Bilingual daycare centre Pilke Pikkuponi opened in a new building in Vaasa in January 2019

Daycare centre Pilke Pikkuponi opened in a new building in the Vaasa district of Pukinjärvi in January 2019. Pikkuponi provides high-quality child-centred early childhood education and care for children aged 0–5 years at a warm-spirited daycare centre with 84 daycare places. Pikkuponi is a bilingual daycare centre whose languages are Finnish and English. In addition to providing early childhood education and care that supports versatile development and learning, our objectives include familiarising children with the English language and encouraging them to use the learned language actively.

Bilingual early childhood education does not involve separate language lessons or sessions. Instead, language is part of our operation throughout the day, and the children learn English all the time through everyday routines, such as singing and play. We implement extensive bilingual early childhood education in compliance with the National Core Curriculum for Early Childhood Education and Care (2016).