Pre-Primary Education

What Is Pre-Primary Education?

Pre-primary education is compulsory education under the Basic Education Act. A child enters pre-primary education about a year before starting school. Compulsory education starts in the year in which the child turns seven. Pre-primary education is free of charge and children receive lunch at preschool.

Pre-primary education lasts 4 hours a day, with preschool hours generally lasting from 9 am to 1 pm.
Pre-primary education is provided in preschool groups within schools or nursery schools. In addition to the city’s preschool education, pre-primary education is provided by Rauma Freinet School.

In pre-primary education, children learn by moving, playing and experimenting. A personal learning plan is drawn up for each child during preschool education. Preschool education is compulsory by law and the child’s guardian must ensure that the child attends preschool or other institutions that meet the objectives of preschool education (Basic Education Act, Section 26a§). The scope of pre-primary education is at least 700 hours per year.

Enrolment

Enrolment is done electronically via Wilma. The enrolment letter will contain the key code for creating a guardian ID and instructions. After creating the account, you can log in to Wilma through rauma.inschool.fi.

If any questions arise, please contact Early Childhood Education Guidance, no. 040 172 9455 or varhaiskasvatus@rauma.fi.

Choosing a Preschool

After registration, the City of Rauma assigns a preschool placement to the child. In most cases this will be the preschool closest to the child’s home, but not always, e.g. if there are more enrolments than places. It is important to include the secondary option in the enrolment form and to indicate in the additional information any special reason that effects the assignment of a preschool placement.

The private Rauma Freinet School makes its own selections for its preschool pupils, but the decision on the preschool placements come from the city.

Criteria for Admission to Pre-Primary Education

Criteria for admission to pre-primary education in order of priority, when there are more applicants than placements in preschools:

• special health reasons specific to the child, for which an expert opinion is required. Special medical reasons must be indicated in the additional information on the enrolment form.
• the distance to the preschool is as short as possible.
• any other special circumstances of the child and the family which have been brought to the attention of the preschool education provider at the time of enrolment in the additional information section of the form.

A preschool placement other than the nearest preschool to the child’s home may be assigned to the child if:

• a child needs scheduled day care (evening care, round-the-clock day care).
• the child’s medical condition or other special reason requires it and the guardian has brought this to the attention of the preschool education provider in the additional information section of the enrolment form.
• the child is subject to extended compulsory education (due to a child’s illness or disability).

After the enrolment period, you can only enrol using the online form. A request for a specific preschool placement can only be granted if there is available space.

Decisions on Preschool Placements

Preschool placements are assigned based on the criteria approved by the Education Committee. The primary preschool placement is the nearest preschool according to the child’s address. The place of preschool education may be different from the one mentioned above if the child has a special health reason or a need for sceduled day care. The special reason must be mentioned at the time of enrolment.

Preschool transport

A child attending preschool education is entitled to transport if the distance to the nearest preschool by the shortest route is more than three kilometres. The benefit may be granted even if the distance is less than three kilometres if the journey is too difficult, exhausting or dangerous considering the circumstances.

The application for transport is filled via Wilma or by using an electronic form if Wilma is not available.

Early Childhood Education Needed in Addition to Pre-Primary Education

If your child needs early childhood education in addition to pre-primary education, you must apply separately for an early childhood education place. The child does not move from one place to another during the day, but the early childhood education is provided in the same place as the child’s preschool education. Preschool education is free of charge, but early childhood education may be subject to a fee.

The customer fee form asks how many hours of early childhood education and care your child needs. The hours should include the early childhood education time without pre-primary education. Preschool education lasts 4 hours a day. Usually the preschool hours are from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Parents register their early childhood education hours electronically in eAsiointi.
The length of the child’s day can be reported in one segment, for example from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. The program deducts the pre-primary education time, which is 4 hours, from this time. In this case, only the early childhood education time, which in the example is 3 hours, is paid.