Children qualify for the free pre-school provision when they are within the qualifying age range which is 3 years and 3 months to 4 years and 7 months in the September of the relevant year. This means, for example, that children born between 1st July and 31st August 2011 qualify in the school year commencing in September 2015. There is no provision under the programme to enrol children who are below the qualifying age.
The objective of the ECCE programme is to make early learning in a formal setting available to eligible children in the year before they commence primary school. To achieve this, services participating in the pre-school year are expected to provide age-appropriate activities and programmes to children within a particular age cohort. For this reason, it is appropriate to set minimum and maximum limits to the age range within which children will qualify. I am satisfied that the qualifying age range for entry to the programme provides the optimum opportunity for children to participate in pre-school education and there are no plans to amend the age range at this time.
Situations will arise where children qualifying for the free pre-school provision are also eligible to commence primary school, and in such situations it is a matter for parents to decide on which option they wish to avail of.
