Shift care
If you work in shifts or your child needs, due to your studies, early childhood education and care in the evenings, at night or at weekends, you can apply for a place in a shift day-care centre.
Shift care is early childhood education and care that is provided, in addition to day-time early childhood education and care, in the evenings, at night, at weekends and on midweek holidays and holidays at shift day care centres.
Shift care is intended for families who need regular shift care. It is provided to children whose guardians, both of whom live in the same household, work in shifts or study in the evenings or at weekends.
There are two kinds of shift care available in Espoo:
- round-the-clock shift care where children can even stay overnight
- shift care during extended opening hours which means that the shift day care centre opens early in the morning and stays open late into the evening.
Check on each shift care unit's website separately if they offer around-the-clock service or just extended opening hours.
The staff at a shift day care centre consists of early childhood education teachers, Bachelors of Social Services, childcarers and assistants as well as staff who take care of cleaning and cooking, just like in an ordinary day care centre. The personnel and children are also supported by early childhood education special-needs teachers and professionals such as language and culture teachers.
Shift care is versatile early childhood education and care that follows the early childhood education and care plan and the pre-primary education plan of the City of Espoo. In shift care, we pay special attention to general safety, children’s well-being and the perception of weekly and daily routines.
Only municipal shift care is available in Espoo. When you apply for a place in a shift day care centre for your child, attach to the application a certificate of the need for shift care. More information about how to apply for shift care is available here.
In shift care, the client fees are the same as in other municipal early childhood education and care. Read more about the fees of early childhood education and care here.
You can find the list of shift care day care centres at the bottom of this page.
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, use filters and only select the evening and shift care units for viewing. The map can be viewed without logging in.
Practical arrangements for shift care
In shift care, the child's attendance in early childhood education and care is based on the guardians' work shifts or study times. Book the times your child will attend the day care centre by 18.00 on the Monday of the previous week, at the latest.
In a shift day care centre that is open round the clock, children can come to the day care centre no earlier than at 5.30 in the morning. In turn, children who need to be cared for at night should be brought to the day care centre by 20:00.
If your child will not stay overnight, please pick up your child by 22:00. If possible, the child should of course be picked up earlier. If the child's early childhood education period lasts until 22:00, it is important that the child has enough sleep at home before the next day of early childhood education.
In shift care, children should have an average of approximately two days off per week. Unfortunately, we are unable to provide shift care during guardians’ days off and holidays. However, children have the right to participate in early childhood education during daytime. Children can also stay at the day care centre for the resting time their parents need after a night shift (about 8 hours).
In shift care, we follow the normal daily routine of early childhood education, which includes things such as meals, afternoon naps, versatile activities and outdoor activities. The children are served breakfast, lunch, snack, dinner and an evening snack.
If the child is of pre-primary education age, the child will be provided with pre-primary education in shift care. Pre-primary education is provided between 8.00 and 16.00 for about four hours at a time, but the more precise time will be planned based on the time the child spends at the day care centre. In the planning, we strive to ensure that the child does not spend too much time at the day care centre.
Need for shift care ends
The right to shift care ends if the child no longer needs shift care due to the guardian’s work or studies. Please always inform the head of the day care unit and service guidance when the need for shift care ends. In this case, we will offer your child an early childhood education place in a daytime group at the same day care centre as soon as possible. If you wish, you can also submit a new application for another early childhood education unit.
The day care centres of Kepeli and Suomenoja do not offer early childhood education that takes place solely during daytime, so if the need for shift care ends, you must submit a new application for another early childhood education unit for your child. While we process the application, your child may continue at the shift day care centre during the day on weekdays.