ELC
Early Learning and Childcare: the funded care and education children receive before they start school.
What it means
ELC stands for Early Learning and Childcare. It is the term used in Scotland for the care and education children receive before they start primary school, in council nurseries, in private and voluntary nurseries, and with childminders.
Councils are responsible for making funded ELC available to eligible children in their area. Most do so through their own settings and through partner providers. The two years before P1 are usually called the ante-pre-school year and the pre-school year. Parents tend to say "nursery"; council staff say "ELC".
Also called Early Learning and Childcare, nursery, early years or pre-school.
How Admit handles it
Parents and carers apply online for an ELC place and rank the settings and attendance patterns they want. Admit scores each application on the council’s own criteria and matches preferences to capacity, session by session.
Once a child is placed, their funded hours are calculated from the attendance pattern. The same platform then handles primary and secondary admissions, so a child’s record does not start again at each stage.
Applications and allocation
Your criteria, applied consistently: scored, matched to capacity and placed in one run.
Parent portal
Parents apply, track and book in one place.
Funded hours
The Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) entitlement a child receives at no cost to the family.
Partner provider
A private, voluntary or childminding setting that delivers funded hours on the council’s behalf.
All glossary terms
Every term, with the names councils use for it.