A growing Circle of Friends in Killeshandra

With over one hundred children at Circle of Friends in Killeshandra and waiting lists for spaces, the facility has opened a new afterschool and breakfast club service in Ballinagh.

The business began five years ago with just five children in an afterschool service and continues to expand. “To say we have over a hundred five years later is amazing,” Manager Nicola O’Reilly beamed.

The new service in Ballinagh opened in November after her husband Eanna decided to come into the business full time. This side of the service is “going well” with “numbers growing each week".

Meanwhile in Killeshandra, the service continues to grow. “We are planning on expanding our crèche before September next year, there’s huge demand,” Nicola explained, adding how there is a three to four year waiting list.

The afterschool service in Killeshandra has also seen expansion this year, Circle of Friends are now using the Killeshandra Community Hall to accommodate children.

“We can now provide an all day service, more parents are going back to work and they have the full all-year round service,” she said, explaining the success of the facility, which has a breakfast club, afterschool, crèche and preschool service.

Nicola finds that, with other creches closing, she is “inundated” with calls, especially for children aged one to two years.

As Nicola speaks to the Celt in the fully-equipped kitchen, chef ‘Maggie’ is preparing a home-cooked meal for the children.

“She is cooking everything from scratch every day, which is brilliant," says Nicola.

“All our TUSLA inspections are 100% compliant, we do work very hard to keep our standard up high.”

Nicola finds “families are happy” with the care their children are receiving.

“We’ve also tripled our team since this time last year so we’ve a big team and great girls who are very well qualified,” she said, with 22 staff members including herself and Eanna.

“It all makes a big difference. It's a busy service along with Ballinagh now as well.”

The mother of two got into childcare as she “always loved working with children."

When her first child started school, Nicola spotted the need locally for such services.

“We just built it up and then added our creche last year as our last service for parents to try and keep all families within the service.”

Nicola thanked the Killeshandra Community Council for their help.

“They’re a huge support to us and have been very accommodating to me and Eanna for setting up our business.”

Nicola wished all of her staff and customers a happy and safe Christmas.