Clare County Childcare Committee recently produced a publication entitled Benefits of Pre-School for Your Child and Making the Move to Primary School and is available to download. Please click hereto download the English Brochure (2,763KB).

(If you require a copy of this publication in a different language, please contact our office directly on 0404 64455).

To view a listing of Full Day Care, Sessional & SAC facilities in your part of County Wicklow, choose one of the following links:

- NORTH WICKLOW
- EAST/SOUTH WICKLOW
- WEST WICKLOW

These facilities are those in Co. Wicklow notified to the Health Services Executive, East Coast and South West Areas. The HSE acknowledges that these service providers have fulfilled the statutory obligation to notify and will be subject to regular inspection. The responsibility rests with parents to satisfy themselves of the suitability of the service providers and the quality of their service. The lists are for information purposes only. They do not infer compliance with the Child Care (Pre-school Services) Regulations 1996

Choosing childcare for your child or children is one of the most important decisions that you make, and finding the kind of facility you want which has a vacancy or vacancies and is in the right place is not always easy.

It is strongly recommended that before registering your child with any childcare service, be it a facility or Childminder, that you visit the service, while children are present, to evaluate its quality. Be sure that the environment is caring, safe and friendly. Note that there's a good range of daily activities provided and that the activities and resources take account of the children's age, culture, background and any special needs.

The main types of childcare are:

Full Day Care facilities: which provide childcare for more than 3.5 hours per day.These include crèches and nurseries;

Sessional Care facilities: which provide childcare for one or two sessions a day with a maximum of 3.5 hours per session. These include playgroups, Naíonraí and services offering Montessori programmes, etc.

Childminder: is a person who cares for children, usually in the Childminder's own home. A Childminder should look after no more than 6 children at any on time (including her/his own) who are aged under 6 years of age. A WCCC publication 'Choosing a Childminder - A Parents Guide' is available by contacting the office.

Drop-in centre. A drop-in centre offers a service for short periods during the day. These are usually provided by shopping centres, leisure centres, hotels etc.

School age childcare. A school age childcare service is one that provides care for school going children out of school hours. These can include breakfast clubs, after-school clubs, school holiday programmes, etc.

Many services offer a combination of the above e.g. full-day care & school age, sessional & drop-in, etc.

 All services catering for more than 3 pre-school children (i.e. children under 6 years old who are not attending primary school) are obliged to notify and be inspected by their local Health Service Executive. This applies to full-day services and sessional services, drop-in centres, and Childminders minding between 4 and 6 pre-school children.
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Representatives on Board

There are 2 Parent representatives on the Board. Their role includes bringing any issues and concerns that parents have about childcare, or the lack of it, in the County to the Board and making proposals for actions that the staff may carry out on behalf of parents or training that might be put on for parents. The representatives will link in with the Parents' Network.

View Present Membership of the Wicklow County Childcare Committee


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The information contained within this website is updated on a regular basis, so please visit again to keep updated on all developments of WCCC and childcare in County Wicklow.