Early childhood education during summer and other holiday seasons
Although early childhood education is provided all year round, holidays bring changes to the activities.
Early childhood education is provided all year round, also during schools’ summer, autumn, Christmas and winter holidays. However, pre-primary education, preparatory education and early childhood education clubs are not available during school holidays. You can check the holiday schedules here.
Early childhood education is available during holiday seasons so that families can reconcile their work and family life as smoothly as possible. If a child cannot be on holiday at the usual time due to their family’s situation, we recommend that the family schedule a holiday for another time of the year. This way, the child also gets a break from their routines and a chance to relax, rest and spend time with their family. However, it is always up to the family to decide when a child attends early childhood education.
Activities are centralised during holiday seasons
During holiday seasons, there is less need for early childhood education, and staff members are also on holiday, which is why we have to streamline our activities. Some units may be closed and day care groups merged. Between Christmas and New Year and in July, most day care centres are closed. During these times, early childhood education is only provided in certain units.
Four times a year, we carry out an online survey on the need for early childhood education during the holiday season. The purpose of the survey is to find out how many children need early childhood education during autumn, Christmas, winter and summer holidays. Based on the survey, we decide which units remain open and make plans regarding staff holidays and substitutes.
It is important that guardians respond to the holiday survey. We need information from all families to make sure that our staff members are on holiday around the same time as most of the children.
We inform guardians of their child’s early childhood education unit during the holiday season well in advance before the start of the holiday season. If you have registered your child as attending early childhood education during the holiday season but you want to cancel their attendance, you must do so in good time, at the latest by the set deadline.
Things to keep in mind during holiday seasons
If your child attends early childhood education during the holiday season, they may be placed in a different unit than the one they normally attend. This may be the case particularly in July and during the Christmas season.
Due to staff holidays, the early childhood education unit staff may not be familiar to the child. The staff may change during the holiday season, especially during July. Children also come and go, according to their families’ holiday schedules. This happens particularly in the summer.
Since holiday seasons bring many changes, we try to make sure that children get to know each other, make new friends and feel safe in their new environment. It is natural that a child is initially nervous about their new unit and new people. This is why we encourage teamwork and social interaction among children. We want early childhood education during holidays to be a positive and successful experience for the child.
We recommend that you visit the new unit in advance with your child. You can schedule a visit by contacting the unit’s director. You can also visit the yard area and play there for a while. This way, the child becomes familiar with the place and may not be as nervous about attending a new unit.
Even during holidays, we plan activities based on the early childhood education plan. We aim to organise diverse and high-quality activities that take into account varying group compositions and staff and child turnover. In addition, we take advantage of the opportunities offered by each season. For example, in the summer we enjoy the weather, spend a lot of time in the yard, and organise enjoyable summer activities, such as outdoor games.