On this page
- Loading table of contents

Early childhood education in Swedish
The Swedish-language services of the City offer early childhood education fully in Swedish.
The Finnish-language services of the City offer a programme called the Swedish-language immersion in early childhood education. Additionally, private daycare centres also offer different kinds of Swedish-language options.
The daycare centres of the City of Helsinki offer Swedish-language immersion that begins in early childhood education. In this method, the child learns Swedish as a new language by listening and using it at the daycare centre and school. The objective of language immersion is that by the end of basic education, the child has achieved strong language skills in both Swedish and Finnish.
The language immersion path begins in early childhood education or in pre-primary education at the latest and continues until the end of comprehensive school. It is important that the family commits to the language immersion for the whole duration of the path from daycare until the end of grade nine in comprehensive school.
The child can start language immersion at the age of 4 at the earliest and at the age of 6 at the latest. Swedish must be a new language for the child and one of the languages spoken at the child’s home must be Finnish.
In language-immersion daycare centres, the teachers use Swedish with the children, but they understand Finnish and can talk with the parents and guardians in Finnish. Children can freely speak their native language until they have the skills to speak in Swedish. As the learning path progresses and the children's language skills develop, they are encouraged to use Swedish increasingly.
In language immersion, the child learns Swedish as part of all daycare centre activities and through stories, songs, nursery rhymes, games and play, and themed exercises. Educators supplement the meaning of words and expressions with gestures and images. In language immersion, the development of the child’s language skills is systematically supported and guided.
There are language immersion daycare centres and schools around Helsinki. The language immersion path is determined by the daycare centre in which the child starts the language immersion in early childhood education. What this means in practice is that after pre-primary education, the child transfers to the language immersion school on that path. The language immersion path continues in the language immersion class until the end of grade nine.
The Swedish-language immersion paths available in Helsinki are listed below:

- Daycare Linnunlaulu → Kallio Primary School → Pasila Comprehensive School *
- Daycare Elias → Taivallahti Comprehensive School → Taivallahti Comprehensive School
- Daycare Lokki → Lauttasaari Primary School → Lauttasaari Secondary School
- Language Immersion Daycare Sälen (page in Finnish only) (Link leads to external service) (private daycare centre) → Lauttasaari Primary School → Lauttasaari Secondary School
- Daycare Myllytonttu → Pre-primary education in Daycare Puotila → Puotila Primary School → Vartiokylä Lower Secondary School
- Daycare Nuotti → Hiidenkivi Comprehensive School → Hiidenkivi Comprehensive School
- Daycare Pihlaja → Meilahti Primary School → Meilahti Lower Secondary School
- Daycare Roihuvuori → Roihuvuori Primary School → Vartiokylä Lower Secondary School
- Daycare Ruskeasuo → Meilahti Primary School → Meilahti Lower Secondary School
- Daycare Veräjämäki → Pre-primary education in Daycare Pikku-Veräjä → Oulunkylä Primary School (begun in August 2022) → Lower secondary school: to be announced later
- Daycare Vihtori→ Hiidenkivi Comprehensive School → Hiidenkivi Comprehensive School
* An example of a language immersion path: If the child begins early childhood education in the language immersion group in Daycare Linnunlaulu, the child will also go to pre-primary education at Daycare Linnunlaulu. The child will then move on to Kallio Primary School for grades 1–6 of comprehensive school and to Pasila Comprehensive School for grades 7–9.
In early childhood education and pre-primary education, the teachers use Swedish only. In the first and second grade, 90% of the education is in Swedish and the children learn to read and write in Swedish. In grades 3–4, about 70% of the education is in Swedish and in grades 5–9 about half is in Swedish.
As applying to language immersion is not yet possible through Asti, you need to fill out a paper application and send it to according to the instructions on the form.
You can access the application here: Application for early childhood education, PDF (opens in new tab)
- In section 4 of the form (Need for early childhood education), select the option ’Swedish-language immersion’.
- In section 5, write the names of the language immersion daycare centres to which your child is applying. You can apply to a total of three different daycare centres. The language-immersion daycare centres are:
- Daycare Linnunlaulu, Kallio district
- Elias Daycare Centre, Kamppi district
- Daycare Lokki, Lauttasaari district
- Myllytonttu Daycare Centre, Vartiokylä district
- Nuotti Daycare Centre, Pukinmäki district
- Pihlaja Daycare Centre, Meilahti district
- Roihuvuori Daycare Centre, Herttoniemi district
- Ruskeasuo Daycare Centre, Ruskeasuo district
- Veräjämäki Daycare Centre, Oulunkylä district
- Vihtori Daycare Centre,Puistola district
- Write in section 6 (Other matters related to the child’s early childhood education) that the child is applying to Swedish-language immersion.
- The application period ends annually on 31 March, and the families are notified of the selection by the end of April.
- You can also apply to Swedish-language immersion outside of the application period. In that case, the child can get a place in a Swedish-language immersion daycare centre if the language immersion group has free places left.
- If the child already has a place in early childhood education, you can submit a transfer application to a Swedish-language immersion daycare centre for the child.
Children with siblings in a daycare centre’s Swedish-language immersion group or in language immersion grades 1–2 are given priority when applying to Swedish-language immersion. If there are more applicants than there are free spots, the selection is made through a draw.
There are also Swedish-language options for early childhood education in private daycare centres. Learn more about the private options in the links below. Apply to a private daycare centre by contacting the daycare centre in question directly.
- Ankkalampi-Ankdammen Lauttasaari (Link leads to external service)
- Ankkalampi-Ankdammen Mechelininkatu (Link leads to external service)
- Ankkalampi-Ankdammen Punavuori (Link leads to external service)
- Kielikylpypäiväkoti Sälen - Språkbadet Sälen (Link leads to external service) (part of the City of Helsinki language immersion network)
Early childhood education in North Sami
Daycare centre Susanna in Pasila has a North Sami-language group Luopmánat for children aged 1–5. North Sami-language early childhood education is based on Sami values, which are language, family, community, strong identity, nature, traditional livelihoods, equality and humanity, multiculturalism, peace and solidarity. The objective of Sami-language early childhood education is to raise children to be independent, responsible and social, and support the development of their linguistic skills.
- You apply to North-Sami early childhood education electronically by filling out an early childhood education application onAsti (Link leads to external service) (opens in new tab).
- Select Daycare Susanna as your preferred daycare centre.
- Send an application and then inform the early childhood education service guidance that you want your child to join a North Sami-speaking group.
- All children are welcome, and you can apply to the group even without any knowledge of North Sami.
Early childhood education in English
Helsinki has many different options for private English-language early childhood education. The City of Helsinki does not provide English-language early childhood education as a municipal service. Private daycare centres organise early childhood education fully in English and as different kinds of bilingual options in which the portion of English varies. Learn more in the sections below and on the daycare centres’ own websites. Apply to a private daycare centre by contacting the daycare centre of your choice directly.
Please note that bilingual and English-language education does not automatically continue when the child goes to school. If you want to apply for a school place in bilingual or English-language basic education organised by the city, see the application guidelines on the page How and when to apply to basic education in different languages. Learn more about pre-primary education as bilingual or language-enriched education on page Pre-primary education in different languages. If you want to learn more about different language options and the language paths in comprehensive school, see page Basic education in different languages and the school websites.
The private daycare centres below offer early childhood education entirely in English. Learn more about each daycare centre on their website:
- Bright Beginners (Link leads to external service)
- Bumblebees Kindergarten Herttoniemi (Link leads to external service)
- Bumblebees Kindergarten Myllypuro (Link leads to external service)
- Bumblebees Kindergarten Pihlajamäki (Link leads to external service)
- Carousel Nursery School Ruoholahti (Link leads to external service)
- Finnish American Kindergarten Kamppi (Link leads to external service)
- Finnish American Kindergarten Ruoholahti (Link leads to external service)
- Finnish American Kindergarten Töölö (Link leads to external service)
- Finnish American Kindergarten Töölö 2 (Link leads to external service)
- Helsinki English Montessori Preschool (Link leads to external service)
- ICEC Herttoniemi (Link leads to external service)
- ICEC Meilahti Nursery (Link leads to external service)
- ICEC Meilahti Schoolroom (Link leads to external service)
- ICEC Töölö (Link leads to external service)
- International School of Helsinki (Link leads to external service)
- Laugh&Learn Playschool (Link leads to external service)
- Little English Kindergarten Haaga (Link leads to external service)
- Little English Kindergarten Länsi-Pasila (Link leads to external service)
- Little Heroes International Kindergarten (Link leads to external service)
- Little Tots International Daycare Pukinmäki (Link leads to external service)
- Little Tots International Daycare Tapaninvainio (Link leads to external service)
- Montessori Infant Community (Link leads to external service)
- Oulunkylä Kindergarten (Link leads to external service) (age 1–5)
- Oulunkylä English Kindergarten (Link leads to external service) (age 3–6)
- Pilke Playschool Lehtisaari (Link leads to external service)
- Pilke Playschool Taikavuori (Link leads to external service)
- Pilke Playschool Vuosaari (Link leads to external service)
- Tiny Hands English Kindergarten (Link leads to external service)
The following private daycare centres in Helsinki offer bilingual Finnish-English early childhood education. Learn more about each daycare centre via the links.
Extensive bilingual Finnish-English early childhood education (over 25% in English)
- Ankkalampi Duckies Herttoniemenranta (Link leads to external service)
- Ankkalampi Duckies Kruununhaka (Link leads to external service)
- Ankkalampi Duckies Kulosaari (Link leads to external service)
- Ankkalampi Duckies Lahnalahti 1 (Link leads to external service)
- Ankkalampi Duckies Lahnalahti 2 (Link leads to external service)
- Ankkalampi Duckies Munkkiniemi (Link leads to external service)
- Ankkalampi Duckies Pakila (Link leads to external service)
- Ankkalampi Duckies Töölö (Link leads to external service)
- By the Sea (Link leads to external service)
- Creative Learning Playschool Östersundom (Link leads to external service)
- Happy Children Kindergarten (Link leads to external service)
- INTO SCHOOL International Preschool (Link leads to external service)
- The Lauttasaari English Playschool (Link leads to external service)
- Umka Kindergarten (Link leads to external service)
- Päiväkoti Engel Albert (Link leads to external service)
English-enriched early childhood education (10–25% in English)
Early childhood education in other languages
In addition to Finnish, Swedish and North Sami, many private daycare centres in Helsinki offer early childhood education in other languages. The City of Helsinki does not provide English-language early childhood education as a municipal service. Private daycare centres offer instruction in languages such as Estonian, French, German, Russian and Spanish. These daycare centres organise early childhood education entirely in these languages and as different bilingual options, where the amounts of different languages might vary. Learn more about these options by browsing the lists of the private daycare centres below. Apply to a private daycare by contacting the daycare centre directly.
Please note that bilingual and English-language education does not automatically continue when the child goes to school. If you want to apply for a school place in bilingual or English-language basic education organised by the city, see the application guidelines on the page How and when to apply to basic education in different languages. Learn more about pre-primary education as bilingual or language-enriched education on page Pre-primary education in different languages. If you want to learn more about different language options and the language paths in comprehensive school, see page Basic education in different languages and the school websites.
Options in private language immersion daycare centres
Browse the lists of the private daycare centres in Helsinki on the Service map links below:
- Spanish-language early childhood education (Link leads to external service)
- French-language early childhood education (Link leads to external service)
- German-language early childhood education (Link leads to external service)
- Russian-language early childhood education (Link leads to external service)
- Estonian-language early childhood education (Link leads to external service)