My child is in municipal early childhood education
Your child will automatically receive a pre-primary education place if they are in municipal early childhood education. We will assign the child a place on 23 January 2025 within the child’s admission area for pre-primary education based on the child’s home address. Log in to the Asti online service(Link leads to external service) and check the assigned pre-primary education place during 13–26 February 2025.
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Accept the pre-primary education place during 13–26 February 2025 on Asti
A pre-primary education place has been confirmed for your child for the school year 2025–2026. If you are happy with the assigned place, accept it.
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Or reject the assigned pre-primary education place during 13–26 February 2025
If you are not happy with the place assigned to your child, reject it and submit a new application between during 13–26 February 2025 on Asti.
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Decision on pre-primary education will be sent to guardians as of 11 March 2025
Your child’s pre-primary education will begin on 7 August 2025. Your child’s future pre-primary education place will contact you before the pre-primary education begins. If you have any questions about pre-primary education, please contact your child’s future pre-primary education place.
My child is not in municipal early childhood education
Do this if you want municipal pre-primary education and your child is:
- in the City of Helsinki’s club activities,
- in home care,
- on a temporary break from early childhood education, or
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in early childhood education in a private daycare centre
If you want your child to continue with private pre-primary education, read more about private pre-primary education here.
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Enrol in pre-primary education on the Asti during 8–21 January 2025
When you enrol your child in pre-primary education on the Asti online service(Link leads to external service) during 8–21 January 2025, the city will assign the child a place in pre-primary education at the same time as the children in municipal early childhood education. Pre-primary education places will be assigned based on the child’s current home address on 23 January 2025.
If you forgot to enrol, you can still apply for a pre-primary education place on Asti. In this case, your child will get a pre-primary education place from the nearest pre-primary education place with free places.
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Accept the pre-primary education place during 13–26 February 2025
A pre-primary education place has been confirmed for your child for the school year 2025–2026. If you are happy with the assigned pre-primary education place, accept it on Asti.
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Or reject the assigned pre-primary education place and apply for a new one during 13–26 February 2025
If you are not happy with the place assigned to your child, reject it and submit a new application between 13 and 26 February 2025 on Asti.
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Decision on pre-primary education to be sent to guardians as of 11 March 2025
Your child’s pre-primary education will begin on 7 August 2025. Your child’s future pre-primary education place will contact you before the pre-primary education begins. If you have any questions about pre-primary education, please contact your child’s future pre-primary education place.
If your child is in early childhood education with extended hours in a round-the-clock daycare centre and needs it also in pre-primary education, please indicate the need for care with extended hours in the pre-primary education application on the Asti online service. You must verify the need for care with extended hours with the daycare centre manager by 21 January 2025.
Extended hours are available only in the Finnish-language pre-primary education.
Children in the Swedish-language immersion programme will automatically get a pre-primary education place according to the language immersion path. As a guardian, you need to accept the assigned place on the Asti online service during 13–26 February 2025. For more information, ask you child's Swedish-language immersion daycare centre.
Learn more about the Swedish-language immersion and find the instructions on how to apply on page Pre-primary education in different languages.
Application form for pre-primary education, PDF(Link leads to external service)
Did you not accept a pre-primary education place in the spring?
You can apply for a pre-primary education place for your child in the Asti online service(Link leads to external service) at any time. Your child will get a place in the pre-primary education place you apply for if there are free places. If there are no free places at the location you are applied for, your child will receive a pre-primary education place from another location in the admission area. If there are no free places in your admission area, your child will receive the nearest free pre-primary education place from another admission area. The pre-primary education place is indicated in the pre-primary education decision.
Are you moving to Helsinki and need a pre-primary education place for your child?
My family will have a home address in Helsinki by 23 January 2025
You can enrol to pre-primary education if you have a home address in Helsinki by 23 January 2025. When you enrol your child to pre-primary education, they will get a place within the school admission area according to your new home address. Remember to accept or reject the place during 13–26 February 2025. Learn more in section "My child is not in municipal early childhood education".
My family will have a home address in Helsinki after 23 January 2025
The best time to apply is between 13 and 26 February 2025, when your child will be assigned a pre-primary education place within your own school admission area. Submit an application on the Asti online service. If you cannot apply electronically, read more under section "If family has a non-disclosure for personal safety or cannot use electronic services".
You can also apply later. In this case, we cannot guarantee that your child will get a place in a pre-primary education in your own admission area, but your child will get the nearest available place in pre-primary education.
Do you need a place in pre-primary education in the middle of the school year?
You can also apply for a place for your child in the middle of the pre-primary education year. Submit your application on the Asti online service. Your child will be placed in the pre-primary education option you have applied for if there are places available. If there are no places available in the option you have applied for, your child will be placed in another option within the admission area. If there are no places available in your admission area, your child will be offered the nearest available place in another admission area. The pre-primary education place will be indicated in the pre-primary education decision.
If you are unable to send an application electronically, use the paper form:
Moving within Helsinki during the pre-primary education year
If your child’s home address changes within Helsinki during the pre-primary education year, the child may continue at the current unit until they start school. If you want to change your child’s pre-primary education place, for example, due to a move, apply for a new place as soon as the child’s new address is valid.
You can add your new valid address separately in the application if it does not update automatically. The pre-primary education place can be assigned from the admission area for pre-primary education in accordance with the new home address if there are vacant places. Otherwise, the place will be assigned from the unit closest to the child’s home address in another school admission area.
Based on secondary school admission, you can apply for a pre-primary education place for the child in the future admission area for pre-primary education before the new address is valid. Applications from those living in the admission area for pre-primary education are processed before those applying based on secondary admission.
If the guardian wants to apply for a new place after they already have a pre-primary education place, it is possible by submitting an application in the Asti online service. The guardian can include two wishes on the application. If the guardian applies for a new place in the same school admission area where the home address already exists and there are no vacancies in the desired places, the decision will be negative. In this case, the existing pre-primary education place stays in force.
Applications received during the current pre-primary education year are processed two times per month. The processing of applications received during the spring pre-primary education application period has a separate schedule due to the large number of applications.
Moving within Helsinki before the child starts pre-primary education
If your child's home address changes before the start of pre-primary education, you can reject the place assigned to your child and apply for a new place as soon as the new address is known. The best time to apply is during the application period 13–26 February 2025, when your child will be allocated a pre-primary education place in their admission area. Submit your application on the Asti online service.
You can edit your new registered home address in the application if it is not automatically updated. If there are places available, your child can get a pre-primary education place within the admission area according to the new home address. Otherwise, your child will be placed in the nearest option in another admission area.
If you apply after 26 February 2025, your child can get a place in the pre-primary education option you applied for only if there are places available. If there are no places available in the place you applied for, your child will be placed in another pre-primary education option in the admission area. If there are no places available in your admission area, your child will be offered the nearest available place in another admission area. The pre-primary education place is indicated in the pre-primary education decision. We will make decisions on applications received after 26.2.2025 from the beginning of April onwards.
In Helsinki, private daycare centres and units also provide pre-primary education. Private service providers offer versatile options for pre-primary education. In private daycare centres and units, the child can participate in, for example, pre-primary education in a foreign language, pre-primary education emphasising Montessori or Steiner pedagogy or pre-primary education emphasising religious and ethics education. If you want a pre-primary education place from a private daycare centre, contact the manager of the private daycare centre you are interested in.
Pre-primary education in private daycare centres is free for guardians (four hours per day). However, the private service provider determines the fee for any supplementary early childhood education they provide before and after the pre-primary education. Parents and guardians can apply for private daycare allowance from Kela for supplementary early childhood education.
You can apply for pre-primary education in a private daycare centre by submitting the City of Helsinki’s application directly to your preferred private daycare centre.
- Application form for pre-primary education, PDF
- Hakemus esiopetukseen, PDF in Finnish
- Ansökan till förskoleundervisning, PDF in Swedish
The application period for pre-primary education in private daycare centres is 8–21 January 2025.
The guardian submits the paper application to the private daycare centre from which they are applying for a pre-primary education place. Pre-primary education decisions will be mailed to guardians in February or March 2025.
A private service provider applies for a permit as a unit organising pre-primary education from the city. The prerequisite for the formation of a pre-primary education group is a pre-primary education group with at least seven children. In emphasised pre-primary education (foreign-language, Montessori or Steiner, religious and ethics), which is enabled by the school path, the group may also be smaller. If the formation of a sufficiently large pre-primary education group is uncertain, the guardian should also register for municipal pre-primary education in the Asti online service (Link to an external service)(Link to an external service)or with a paper application to another private daycare centre within the application period. In connection with the registration, you will notify if your primary preference is a place in private pre-primary education.
Private pre-primary education places in Helsinki 2025–2026 (PDF)
Private pre-primary education places on the Service Map(Link leads to external service)
Having a non-disclosure for personal safety is a voluntary and additional measure that allows you to restrict the disclosure of your address information from the Finnish Population Information System. If you or your child has a non-disclosure for personal safety, we cannot automatically assign you a place in pre-primary education. This is because your child's home address information is protected.
If your family has a non-disclosure for personal safety, send us the enrolment form between 8 and 21 January 2025 electronically via Secure Mail to the Service Guidance team. Your child will be assigned a pre-primary education place via Secure Mail on 13 February 2025. By replying to the email, you can accept or reject the assigned place. Remember to reply during 13–26 February 2025.
Apply with a paper application form
You can also apply for a pre-primary education place during 13–26 February 2025 using the paper application form. If there are places available, your child will be placed at the pre-primary education place you have applied for. If there are no places available in the daycare centre you have applied for, your child will be assigned a place in another daycare centre within your own school admission area, which is based on your home address.
Return the paper application electronically by Secure Mail or by post to Service Guidance for Early Childhood Education, Työpajankatu 8, PO Box 58300, 00099 City of Helsinki.
Helsinki is divided into admission areas for pre-primary education. Pre-primary education places are allocated to both children in municipal early childhood education and children enrolled in pre-primary education on the basis of the child’s home address (Learn more about the admission to pre-primary education). Enrolment in pre-primary education applies to children who are not in municipal early childhood education before the start of pre-primary education, are on a temporary break from early childhood education, are in club activities or need shift care during the pre-primary education year. You can apply for private pre-primary education by submitting an application directly to the desired private daycare centre providing pre-primary education.
Learn more about pre-primary education in English, Finnish, Swedish, Russian, Somali or Arabic:
Welcome to pre-primary education -brochure, pdf
Tervetuloa esiopetukseen -esite, pdf
Välkommen till förskolan -broschyr, pdf
Добро пожаловать на дошкольное обучение, pdf
You can also apply for a pre-primary education place in the middle of the school year 2024–2025. Submit an application in the Asti online service(Link leads to external service) . If there are places available, your child will get a place in the location you have applied for. If there are no places available in the location you have applied for, your child will be placed in another pre-primary education place in the admission area. If there are no places available in your admission area, your child will be offered the nearest available pre-primary education place in another admission area. The assigned place will be indicated in the pre-primary education decision.
If you cannot apply online, you can also apply for a place on a paper form.
Return the paper application electronically by Secure Mail or by post to Service Guidance for Early Childhood Education, Työpajankatu 8, PO Box 58300, 00099 City of Helsinki.