Our Story

Service Overview

We are a Community service established as a playgroup (sessional service) for the last 41 years. We are a registered charity, Not for Profit organisation. In 2000 a submission was made to the Department of Justice Equality & Law Reform under the Childcare programme 2000-2006 part of the National Development Plan (N.D.P.) for a purpose-built Community Childcare Centre. The Donegal County Enterprise Fund accessed funding to build the Childcare Facility on their site and lease to the Centre. The Childcare Centre gained funding to design and equip the building. The Childcare Centre was opened on 3rd November 2003 as a full day service. Thus, Letterkenny Community Childcare Centre (LCCC) was established.

In 2012 LCCC opened a second service for the ECCE (free pre-school year) and After school, creating 6 additional childcare jobs, catering for 90 children.

A Fundraising initiative in conjunction with the North west 10K Road Race 2024

Mr. Eoin Gildea Chairperson of the Board of Directors and Mrs. Geraldine Burke Childcare Centre Manager

We operate under the principles of Siolta the National Standards for Pre-school services and Aistear the pre-school curriculum award.

We continually strive to improve our service, creating and providing high quality childcare and education for our youngest citizens. In 2008 and 2011 LCCC achieved the All Ireland Centre of Excellence Award. In 2013 LCCC was a finalist in the Donegal Enterprise Board Business of the Year Awards.

In 2013 the senior team commenced training in Siolta (The principles unpinning Childcare) gaining accreditation in June 2015.

In 2019 Staff completed a two-year training on Síolta and received a Level 4 accreditation, for Quality of service in 2020, the highest possible award in the sector.

inThe Office

Geraldine Burke is a highly qualified and experienced manager in the Early Years sector, with over 30 years of experience. Her impressive qualifications include:

Educational Degrees:

Master of Business Studies (MBS) in Leadership & Innovation (Level 9)
Bachelor of Arts (BA) Hons in Education (Level 8) - Early Years Care and Education

Certificates and Diplomas:

Managing and Mentoring (Level 7)
Train the Trainer Certificate (Level 6, 7307)
Diploma in Managing People (2016)
Certificate in GDPR (2018)
Smart Start Training Program (2016)
Siolta (2015)
City & Guilds Certificate in Early Years and Education
Certificate in Behavior Management with Children
Certificates in Counseling Skills (Stage 1 & 2) (2001)
Management in Food Hygiene Course (Fetac Level 6)
Safety and Health at Work (Fetac Level 6)
First Aid Responder (FAR)
European Computer Driving Licence (ECDL) in Excel (2016)
Keeping Safe (Child Protection) for Managers (HSE)
Business Survival Program (Donegal County Enterprise Board Ltd)
Human Resource Management
Start Your Own Business Course
Manual Handling
Nutrition for Pre-school Children Program
Fire Training Certificate
Building Pictures of Learning, Assessment in Early Childhood Training Program
Profitnet participant (University of Brighton, 2003-2014)
Behavior Management with Children
Behavior Management in the Early Years
Working with Children with Special Needs (Level 5)
Certificate from the National Employment Rights Authority
Bereavement Workshop

Geraldine's extensive qualifications reflect her dedication to professional development and her comprehensive expertise in managing and enhancing early childhood education environments.

The Centre

Letterkenny Community Childcare Centre CLG primary purpose and function is to provide Childcare for all the community within the parameters of legislation, Childcare Act 1991(Part V11) (Childcare (Pre-school Services) (No2) Regulations 2016. Childcare Standards (Guidelines) 2010, Childcare Act 1991 (Child Protection), through the guiding principles of Siolta, implementation of Aistear, with care and dedication to our customers, and as a team constantly striving to assist children to achieve a love of learning.

The Centre has two buildings with baby, toddler, and pre-school areas in the main building and ECCE (Free Pre-school Year) and Afterschool area in the second building. The baby and toddler areas consist of play areas with appropriate age-related toys and sleeping areas. The pre-school and ECCE areas have a creative area, tabletop toys, floor play, role play area and quiet area. The after-school area contains, homework table, art & crafts, construction toys. The Centre also has two outdoor play areas with a wide range of physical equipment and a garden.

The Childcare Centre is registered with the Tusla the Child and Family Agency and The Department of Education both of which inspect annually.

Our Location

Entering Letterkenny from Derry go straight through the Dry Arch roundabout towards the town. From Donegal town take a left at this roundabout. At the approach to the Polestar roundabout take the right-hand lane, go around the roundabout taking the third exit on the left at the Mount Errigal Hotel, go passed the hotel. At the next roundabout at go straight through at the next roundabout take a left, then follow the road at the next roundabout, take the third exit and follow the sign for the Enterprise Park, the Community Childcare Centre is on the right as you enter the Enterprise Park.

If you are entering Letterkenny from the Glenties direction, at the Station House Hotel take the left-hand land, turn onto the Pearse Road, proceed on this road through two sets of traffic lights till you come to the Station roundabout. At the roundabout take the left-hand lane and take the second left of the roundabout. Proceed to the next roundabout and go straight through, on your right will be an Aldi store, just passed this turn left, this is a steep hill. Over the hill pass the Church on the right at the roundabout take the second exit and flow the signs for the Enterprise Park and the Childcare Centre is on the right as you enter the Park. The building is two storey the exterior wall is green and is visible as you turn onto the road. If you are entering Letterkenny from the Kilmacrennan direction, down the hill from the Mountain top you will meet a roundabout, take the left-hand lane. On the right there are two factories. At the roundabout turn, left down the hill, at the bottom of the hill take the first exit of the roundabout and follow the signs for the Enterprise Park, the Childcare Centre is on the right as you enter the Park.

Ethos

We at Letterkenny Community Childcare CLG (LCCC) are committed to providing a high standard of care and education for every child taking into consideration their special and individual needs.

We have strong ethics and believe we provide a safe and educationally stimulating environment. We strive to provide every child with opportunities to explore their environment by encouraging the child’s natural sense of curiosity and developing their personal interests.

An essential component of this is children have a positive self-image and feel valued and accepted, we build children’s confidence by being positive role models, taking every opportunity to praise and encourage their achievements and efforts, helping them gain self-esteem and to feel proud of themselves.

We will teach children to respect and learn from each other’s differences to enrich their knowledge and understanding of the world.

Children need to be healthy to grow and develop, at LCCC we provide healthy eating choices in conjunction with outdoor experiences that encourages lov

Mission Statement

Letterkenny Community Childcare CLG, Commits to:

Children's rights regardless of creed or culture or nationality to have equality of opportunity to play.
Nurturing a children’s need to learn; about themselves, others, and their environment.
To give a children freedom to develop in accordance with their abilities.
To create a curriculum based on children’s interests and where the “Voice of the Child” is its inspiration,
To provide an environment which encourages self-determination, an environment which encourages exploration and understanding and independence and confidence in one’s abilities.
The right to have equality of opportunity to play.
To nurture a children’s need to learn; about themselves, others, and their environment.
To give a children freedom to develop in accordance with their abilities.

We aim to create a curriculum based on children’s interests and where the “Voice of the Child” is its inspiration, an environment which encourages self-determination, exploration and understanding, promotes independence and confidence in one’s abilities.

We aim to make children the citizens of tomorrow; who are individuals with character; who value community; who have a sense of goodness and honesty; who care for others with empathy and understanding.

Aims

To support the development and learning of the individual child.
Provide a stimulating broad-based curriculum.
Work in partnership with parents, carers, and children.
Provide a secure learning environment.
Enable children to be:
Respectful of themselves and others
Happy and confident
Independent and inter-dependent
Compassionate and caring
Tolerant and patient
Curious and creative
Appreciative and appreciated.
Have Fun!

Enable parents to be:

Involved in the development of the Childcare CentreContact the wider community.
Socialise with other parents.

Objectives

To provide a safe, secure stimulating environment which embraces all children and values their race, language, gender, age, ability, culture, and religion.
To value children as individuals and appreciate their uniqueness
To value parents as the first educators of the child
To have high expectations of ourselves and the children
To ensure the staff receive appropriate training and maintain high levels of practice.
To develop practice based on a philosophy of responsibility towards each other.
To enthuse children to use their imagination and creativity.
To value the contributions of the community and access their support as a means of adding to the richness of our curriculum and centre.
To recognise children as part of defined communities