Applying for a place at a daycare
Applying for a daycare place for the first time
Starting early childhood education is a big step for both the child and the entire family.
At Pilke, we welcome your child genuinely and take account of their unique skills and interests. We ensure that group education is as individual as possible.
This page contains information on applying for the first daycare place and starting early childhood education at Pilke’s daycare centres. See also frequently asked questions at the end of the page!
Driven by heart
Our task is to create the conditions in which children learn not only knowledge and skills, but also to face the whole world with good will and with a heart for the world.
We offer innovative early childhood education based on active learning and professional teaching in all our day care centres across Finland.
Many of our day care centres also offer a choice of differently focused early childhood education: languages, nature, physical education, music, science, art and expression.
There are municipal and private daycare, such as Pilke daycares.
It is up to each family to choose which daycare they prefer.
You can also find lots of information about daycare and early childhood education and how to apply for a place on your own municipal or city website.
What are the differences between private and municipal daycare centres?
The same objectives and quality indicators of early childhood education and care, including personnel allocation and qualification requirements, apply to all daycare centres – both private and municipal. All of Finland’s early childhood education professionals are trained in compliance with the same curricula in the same educational institutions.
The quality of private daycare centres is monitored and supervised in a similar manner as that of municipal early childhood education and care. In practice, this means that municipal authorities perform monitoring and control visits as well as audits at Pilke’s daycare centres. In addition, our daycare centres prepare own-check plans that are updated annually and can be read by the children’s guardians at their daycare centre.
Private daycare as an option
In Finland, hundreds of private daycare centres provide tens of thousands of children with education and care every day. Private daycare actors have formed an integral part of Finnish early childhood education and care since its conception in the 19th century.
Private daycare centres serve families flexibly by, for example, providing early childhood education with various learning orientations. Pilke’s learning orientations include languages, science, nature, sports, music as well as art and expression. Read more about Pilke’s learning orientations here.
At Pilke, we constantly endeavour to improve our operation to better meet families’ everyday needs. We constantly develop our pedagogical activities and novel, innovative services.
What is the price of a place in private early childhood education?
The client fee of both municipal and private early childhood education and care is based on the family’s size, the parents’ income and the length of the child’s days at daycare. The price of private daycare services is not necessarily higher than that of municipal early childhood education as most municipalities provide service vouchers or the opportunity to apply for private daycare allowance from Kela to cover the client fees.
Service vouchers: Most Finnish municipalities use service vouchers to cover the costs of private early childhood education. With the help of service vouchers, the costs of private daycare services are often equal to those of municipal early childhood education. In some municipalities, private daycare centres are allowed to charge client fees slightly higher than the service voucher’s value.
Private daycare allowance: If your municipality does not use service vouchers, you can apply for private daycare allowance from Kela to cover the costs of using private daycare services.
You can request further information from the closest Pilke daycare centre or your municipal authority.
Everyday life at Pilke’s daycare centre
Our daycare centres’ practices are guided by the Pilke identity: we provide children with good days for active learning through high-quality early childhood education and ensure that there is always a safe lap to sit on.
The setting for a good day is created by providing children with opportunities to learn, explore, ask questions, play and grow in the presence of safe and reliable adults. We find it important to ensure that our staff has time to encounter children and families genuinely and individually.
The best way to familiarise yourself with our activities is to come visit one of our daycare centres. In the articles linked below, our good day makers describe the daily life at our daycares in a hands-on manner. Read the articles here and agree on a familiarisation visit to the closest Pilke daycare centre.
How to find the right daycare
Before you decide to apply, you can find out more about Pilke daycares in your area and their activities by using the map search on our website. You can also find out what families with children have experienced at Pilke daycares.
Pilke daycares offer different focuses depending on the daycare. Our daycares focus on languages, science, nature, sports, music, art and expression – read more about the focus here.
You are very welcome to visit our daycares before applying for a place. You can contact the daycare manager to arrange an appointment.
You can find the names and contact details of the daycare managers on the individual daycare pages.
How to apply for a daycare centre at Pilke
On each Pilke daycare centre’s own page you will find more detailed information on how to apply.
You can fill in the application form quickly and easily online in just a few minutes. No attachments are required, the application form asks for them:
- information about the child
- contact details
- details of the guardian(s)
- care needs (full-time, part-time, pre-school, other)
- preferred starting date
- additional information (allergies and other additional wishes and concerns).
You will receive an email acknowledgement once you have submitted your application.
You will be contacted within 2 working days by the manager of the daycare centre.
Sending your application is not binding. We will conclude a service contract when you decide to accept the offered place in the daycare.
“Planning and pedagogical activities, including assessment and development, are what ensure that daycare centre operation conforms to the principles of early childhood education and care.”
What is the difference between daycare and early childhood education and care?
Early childhood education and care is a rather new term that entered common usage after the reform of the Act on Early Childhood Education and Care in 2016. Prior to that, it was common to use the term daycare. Early childhood education and care refers to a planned, goal-oriented complex of upbringing, education and care that emphasises pedagogical approaches.
On the municipal level, education authorities are responsible for early childhood education and care activities whereas daycare used to fall within social services. For the youngest children,
care is the most important aspect of a good day, but as the child grows, increasing emphasis is placed on education and upbringing.
Pilke’s personnel – good day makers
We call our employees good day makers as their primary task is to provide the children with a good day, every day.
In Finland, daycare centres’ personnel allocation and the employees’ qualification requirements are subject to the Act on Early Childhood Education and Care (540/2018).
At Pilke, the daycare centre tasks are assigned among early childhood educators, managers and daycare assistants so that everyone has time to focus on performing their job to the best of their abilities.
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