If your child already attends school, then you may be offered a space immediately if we have availability; if not, you will be notified of what category you fall under on our waiting list and your position in that category.

If your child isn’t due to start school until the next academic year, we will keep your details on file, and we open enrolment on the Monday each January for children starting school in that academic year.

What age can children start in the Early Childhood Centres?

Sleepy Hollow partners with three settings to operate nursery school provisions for children in their pre-school year —that is, the year before enrolling children into primary school.Parents need to enrol for these pre-schools via the Education Authority on this link (click here).

Pre-school with fully registered wraparound childcare facilities — with afternoon care bolt-on to 3pm or 6pm and a no-charge breakfast club option in Lisburn, Aldergrove and Holywood.

Lisburn:(click here)

Aldergrove:(click here)

Holywood:(click here)

Enrolling in our preschool partner settings is an excellent way to give your child the early learning opportunity they need to excel in the future. The early years preschool program is designed to develop your child’s social, emotional, physical, and cognitive skills while they have fun. We focus on individualised learning, creating meaningful, hands-on experiences tailored to each child’s strengths and interests. Our qualified and experienced early years specialists, educators and assistants all strive to ensure your child’s success, providing them with the best foundation possible to build upon in the future.

Does Sleepy Hollow operate a pre-school or nursery school?

Sleepy Hollow partners with three settings to operate nursery school provisions for children in their pre-school year —that is, the year before enrolling children into primary school.

Parents need to enrol for these pre-schools via the Education Authority on this link (click here).

Pre-school with fully registered wraparound childcare facilities — with afternoon care bolt-on to 3pm or 6pm and a no-charge breakfast club option in Lisburn, Aldergrove and Holywood.

Lisburn: (click here)

Aldergrove: (click here)

Holywood: (click here)

Does Sleepy Hollow operate a pre-pre school?

Sleepy Hollow offers five Eager and Able to Learn Programmes for 2-3 year olds which are part funded by Pathway Fund (Department of Education)

Children can start from aged 2 and can start mid way through the school year. Children do not need to be potty trained to attend.

Aldergrove: 9am to 11am £6.60 (with free breakfast club option, subject to availability from 8am to 9am)

Holywood: 9am to 11am £6.60 (with free breakfast club option, subject to availability from 8am to 9am)

Lisburn: 9am to 11am £6.60 (with free breakfast club option, subject to availability from 8am to 9am)

Newtownabbey : 9.15am to 11.15 am (£6.60 but no breakfast club option). Childcare can attend full wraparound care from their 3rd birthday

Crumlin : we offer Eager and Able to Learn curriculum in our two to three year old room as part of our curriculum. It is only open to children enrolled in our Early Childhood Setting there. This programme is not part funded.

Many of our children progress into our pre school settings, but otherwise we can facilitate afternoon pick ups for our pre pre school children if they choose to move schools in their pre school year.

What age can children start Sleepy Hollow wraparound units — can we take nursery children?

We do offer a separate wraparound pre school site in St MacNissi’s PS only at this stage

We cannot take children of nursery school age in ANY of our school-aged wraparound facilities. The earliest children can start with us is the July before starting Primary One.

Can my child attend Sleepy Hollow Out of School Camps without attending term time?

Of course! We open bookings slightly earlier for our existing clients, but you are free to apply for a space for your child to attend out-of-school camps only.

How can I arrange a viewing of any Sleepy Hollow branch?

The answer is you don’t need to book to come round and view any of our sites… BUT

We would ask in our Day Nursery that you call round between 9.30am and 11.30am and then any time after 3.30pm. This is to allow for children sleeping, meal times and to ensure we keep disruption of our children’s routines to a minimum.

In our wraparounds we suggest calling at breakfast club or again after 3pm to allow the staff to concentrate on pick ups at the busy times of 2pm and 3pm.

SWOT analysis for School Principals, Leadership Teams or Boards of Governors considering opening a Wraparound Childcare setting in their Primary School

There are lots of reasons for providing wraparound childcare on primary school sites in Northern Ireland and beyond. We have two decades of experience in providing registered wraparound care so have prepared a SWOT analysis which you may find beneficial for school leadership teams in deciding what the benefits are. Of course we will always advocate that schools strongly consider outsourcing or working in partnership with a provider which of course frees school staff up to concentrate on educating children, allowing the playwork and childcare professionals take care of all of the wraparound provision. A full briefing of our SWOT analysis in on our YouTube channel: Click here

Sleepy Hollow are Curiosity Approach accredited — what is the Curiosity Approach?

The Curiosity Approach is an early years approach that puts the child’s interests at the centre of their educational experience. The Curiosity Approach encourages creativity, problem-solving, and deep learning by listening to the child and creating environments and interactions around their interests. The approach is based on the belief that children are naturally curious, creative and capable of great things.

For more information from a parents perspective on the Curiosity Approach click on this link: https://www.thecuriosityapproach.com/parents

Sleepy Hollow has also featured in the Curiosity Approach Book — From ordinary to extraordinary

Sleepy Hollow Early Childhood Settings are Reggio inspired, what does that mean?

The Reggio Emilia approach to early years education puts children in the driver’s seat and sees them as curious individuals with the power and potential to develop and learn from their environment and the relationships they build with others.

The image of the child as a subject of right is central to the philosophy. Instead of viewing children as having needs which must be fulfilled, they are viewed as strong and intelligent individuals who should be given every opportunity to reach their potential.

Children are viewed as having unlimited potential and being eager to interact with and contribute to the world.

This means learning is driven by the child who takes an active role in co-constructing their own knowledge and gives the child control over the direction of the curriculum. This encourages self-expression, communication, team work thinking and problem-solving in the child.

Children are influenced by everything that is around them and the environment itself acts as a ‘third teacher’. The progress and learning experience are consequently subject to the community, surroundings and resources of each setting.

Our Early Years Educators observe children and work in close connection with parents to understand how each child learns. Our Educators then plan and adapt the learning process, activities and resources appropriately based on the child’s interests.

The learning process is considered to be of much higher importance than the final product and teachers create in-depth projects based on information from parents and observation as well as the interests of children.

Why choose Sleepy Hollow over another setting?

We would love to say that it’s because we are the best —and whilst we truly believe we are —there are many many other excellent childcare facilities in Northern Ireland who are each offering their own unique services. We would suggest that you make enquiries with several settings before settling on one —childcare is such a big decision and an expense so it’s important that you make the right choice.

If we don’t have any current availability in our Early Childhood Centre we can recommend do a dedicated search for all registered childcare provision using this link.

Again if we can’t offer spaces out immediately we can retain your name on a waiting list and will keep you updated as spaces become available.

Why do Sleepy Hollow Group believe parents should consider school based wraparound childcare over other registered childcare options?

The main benefit of school-based wraparound childcare is that it offers extended hours for children and parents, allowing for more flexibility and convenience when it comes to childcare.

This type of childcare allows parents to work longer hours or attend other activities without worrying about childcare. As well as this, children may benefit from having more significant social opportunities and socialisation during playtime outside of regular nursery school hours and increased opportunities for educational activities. Wraparound care is a valuable option for parents needing more flexibility and convenience when managing childcare needs.

Parents can also benefit from doing the school run each day, even if it isn’t at the ‘regular’ school start and finishing times, and we know these things matter to parents. Children can also attend any school-based extracurricular activities as Sleepy Hollow are on-site and can pick up at any time.

Sleepy Hollow pays a small rent back to school, which mostly covers operational costs but can contribute to other school funds.

Sleepy Hollow has also fundraiser for PTA and, on occasion, sponsor PTA events. This ensures a strong school and community ethos.

Sleepy Hollow is a registered childcare provider meaning that parents should all be able to avail of childcare savings.

Financial Assistance with childcare costs — available for most parents

We would highly recommend that parents contact Employers for Childcare in regard to financial assistance with childcare costs. Employers for Childcarecan help ease some of the burden on parents by offering a Freephone helpline028 9267 8200and personalised advice and guidance to ensure you and your family is getting the financial support you are entitled to.

Employers for childcarework istwo-fold, they administer afree telephone helplineandan outreach servicealongsidecarrying outresearchandlobbyingwork on parents and childcare providers behalf. Last year they helped over 13,000 people and carried out almost 4,000 personalised benefits checks —parents who received one of these checks identified average savings of £2,800.

Universal Credit support towards childcare costs.

Parents may be able to claim back up to 85% of your childcare costs if you’re eligible for Universal Credit.

Parents (and their partner if you live with them) will usually need to either:

1. be working - it does not matter how many hours you or your partner work; or

2. have a job offer

The most you can get back each month is:

£1,014.63 for one child

£1,739.37 for 2 or more children

How to claim https://www.gov.uk/universal-credit/how-to-claim

What is tax-free childcare?

Currently you can get up to £500 every 3 months (up to £2,000 a year) for each of your children to help with the costs of childcare. This goes up to £1,000 every 3 months if a child is disabled (up to £4,000 a year).

Parents are to apply so long as their earnings are less than £100,000 — so in a two parent household this could be up to £200,000.

Link to HMRC website for tax-free childcare application: https://www.gov.uk/tax-free-childcare

Financial Support through NI Childcare Subsidy Scheme (currently open to early years children aged 0 - 5)

The Northern Ireland Childcare Subsidy Scheme (NICSS) is a Department of Education initiative designed to reduce the childcare costs of eligible working parents by 15% for all qualifying children. The overarching aim of this scheme is to help working parents with the affordability of childcare costs.

The Northern Ireland Executive has agreed that the subsidy scheme will target working parents who are eligible for Tax Free Childcare (TFC) and have children who have not yet started primary school.

Starting from 1st September 2024[1], any parent receiving TFC, for a child who has not yet enrolled in primary school will be eligible to participate in the scheme, provided their childcare provider is signed up with HMRC as a TFC provider and has registered to participate in the Northern Ireland Childcare Subsidy Scheme.

[1] The Northern Ireland Executive had provided funding for the scheme up to the end of March 2025.

A decision on its extension will be taken based on evaluation evidence for the period September 2024 – March 2025 and budget availability.

028 9433 9031

info@sleepyhollowgroup.com

Head Office: Suite 1, Fortwilliam House, Edgewater Business Park, Belfast, BT3 9JQ

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