Frequently Asked Questions

Little Stars Preschool is located opposite the chapel on the main street in Moville. It is a short walking distance to both Scoil Eoghain and St. Columb’s national school, Moville, making it ideal for school pick ups and drops offs if you have older children.

Little Stars backs on to the beautiful shore green and park of Moville, where there is a convenient town car park. A dedicated parking space for wheelchair users is located directly outside the front entrance of the preschool.

Children can start Little Stars at the age of 2 years and 8 months and can stay until they transfer to primary school or are age 5 years and 6 months at the end of the preschool year.

Little Stars is open from 9am to 2pm, Monday to Friday during school term times. Preschool sessions run from 9am – 12 noon (seniors) and  9:30am – 12:30pm (juniors). Children staying on the extended day programme start at 9am and stay until 2pm.

Little Stars Preschool is free to attend under the ECCE scheme. The scheme is available to children who are 2 years and 8 months of age at the start of the preschool year in September. Each child is entitled to 2 years of preschool on the scheme.

The extended day option, from 9am – 2pm, is available on the NCS scheme – the amount this scheme will pay towards your fee will vary from family to family, on a sliding scale according to your income and circumstances. The extended day programme starts at 6.50 euro per week through to 50 euro per week, depending on your circumstances.

Please fill out the initial enrollment request here on the website. We will then contact you to confirm that a place is available, and staff will help you with the forms etc from there. A deposit of 50 euro will be required to secure your place.

We have 2 classes at Little Stars: Junior preschool and Senior preschool. Junior preschool is your child’s first year of preschool with us, Senior preschool are the children who will then leave and go on to primary school.

Little Stars use a child led approach, following the child’s interests and providing opportunities for open ended play throughout the session. The session provides for a combination of outdoor play and some cosy time indoors. We have a wealth of experiences available, from time at the beach located beside us to our unique polytunnel classroom and our responsive music programme.

Little Stars has 2 dedicated, fully qualified inclusion co-ordinators on site, one for the junior group and one for the senior group. The staff will work closely with you to meet the needs of your child, and have an established relationship with the AIM (access and inclusion model) early years team. Little Stars is an inclusive preschool and we have many years experience including all children at our preschool, where we adopt a strength based approach. If your child will need a dedicated special needs assistant, please get in touch with us as soon as possible so that an application can be made.

Little Stars is fully equipped with a hoist for toileting and a dedicated parking space for wheelchair users at the front of the building.

All staff are fully qualified and vetted. Please view our Meet the Team section to see all our staff details and qualifications.

Little Stars have a settling in programme for the juniors when they first come to preschool, starting with a one hour session that parents and carers are welcome to attend. The time spent at the preschool is increased gradually each day. 

Little Stars has a very popular in house library service, where children are welcome to take home books each day to enjoy with their family.

Two local creches currently have pick up arrangements in place with Little Stars, allowing the children to safely transfer to their daycare setting without the need for parents / guardians to collect and drop off.

The extended day programme at Little Stars is available until 2pm daily. The fee for this programme is subsidised by the NCS scheme, which depends upon your family’s income and circumstances.

Early drop off is available for children in the junior room as part of the extended day programme.

You will need to send in wellies, an outdoor puddle suit (padded), and a change of clothes. These are all kept at the preschool so you only need to send them in at the start of term. 

We have a snack programme available at a small charge of 3 euro a week. Children are provided with a variety of fruits, vegetables to try, and toast/rice cakes. You are also welcome to send in a healthy snack from home – we ask that you do not send nuts of any kind due to nut allergies.

Children staying on the extended day programme can choose to either send in a healthy packed lunch from home, or to order a hot lunch.

Your child needs to wear play clothes such as tracksuit bottoms or leggings – clothes that are comfortable and that can get messy. Hoodies with the Little Stars logo and your child’s name on are available to buy if you wish to.

Your child is entitled to attend preschool for 3 hours a day, 5 days a week free of charge. You are not obligated to attend, if you wish to attend part time this can be arranged.

Little Stars is open during school term times, with breaks at half term, Christmas, and Easter. Following the summer break your child will move from Junior preschool to Senior preschool, or will move on to primary school.

Children who attend Little Stars go on to attend Scoil Eoghain (Moville), St. Columb’s (Moville), Gaelscoil cos Feabhail (Moville). Former Little Stars have also gone on to attend: Scoil Cholmcille (Greencastle), Scoil Noamh Fionan (Whitecastle), Scoil Mhuire (Gleneely), St. Boden’s (Culdaff) and Scoil Iosagain (Buncrana).