Applying for and termination of an early childhood education place

Applying

Applications for early childhood education and care must be submitted at least four months before the child needs early childhood care or as soon as the guardians know that there will be a need for care.

To apply for a place for your child in a municipal or private daycare centre, family daycare centre, or open daycare club, fill in our online application form.

If you do not have a Finnish social security number, please contact our service coordination. For security reasons, please do not include your social security number in the message.

· If you are applying for a place in a municipal daycare centre or family daycare, please fill in: Hakemus kunnalliseen varhaiskasvatukseen (Application for municipal early childhood education)

· When applying for a place in a private daycare centre, please fill in: Palvelusetelihakemus yksityiseen varhaiskasvatukseen (Application for a service voucher for private early childhood education and care)

· If your family lives outside Vaasa, you can still apply for early childhood education in the city. Applications for private daycare for children in a municipality other than your own will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis. In this case, please contact Service Manager Maria Karvonen by e-mail at maria.karvonen@vaasa.fi or by phone at 050 325 4821.

You can also:

Apply for a place in an open daycare club.

Fill in the application form in english and send it to varhaiskasvatus.palveluohjaus@vaasa.fi

Include in the application the early childhood education and care service you need and the date you wish to start early childhood education and care. Three of the family’s preferred daycare centres can be indicated on the application form. If possible, an early childhood education place will be allocated based on the family’s first preference.

The decision on the location is made about three weeks before care begins

The family is contacted about three to four weeks before the desired start of early childhood education and their need for early childhood education is reconfirmed.

The decision on the place is given approximately three weeks before the start date

The family will be contacted about one month before the desired start date to check the need for early childhood education and care.

A decision on the place will be given approximately three weeks before the start of early childhood education and care. Once the decision has been issued, the start date cannot be changed.

An application for an early childhood education place is valid for one year.

Applications for the Swedish language immersion programme are open to children from Vaasa whose mother tongue is Finnish. You can apply for a language immersion programme via our online service in January–February each year.

Sudden and unforeseen need for an early childhood education place

If the need for early childhood education and care is urgent, unforeseeable, and due to employment, studies, or training, you should apply as soon as possible.

The application must, however, be completed at least two weeks before the expected start of early childhood education and care. Please make sure that you have written proof of sudden employment or the start of your studies. The family is also advised to be prepared for the possibility that, due to the challenges posed by the schedule, the early childhood education and care place allocated to the child may not be located at the daycare centre they marked as the first preference.

The application for an early childhood education place is deleted from the City of Vaasa’s information system once the child has been allocated an early childhood education place. This happens even if the allocated place is not what is desired by the guardians. Guardians can’t agree, for example with the head or staff of a unit, that an application for the desired unit will remain active

If the guardians want to request a transfer to the desired childcare centre, they must submit a “transfer request”. This is done via the Early Childhood Education and Care e-service. Select “Application for Early Childhood Education” and “Change of care” (“Hoitopaikan vaihtaminen”) as the application type.

The application for unit transfer is valid for one year. If the caregiver wants to cancel the application, they should contact the early childhood education and care service coordination (‘palveluohjaus’).

Decisions on transfers will be taken as and when early childhood education and care places become available. Transfers will normally take place from the beginning of the school year starting in August. When a place becomes available in the desired unit, the daycare centre director/family daycare supervisor will contact the guardians. However, the transfer to the new unit may not necessarily take place at the time requested by the guardians.

For further information, please contact the early childhood education and care service coordination, tel. + 358 6 325 2552 (Mon-Thu 9.00–15.00), e-mail varhaiskasvatus.palveluohjaus@vaasa.fi

Termination of a place

To terminate a child’s early childhood education and care placement, a written notice (form below) must be sent by the guardians to the child’s early childhood education and care centre or the termination is possible to do in the Edelvo app. The notice must be given at least 14 days before the early childhood education and care period is to end. Choose the child’s last day of care as the date of termination.

You can print out the termination of a place form here.

Temporarily suspension of a place

Parents may give up an early childhood education and care place for a limited period if they wish to do so, provided that the child has been in that early childhood education and care place for at least four months.
The child may return to the same early childhood education and care place after the period of suspension. The suspension period should last at least four months and not more than one year.

The start and duration of the temporary suspension shall be agreed in advance with the manager of the daycare centre. No fee is charged for the period of suspension.

You can print out the temporary suspension form here.

During this period, children under 3 years of age are entitled to a home care allowance (“kotihoidon tuki”) and children under school age are entitled to a sibling increase in the basic rate of home care allowance. If the suspension ends after September, the family will not be entitled to a free July the following summer.

Your child’s need for early childhood education and care, including the number of hours, is determined at the start of early childhood education and care.
If there is a change in the needs, for example, if your child needs more or fewer hours of early childhood education and care, the necessary changes will be agreed directly with the manager of the daycare centre or the family daycare provider.

Any changes should be discussed well in advance, at least one month before the requested change. The child should attend the early childhood centre for at least five months after the change.