Continuing to grow from
ERIKA’S Montessori Playschool was opened in September 2007 by Erika Chambers, offering first class preschool care to the children of Gorey in a purpose built classroom called Sunflower’s Room, in her new house.
With the introduction of the ECCE free preschool year the demand for places grew year by year, and was far greater than the places available.
In 2016 Erika and her husband Noel added a second ECCE classroom, Buttercup’s Room, to cater for the extra demand, and increased their capacity in the preschool from 17 children to 39 children.
Unfortunately that was not enough for the demand and the decision was made to expand again this year. With part funding from the Department of Children and Youth Affairs (DCYA) through Pobal, Erika and Noel built a third ECCE classroom, Snowdrop’s Room, and also built a fourth room, to cater for the huge demand for after school care of Primary School children, called Bluebell’s Room.
Each of the rooms has been named after fairies that live in Fairy Wood, between the new building and the new playground. (Ask the hundreds of children who have passed through their doors over the last 11 years and they will confirm that Erika’s is full of fairies. Adults rarely see them, but the children sometimes do).
For preschool children they offer a Montessori/Play based curriculum following the themes of Aistear and Siolta. Play is both indoor and outdoor and each class is