Child in Pre-primary Education

Pre-primary education is part of a lifelong learning path that begins at home and in early childhood education and continues after pre-primary education in basic education.

In pre-primary education, the aim is to promote the child's developmental and learning conditions and to strengthen the child's social skills and healthy self-esteem together with the family. In pre-primary education, play and positive learning experiences are key.

Before starting compulsory education, children must participate in a year-long pre-primary education. Pre-primary education is arranged in municipal and private day-care centers that have been accepted as official pre-primary education places for the school year. Pre-primary education is arranged on schooldays, four hours per day. Pre-primary

education is free of charge and includes one daily meal. In addition to pre-primary education, the child has the opportunity to participate in paid early childhood education supplementing pre-primary education. The need for supplementary early childhood education is announced when enrolling in pre-primary education.

Pre-primary Education and Early childhood education

In addition to pre-primary education (4 hours), children have the possibility of participating in early childhood education, subject to a charge, which supplements pre-primary education. Inform about your need for supplementary early childhood education in connection with enrolling in pre-primary education.

Early childhood education is subject to a fee, but participation in pre-school education is taken into account. There is no need to apply if the child is already in preschool education in Vantaa.

Read more about applying for early childhood education >

Pre-primary Education Places 2021–2022

Pre-primary education is arranged in municipal early childhood education units and private day-care centers. Pre-primary education is arranged in day-care centers and in some schools.

The Education Committee decides on the pre-primary education places for one school year at a time before the beginning of the application period. When the application period ends, the Education Committee knows the number of enrolled children and confirms the pre-primary education places for the next school year.

Pre-primary Education Places 2021–2022 >

 

Early Childhood Education Complementary to Preschool

In addition to preschool a child has the right to early childhood education which is always aimed to be organised in the same location as pre-primary education. Early childhood education is subject to charge, but the participation to preschool is considered in the fee.

When a child requires complementary early childhood education in addition to pre-primary education:

  • When the family fills the registration for preschool, they notify at the same time if the child has a need for early childhood education which complements pre-primary education.
  • If the need for complementary early childhood education arises in the middle of the ongoing preschool year, the family must contact the head of the preschool location.

Applying for absences

Pre-primary education follow the same working hours and vacations as schools. The guardians are responsible for the child's regular attendance at pre-primary education. Absence of over two weeks has to be requested from the director of the ECEC-center by filling in a form.

Applying for absences from pre-primary education (523102e)(pdf, 91.45 KB)

Photographing and Filming in Early Childhood Education

A Part of Pedagogic Activities

Photographing and filming are a part of the pedagogic activities in early childhood and pre-primary education. Digital content is created with the children for example by photographing and filming the star moments of the week, creating animations and practising media skills by editing pictures. Photographing and filming of activities is utilised in pedagogic documentation as well which is a central working method in early childhood education. In this case, pictures and media content are revisited with the children and/or the team and the group’s functionality is assessed and developed based on them. These photos are deleted at the end of the operating period.

Only the equipment of the city of Vantaa is used to photograph and film. The photos are saved in the device memory or the cloud service of the city of Vantaa according to the information security guidelines. A password is required to access the devices. The devices are remotely operated so the photos can be deleted even if the device for example disappears.

Publishing Rights in VaSa Service

Early childhood education of Vantaa publishes photos and works produced by the children only according to the permission given by guardians. The permission for publishing is given in VaSa service in which the given permission can also be cancelled. If the given permission is not cancelled it is valid until the child’s customership in early childhood education ends. However, the life of some publications such as printed products can be longer than the child’s customership in early childhood education.

Legislation

The effective legislation regarding photographing, filming, and publishing the photos is followed as well as ethically acceptable principles. The laws that are followed include EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (679/2016), The Act on Early Childhood Education and Care (540/2018), Data Protection Act (1050/2018), Act on the Openness of Government Activities (621/1999) and Copyright Act (404/1961), among others.

Utilisation of VaSa Service in Early Childhood Education

As of Spring 2022, the guardians of a child can see more information on their child in VaSa service. The guardians can:

  • See and edit contact information
  • Add and edit the child’s substitute retrievers and their contact information
  • Notify about the child’s allergies, dietary restrictions, and health information as well as
  • Give publishing rights

Information on the child’s guardians is fetched automatically from Digital and Population Data Services Agency (DVV) and after the search all the child’s guardians can see the child’s information and documents in VaSa service. If your family has a valid non-disclosure for personal safety reasons or other reasons to limit the visibility of the child’s other guardians in the service (for example the right to information has been limited), please contact the early childhood education service coordination at once.

When an application is filled for a child in VaSa service, the child’s guardianship information is automatically fetched from Digital and Population Data Services Agency (DVV). After the search all the child’s guardians can see the child’s application and other information in VaSa service. If your family has a valid non-disclosure for personal safety reasons or other reasons to limit the visibility of the child’s other guardians in the service (for example the right to information has been limited), please contact the early childhood education service coordination at once after filling the application.

Keywords

Preschool educationLearningDaycare center