Starting in Early Childhood Education

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Day careFamilies with children

Starting early childhood education is a big change for a child. Before this, a kick-off discussion will be held with the guardians and the hours of early childhood education will be set.

Tähdenlennon päiväkodin pihan kiipeilyteline.

Vantaa, early childhood education is held at day care centres as well as family and group family day care centres, among which the family can choose either a municipal or private service provider.

Familiarizing with Early Childhood Education

Before the child starts day care, the parents and the day care provider arrange an initial meet-ing. An educator can visit the child's home on the parents' request. Education partnering between the parents and the personnel is important in the beginning of day care. The parents and the personnel plan a familiarization period of one or two weeks. During the familiarization period, the child gets to know how the days are spent in the day care together with an educator.

Soft start

Soft start refers to a period when a child first starts in his or her early childhood education place and gets to know the other children in the group and the adults working there. The soft start begins with short visits to the location, and their duration is increased gradually. This way, the child will also become familiar with the group’s operational culture. The soft start lasts about 1–2 weeks. The child’s guardians can accompany the child and support him or her during this period. The child and parent can then together practice staying in day care and familiarise themselves with the day care centre’s operations.

Initial meeting

The purpose of the initial meeting is to get to know the child and the family and to share thoughts and expectations about day care. In the initial meeting, you will fill in a care-time agreement which includes the daily hours of day care and possible regular days of absence. The day care fee is determined by the hours of day care, the size of the family, and the family's income.



According to the law, the day care personnel and all collaborative parties have secrecy obligation regarding information on the family and the child (The Act on the Status and Rights of Patients 812 /2000 § 29).

Early childhood education hours

Keywords

Daycare centerGetting to know someoneCommunality