Frequently asked questions – Municipal early childhood education and care

• From the beginning of the calendar month in which the child turns 9 months.

• When you apply for a place in a municipal daycare centre or family daycare for your child, fill in the application for a place in early childhood education and care.
• When applying for a club place for your child, fill in the club application.
• When you apply for an early childhood education place for your child in a private daycare centre or private family daycare, first agree on the place of early childhood education and care with a private service provider. After this, fill in the service voucher application one month before the desired start date.
  • You can fill in the applications through the early childhood education online services at Early childhood education online services.
  • The guardian will be contacted about the future early childhood education place and starting there and getting to know the place of care will be agreed upon.

• Information about the place of early childhood education and care will be received no later than two weeks before the start date of early childhood education and care. You will be contacted about the future early childhood education place and agree on starting and getting to know the place of early childhood education and care. The decision on an early childhood education place will be sent to you either electronically to our online services or by post, if you have not chosen the electronic method of service. You can access the online services through the online services of early childhood education and care.

• No later than two weeks before the start of early childhood education. You will be contacted about the future early childhood education place and agree on starting and getting to know the place of early childhood education and care.

• Applications for a place in early childhood education and care must be submitted 4 months before the desired start date of early childhood education and care or no later than 2 weeks before the need for early childhood education and care if the need is due to the parents’ employment, studies or education.

• You can submit a transfer application for early childhood education and care. The transfer application shall be valid for one year from the date of submission. The realisation of the transfer depends on the availability of places in the early childhood education and care unit to which you wish your child to be transferred. You will be contacted as soon as the transfer is possible. As a rule, transfers are carried out, if possible, in August at the beginning of the operating season. The change can be implemented in the middle of the operating period if the overall situation of early childhood education and care allows it.

• Contact the supervisor of your child’s early childhood education and care unit and fill in the Early Childhood Education and Care Agreement form on the early childhood education and care website. Return the form to the supervisor of the early childhood education and care unit or the family daycare supervisor, who will save the changed information in the system. The change in hourly limits also affects customer fees.

• In municipal early childhood education and care, guardians must terminate the place of care either electronically through Edlevo or in writing by submitting a notice of termination to the child’s early childhood education and care unit. The termination must be made well in advance, no later than one week before the last day of early childhood education and care, and it cannot be made retrospectively. Please note that in private daycare centres, the period of notice is recorded in the Service Agreement and the period of notice may vary from one month to two months. The termination of an early childhood education and care place is notified directly to the private daycare centre. The service voucher does not need to be terminated separately.

• If you move within the City of Kuopio, you can submit a transfer application for early childhood education and care. The transfer application shall be valid for one year from the date of submission. The realisation of the transfer depends on the availability of places in the early childhood education and care unit to which you wish your child to be transferred. You will be contacted as soon as the transfer is possible. As a rule, transfers are carried out in August, at the beginning of the operating season. The change can be implemented in the middle of the operating period if the overall situation of early childhood education and care allows it. When you move to another location, you must terminate the place for early childhood education and care either electronically in Edlevo or in writing by submitting a notice of termination to the child’s early childhood education and care unit.

• Special attention is paid to the start of a child’s early childhood education and care. Guardians have the opportunity to familiarise themselves with the early childhood education and care unit and the activities of the group of children together with their child for two weeks. You can agree upon the visit directly with the early childhood education and care unit.

• The early childhood education and care of the City of Kuopio uses the Edlevo App to report childcare hours, absences and holidays Edlevo App publishes bulletins about early childhood education services and its own daycare centre. The app is free of charge, The Edlevo App can be downloaded as a mobile application to your phone or tablet. Edlevo can also be used as a web application that is device-independent. More information on reporting care times can be found on the early childhood education and care website.

• For questions related to client fees in early childhood education and care, please contact the client fee secretaries. In case of changes in care time and/or family size, the child’s early childhood education and care place should be contacted. The website of the City of Kuopio contains the contact information of the client fee secretaries and more information at: Client fees for early childhood education and care and pre-primary education.

• Contact the supervisor of your child’s early childhood education and care unit and inform them of the exact time of parental leave. The supervisor notifies the invoicing of early childhood education and care that the child will not be charged a client fee for early childhood education and care for said period, if the absence in question has been agreed upon in advance. The child for whom parental leave has been granted cannot participate in early childhood education and care during the leave, but the place of early childhood education and care will remain the same. In Kuopio, the compensation also applies to siblings placed in early childhood education and care who are in home care during this parental leave.

• The child’s place of early childhood education and care must be terminated. If your child subsequently needs early childhood education and care, you must submit a new application for a place in early childhood education and care.

• You cannot receive two overlapping benefits. Kela’s private daycare allowance cannot be granted if the child has a valid place in early childhood education and care.

• Enrolment in pre-primary education takes place in January. The enrolment in pre-primary education provided by the municipal and private daycare centres is made using an electronic enrolment form. The primary request for a pre-primary education place must be recorded in the additional information in the application if the unit has several pre-primary education groups (e.g. Forest pre-primary education group or a group at school). More information on enrolment in pre-primary education can be found on the website of the City of Kuopio. You can register electronically for pre-primary education in the online services for early childhood education and care. Pre-primary education decisions will be delivered to families by the end of March, either electronically or on paper, depending on the guardians’ choice. Further information can be found on the website of the City of Kuopio under Pre-primary education.

If the child needs early childhood education in addition to free pre-primary education, before they start in early childhood education and care,

1. an apply for a place for early childhood education and care that a child needs in addition to free pre-primary education
2. an hour agreement for early childhood education and care must be delivered to the day-care centre manager / family day care supervisor no later than two weeks before the start of the agreement
3. an income statement must be submitted electronically in the online service.
   If these documents have not been submitted, the highest client fee will be determined for the family.