 hours per week of preschool provision).
Managers Julia & Leanne will support you in registering your child for the ECCE programme in our service if your child meets the eligibility criteria. Further information about ECCE is available here -
https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/2459ee-early-childhood-care-and-education-programme-ecce/
Please note: In the ECCE Programme you are not required or obliged to select or pay a deposit for any optional extras. If you do avail of any optional extra, should you, at any time, wish to withdraw from any of the optional extras selected, you must provide Daisychain Montessori And Creche with 20 working days’ notice.
Access and Inclusion Model (AIM):
The goal of AIM is to create a more inclusive environment in pre-schools, so all children, regardless of ability, can benefit from quality early learning and care. The model achieves this by providing universal supports to pre-school settings, and targeted supports, which focus on the needs of the individual child, without requiring a diagnosis of disability.
Further information about AIM is available here - https://aim.gov.ie/
Optional:
This service also has an Inclusion Coordinator, Leanne Everitt who has a special qualification focused on supporting the inclusion of all children in the service.
National Childcare Scheme (NCS)
NCS provides subsidies to parents and families to offset the costs of Early Learning and Care (ELC) and/or School Age Childcare (SAC). There are two types of subsidies available to apply for under the NCS - the Universal or Income Assessed subsidy. Both subsidies are available to families with children between 24 weeks and 15 years of age.
This service welcomes children who wish to avail of the National Childcare Scheme, including children referred under the sponsorship programme. Further information about the NCS, including how to apply for a subsidy, is available here - https://www.ncs.gov.ie/en/ or contact the NCS Parent Support Centre on 01 906 8530 (Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm).
Your NCS award includes a unique CHICK (Childcare Identifier Code Key) and information on the maximum number of hours you can claim. To use your award, you must:
1) Receive a CHICK by applying to https://www.ncs.gov.ie/en/ or contacting the NCS Parent Support Centre.
2) Bring the CHICK to Daisychain Montessori And Creche and register your NCS subsidised hours of care. The hours that you will agree should be based on the hours you need and what Daisychain Montessori And Creche can offer you.
3) After Daisychain Montessori And Creche has registered your hours, you must confirm that these details are correct. These details must be confirmed at https://www.ncs.gov.ie/en/ or in writing to National Childcare Scheme, PO Box 13105, Southside Delivery Office, Cork, depending on whether you originally applied online or by post to receive you award.
4) Your NCS subsidy can only be paid once your CHICK has been registered by Daisychain Montessori And Creche and you have confirmed on the system that all details are correct. The amount that you must pay to Daisychain Montessori And Creche is called the ‘co-payment’. The co-payment is Daisychain Montessori And Creche’s fee for your child minus the NCS subsidy paid by the Department to Daisychain Montessori And Creche for your child.
Daisychain Montessori And Creche must provide you with details of how your co-payment amount is calculated (our fee less your NCS subsidy). We will always notify you within 20 days if and when your co-payment amount changes, including details on how it has been calculated.
3. Fees Policies
As an Approved Provider, we operate a Fees Policy that is transparent and understandable to our parents. Please do not hesitate to contact Managers Julia & Leanne who will provide additional clarification as required.
3.1 Fee Management
As a Partner Service, we operate our Fees Policy in accordance with the Core Funding Partner Service Funding Agreement, which in programme year 2023/2024 involves no increases of fees on those charged to parents on the 30th of September 2021, called a ‘fee freeze’.
3.2 Donations - We will not request or accept any donations, voluntary or otherwise from parents/guardians, in respect of the ELC/SAC services being provided.
3.3 Deposits - We will not charge any non-refundable deposits to parents/guardians in the respect of their ELC/SAC service where the parent/guardian takes up the service for which the deposit was paid.
3.4 Discounts – We will keep all discounts that were available on 30 September 2021 in place, provided that they are available to all children in our service. Any discount relevant to you will be applied to your normal fee before any subsidy is applied.
3.5 Optional Extras – The term ‘Optional Extra’ is only applicable to any extra services or activities we offer under the ECCE/CCSP Saver Programmes which are not funded by the Programmes but which are voluntary with optional charges to you. These optional extras are very limited in nature and there is a copy of the DCEDIY-approved optional extras list available in Appendix 1 of the ECCE programme rules, which are also available on the Early Years Hive.
3.6 Additional Service - Is when something additional to a service type/fee option is offered to parents/guardians. Take up of the additional service must be entirely optional to parents/guardians. For example a service provider may offer school collection services in addition to their SAC Service Types, or a service providing ECCE only may offer 2 weeks of camp during Easter, these would be entirely optional to parents and charged for additionally.
3.7 Fee Review Process - Core Funding is a payment to Partner Services designed to support quality, sustainability, and enhanced public management, with associated conditions in relation to fee control and cost transparency, incorporating funding for administration and to support the employment of graduate staff. Partner Services must uphold their contractual obligations regarding their fees charged to parents/guardians as laid out in the Core Funding Partner Service Funding Agreement. Where a parent/guardian identifies a potential breach of Core Funding fee rules by a Partner Service, they may seek to have this examined and a conclusion reached through the Core Funding Fee Review process. A parent/guardian who has identified a change to a Partner Service’s fee policy potentially breaching the Core Funding Partner Service Funding Agreement, may address the issue in the first instance by using the Partner Service’s complaints policy. In certain cases, this step may allow for the quick resolution of the case between the Partner Service and the parent/guardian without engagement with the CCC, Pobal or the Department. This pre-fee review stage is optional and where a parent/guardian does not wish to engage with the service with their concerns or questions around Fee Management, a parent/guardian can move straight to Stage 1 and raise the case directly with the relevant CCC.
3.8 Fee Policy
Fee policy is the same as the fee policy that we had in place on September 30, 2021
4. Quality measures
As a Partner Service, we are committed to delivering quality for children and families. There are number of ways we can show this.
4.1 Our staff have the following qualifications:
Room/Session Qualification
Managers QQI Fetac Level 6&8
Stepping Stones QQI Fetac Level 5&6
Little Cherubs QQI Fetac Level 5&6
Rainbow Room QQI Fetac Level 5
Sunshine Room QQI Fetac Level 5
Little Scholars QQI Fetac Level 5&6
4.2 Our staff have the following qualifications:
We are actively working to implement our Quality Action Plan and we will report on progress at the end of the year to the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth and our parents. Daisychain Montessori And Creche will display the end of year QAP report in an area accessible to parents/guardians as well as on any online platform maintained by the Daisychain Montessori And Creche for the purpose of advertising its service or providing information to parents/guardians.This Parent Statement, which is an agreement solely between the parent/guardian and the provider, sets out what is on offer at Daisychain Montessori And Creche and the applicable fees. If these terms conflict with the terms of any other agreement between Daisychain Montessori And Creche and the parents/guardians then this takes priority, however any parts of any existing agreement that do not conflict remain in force and are not affected by this Parent Statement.