Your child is entitled to a place in pre-primary education within the pre-primary education admission area determined by your child’s home address. When we assign a pre-primary education place, the child's home address, the pre-primary education admission area according to the home address, the child's future local school and the language in which the pre-primary education is organised are taken into account. If there are several daycare centres providing pre-primary education in the admission area, the child's place of pre-primary education may not be the same daycare centre where the child has been attending early childhood education.
If your child needs a pre-primary education place for the 2023–2024 term, apply for a pre-primary education place in the Asti online service (Link leads to external service). You must apply for a pre-primary education place if the child has not been enrolled in pre-primary education, if the child does not attend pre-primary education at a private daycare centre, if you have refused the place assigned to your child in municipal pre-primary education or if a pre-primary education place for the 2023–2024 term has not yet been applied for the child for some other reason.
Your child will be assigned a place in pre-primary education in one of the units you list in your application if they have places available. If the units you applied for do not have places available, your child will be assigned a pre-primary education place at another unit in the school admission area of the child’s home address or at the nearest unit with places available. You will be informed of the pre-primary education place decided for your child based on your application with a pre-primary education decision.
Children who live in two municipalities, for example because their guardians live in different municipalities, can only have a pre-primary education place in one municipality. They may participate in the activities of a pre-primary education group in another municipality, but their right to pre-primary education (free pre-primary education) is only valid in one municipality.
If necessary, you can submit a paper application form by post to Varhaiskasvatuksen palveluohjaus, PL 51300, 00099 Helsingin kaupunki (Service Guidance for Early Childhood Education, PO Box 51300, 00099 City of Helsinki).
Ansökan till förskoleundervisning, pdf
Application form for pre-primary education, PDF
The brochure ‘Welcome to pre-primary education’ contains information on the pre-primary education admission criteria, assigning a place in pre-primary education in the Asti online service, early childhood education that supplements pre-primary education, and additional information related to the change of address during the pre-primary education application and enrolment period.
In matters related to changes in the hours of early childhood education that supplements pre-primary education and starting pre-primary education, please contact the director of your child’s daycare centre directly.
Round-the-clock care
If your child attends a daycare centre that organises round-the-clock care and will need round-the-clock care also during pre-primary education, you must enrol your child in pre-primary education in the Asti online service (Link leads to external service). If you have not enrolled your child in pre-primary education and indicated the need for round-the-clock care, we will assign a place for your child within your own admission area. You must also verify the need for round-the-clock care to the daycare centre manager by the end of the enrolment period.
Swedish-language immersion
If the child has started Swedish-language immersion in early childhood education, the child will be automatically assigned a pre-primary education place in Swedish-language immersion according to the language immersion path. The guardian can accept the assigned Swedish-language immersion place in the Asti online service (Link leads to external service).
If you are a new applicant to Swedish-language immersion, you can apply for a place by filling in a paper application form for pre-primary education below. Write ‘Swedish-language immersion group’ after the name of the daycare centre that the child is applying to. Post the application to Service Guidance for Early Childhood and Pre-Primary Education, P.O. Box 51300, 00099 City of Helsinki. For more information on Swedish-language immersion, see page Pre-primary education in Swedish.
Application form for pre-primary education, PDF
Paper application to pre-primary education (non-disclosure for personal safety reasons / no Finnish personal identity code)
If you or your family has a non-disclosure for personal safety reasons or do not have a Finnish personal identity code, or Finnish online banking credentials, apply by using a paper application form.
If you are unable to apply electronically, you can submit a paper application. A decision on the pre-primary education place will be sent to the address that the parent or guardian has provided on the paper application.
Return or post the paper application to Service Guidance for Early Childhood Education, P.O. Box 51300, 00099 City of Helsinki.
Application form for pre-primary education, PDF
You can also apply for pre-primary education in a private daycare centre using the paper application form above. The application should be returned directly to the private daycare centre from which the pre-primary education place is being applied for.
Trial for two-year pre-primary education
The pre-primary education of a child participating in the trial for two-year pre-primary education will continue at the same location where the child is currently attending pre-primary education. However, if you would like to apply for a new place in pre-primary education for your child as of August 2023, you must submit your application in the Asti online service (Link leads to external service). After the application period, your child will be assigned a place within the admission area based on your child’s home address. The new place in pre-primary education will not necessarily be in a daycare centre that participates in the trial for two-year pre-primary education. In this case, your child’s participation in the trial will end.
If your child’s home address changes after you have applied for pre-primary education or during the pre-primary education year 2023–2024, you should apply for a new place in the Asti online service (Link leads to external service). You can apply for a new place in pre-primary education once the child’s new home address is valid. If the new address is not automatically updated on the form, you can give the new, valid address on the application.
If you want to change your child’s pre-primary education place because of moving to a new address, apply for a new place as soon as your child’s new home address is valid.
You may also apply for a pre-primary education place for your child in the child’s future pre-primary education admission area before the new home address is valid based on secondary admission. Applications of children living in the pre-primary admission area will be processed before secondary admission applications.
If you want to apply for a new place after your child has already been admitted in pre-primary education, you may submit a new application in the Asti online service. (Link leads to external service) You can list up to two preferences on the application. If you apply for a new place within the same admission area where your child’s home address already is and there are no vacancies in your preferred units, a negative decision will be made. In this case, the original pre-primary education place will be maintained.
If your child’s home address changes within Helsinki during the pre-primary education year, your child may continue at the current unit until the child goes to school. Applications received during the on-going pre-primary education year will be processed twice a month. Due to the large number of applications, there is a separate schedule for the processing of applications received during the pre-primary education application period in the spring.
Apply for a place in pre-primary education organised by the City of Helsinki for your child at the Asti online service (Link leads to external service). For pre-primary education in a private daycare centre, apply directly to the private daycare centre in question. If you do not yet have an address in Helsinki, you can still apply for municipal pre-primary education in the Asti online service by giving us your child’s future home address in Helsinki, even if it was not yet valid.
If the new address is valid at the time of processing, your child will be granted a place in the pre-primary education admission area based on the new address. If the new address is not yet valid at the time of processing, the application will be processed as a secondary admission application. This means that your child may be admitted if there are vacancies in your preferred locations after the applications of the children already living in the area have been processed. If there are no vacancies in your preferred locations, a negative decision will be made.
Helsinki takes part in the national trial for two-year pre-primary education in 2021-2024. The trial for two-year pre-primary education involves 44 Finnish-language daycare centres and two Swedish-language daycare centres chosen for the trial. In two-year pre-primary education, children learn through play, exercise, art and exploration. Pedagogy takes the needs of small children participating in the two-year trial into account.
Read more about the national trial for two-year pre-primary education.
In Helsinki, pre-primary education is also organised in private daycare centres. In private daycare centres, your child can attend foreign language pre-primary education, pre-primary education focusing on Montessori or Steiner pedagogy or worldview education. Private service providers offer a variety of options for pre-primary education. If you would like your child to be admitted to pre-primary education in a private daycare centre, please contact the director of your preferred private daycare centre.
Pre-primary education provided by a private daycare centre is free-of-charge to the guardian (four hours a day) but the private service provider will determine the cost of early childhood education that supplements pre-primary education before and after pre-primary education. Guardians may apply for private day care allowance from Kela for supplementary early childhood education.
Apply for a place in pre-primary education organised in a private daycare centre by submitting the City of Helsinki pre-primary education application form directly to your preferred daycare centre.
- Application form for pre-primary education, PDF
- Hakemus esiopetukseen, pdf
- Ansökan till förskoleundervisning, pdf
The application period for pre-primary education in private daycare centres is between 9 and 20 January 2023.
Submit the paper application form to the private daycare centre of your choice. Pre-primary education decisions will be sent to you in February–March 2023.
A private service provider will apply from the city permission to become a pre-primary education provider. At least 7 children are required to form a pre-primary education group. In weighted-curriculum school path (pre-primary education in a foreign language, Montessori or Steiner pedagogy or worldview education), the group may be smaller. If there is any uncertainty as to whether a sufficiently large pre-primary education group will be formed, you should also enrol the child in municipal pre-primary education in the Asti online service (Link leads to external service) or submit a paper application form to another private daycare centre within the application period. When enrolling your child, please state if you would prefer your child to be admitted to private pre-primary education.