Applying for municipal early childhood education

You can apply for a place in municipal early childhood education by filling in an online application in the eVaka service. Fill in a separate application for each child.

The child must have a Finnish personal identity code. If your child does not have a Finnish personal identity code, or if you do not have online banking codes, you can submit the application in paper form. In this case, please contact early childhood education service guidance (contact information is provided at the bottom of this page). Fill in the paper form also if you have not yet been registered as the child’s official guardian in the Population Information System.

The system allows only one early childhood education application per child to be under processing at a time. In addition, you can have one club application under processing for the same child. For a child of pre-primary education age, you can also have a simultaneous pre-primary education application under processing.

A place in early childhood education is granted until the end of July of the year when the child starts pre-primary education.

1. Explore the municipal early childhood education units on our website. You can also use the eVaka map view to see the locations of the early childhood education units (no login required).(external link, opens in a new window) We recommend using the Google Chrome browser.
2. Fill in the online application for early childhood education in the eVaka service at www.espoonvarhaiskasvatus.fi(external link, opens in a new window). The service requires strong identification using, for example, online banking codes.
3. Please note that you have to reserve about 1–2 weeks for familiarisation and orientation at the early childhood education unit before the official start of early childhood education. During the familiarisation period, the child and their guardian become acquainted with the unit. Read more about the familiarisation period and starting early childhood education here.
4. In the application, indicate when the need for early childhood education begins. Your desired start date should be the date when your child stays at the early childhood education unit without a guardian for the first time after the familiarisation period.
5. Select your preferred day care centre, group family day care centre or shift day care centre. You can have up to three preferences in the same application. You can apply to both Finnish- and Swedish-speaking day care centres using the same application. If you are applying for a place in family day care, select your preferred family day care area in Espoo from the menu.

If you are already aware that your child may need support in relation to growth, development or learning, please mention this in the application. This way, we can ensure the best possible support for your child.

Did you know that you can use the same application to simultaneously apply for a place in municipal early childhood education, a service voucher day care centre or an outsourced day care centre? This means that you can include municipal early childhood education units, service voucher day care centres and outsourced day care centres in your preferences.

In service voucher day care centres, the fees are the same as or at most EUR 50 a month higher than those in municipal early childhood education. Read more about the early childhood education service voucher and private early childhood education here.

If you work in shifts or study in the evenings or at weekends, you can apply for a place in a shift day care centre for your child. In addition to early childhood education during the day, shift day care centres provide care in the evenings, at night and at weekends. Read more about shift care here.

If your child needs shift care, select 1–3 shift day care centres as your application preferences in your application. A list of shift day care centres is available here. You can also see the locations of all shift day care centres in the map service of eVaka here.(external link, opens in a new window) In this case, only select the evening and shift care units for viewing. The map can be viewed without logging in.

You application must also include as an appendix a certificate showing that you need the shift care due to work or studies. A certificate is needed from all of the child’s guardians who live in the same household.

Submit your application for a place in municipal early childhood education at least four months before the date you would like your child to start attending early childhood education.

If anticipating the starting date is not possible and your child urgently needs a place in early childhood education, a place can be granted quicker.

Becoming employed or a student unexpectedly are acceptable reasons for a shorter application processing time. In this case, apply for a place in early childhood education as soon as possible but at least two weeks before the need for early childhood education starts. You must attach to the application a certificate of being employed or a student.

We decide on the child’s place in early childhood education about a month before the start of early childhood education, in accordance with the Act on Early Childhood Education and Care (processing time for applications is four months or two weeks). Once the decision has been made, the application is removed from the electronic customer system.

In addition to municipal early childhood education, the same application and processing times are observed in the outsourced day care centres and the service voucher day care centres approved by the City of Espoo.

Once you have been granted a place in early childhood education, the decision will be sent to you via the eVaka service. In certain cases, you will receive the decision by post. Read more about accepting a place and starting early childhood education here.

The move does not directly entitle an applicant to a shorter (two weeks) processing time for an application for a place in early childhood education; the processing time is usually four months in accordance with the Act on Early Childhood Education and Care. However, a place in early childhood education can be arranged earlier if the situation allows it in terms of applicants and places.

If you are moving to Espoo and already know the date of your move, you can submit your application before the move.

If you are moving from within the Helsinki Metropolitan Area (Helsinki, Vantaa, Kauniainen), your child can continue at the current municipal early childhood education unit until the end of the autumn or spring term following the move, but no further.

When a family will be moving within the Helsinki Metropolitan Area (Helsinki, Vantaa, Kauniainen), the child can continue at the current municipal early childhood education unit until the end of the autumn or spring term following the move, but no further. A child in pre-primary education can continue at the same unit until the end of the education, or the child can be transferred to pre-primary education in the new municipality of residence. 

If the family will be moving to some other municipality, the early childhood education place or pre-primary education place must be terminated. You can do this through the eVaka service.

You can edit or withdraw your application in eVaka as long as the application is not being processed yet. Only the guardian who submitted the application can edit or withdraw it.

Once the application is being processed, it can only be changed by contacting Early Childhood Education Service Guidance. You can also withdraw the application by sending an email to Early Childhood Education Service Guidance, after which our service specialist will contact you.

You can find the contact information of Early Childhood Education Service Guidance at the end of this page.

If your child already has a place in municipal early childhood education in Espoo and you want to apply for another place in municipal early childhood education or a place in an outsourced day care centre or in a service voucher day care centre for your child, you must submit a new application for a place in early childhood education in the eVaka service. The new application serves as a transfer application.

If you apply for a place in an outsourced day care centre or a service voucher day care centre, always check the application procedure here.

The transfer application is valid for one year from its date of arrival. The transfer application has no processing time; transfers are decided on if the situation allows it in terms of applicants and places.

You can apply for a transfer only if your child already has a place in the same form of activity (club, early childhood education, pre-primary education or instruction preparing for basic education). For example, if your child has a place in a club, you can apply for a transfer to another club. However, if your child has a place in a club but you are applying for a place in a day care centre, this is considered a new application.

If you terminate your child’s place in early childhood education, the transfer application will also be deleted. You can then submit a new application, in which case the processing time pursuant to the Act on Early Childhood Education and Care will be observed.

Espoo has certain principles according to which children are appointed a place in early childhood education.

Places in early childhood education are assigned within realms of possibility according to the guardians’ wishes. When there are more applicants to an early childhood education unit than there are available places, the placement of the children observes the following principles:

• Need for early childhood education and care: Only children who, due to their guardian’s work or studies, need early childhood education and care outside the hours 6.30–18.00 are placed in early childhood education groups that operate in the evenings or round the clock.
• Child-specific special reasons: The placement is based on a statement provided by the Child Welfare Services, family worker, child health clinic, speech therapist, doctor or some other expert or a support need assessed by early childhood education.
• Sibling relationships: The goal is to place siblings in the same early childhood education unit, if the family does not express other wishes.
• Means of communication: The guardians’ possibilities for bringing the child to early childhood education and care is determined in the placement process (public transport or own car, transport directions).
• When deciding on children’s places in early childhood education, the starting point is also to form functional child groups and ensure the appropriate use of the care premises. The decision-maker will apply his/her discretion while observing the overall situation of early childhood education.
• If the guardians wish to change the existing place their child has in early childhood education to another, the above guidelines are always observed in the assignment of the new place in early childhood education.

Early childhood education decisions are done until the end of July of the year when the child starts pre-primary education.

If you need help with applying for a place in early childhood education or matters related to childcare allowances, you can contact our service guidance. The contact information can be found below. More information on service guidance is available here.

You can also watch the attached video on how to fill in an application for a place in early childhood education.

Information and instructions for using eVaka are available here.